Columnist Emeritus and in-Training Staff Member
Loma Linda University Medical Center
A Taste Of Your Own Medicine is a column that gives you a taste of medicine. It focuses on important and interesting topics relating to medicine and being a medical student.
Valentina is a general surgery resident at Loma Linda University Medical Center. She graduated from University of California, Irvine School of Medicine.
Awkward. is a witty TV show about the awkwardness of being a teenager and surviving high school. Sometimes I feel like the awkwardness of being a medical student and surviving medical school is worthy of a TV show. Medical school is particularly awkward when starting third-year clerkships. Depending on how prepared you are for the wards, you may not know where to go, what to do, or what to say. Some students will dive in …
Since that fateful day when I read the words ‘Congratulations, you have been accepted…’, I consider my medical education to be my ticket into the world of international development. With the tools I obtain through my medical degree, I dream of setting up medical clinics in remote jungles and responding to need following natural disasters. Prior to medical school, I served at a rural Salvation Army medical clinic in Ghana, where I was the lone …
Not everyone has the pleasure, or should I say honor, of being a part of the miracle that is life; even fewer get to say that they witness and influence that miracle every day. As a medical student, I have been privy to a whole new world of opportunities that have opened my eyes to how fragile life truly is and how much of a difference one person can make to affect the life (or …
Scene I: 7:30 a.m. in the OR at the VA [Elderly gentleman with too many comorbidities to be induced into sleep. He is given local anesthesia and lies draped on the operating table. General surgery is suctioning a fluctuant mass from his upper left thorax. Case has been opened.] Patient behind curtain: Oh, God. Oh, God! Errrgggggh! Anesthesiologist: We’re just gonna give you some more medicine. Chief Resident: It’s right around your broken rib. There …
I’m sitting by the window in a hospital room with my eight-year-old sidekick who is being treated for rhabdomysarcoma, here for chemotherapy. Sidekicks is a student-led initiative at UMass Medical School that matches medical students with pediatric oncology patients in order to build long-term, non-medical relationships. He is watching his favorite cartoons and so he is unresponsive to my attempts at engagement. My own five-year anniversary of being in remission from Hodgkin’s lymphoma just passed …
Since the beginning of medical school, I have always been astonished at the fact that my preceptors often had no idea what was going on with their patients. Many times, they resorted to prescribing Tylenol, simply telling their patients to come back if the condition became worse. Gastric ulcer? Tylenol. Terrible headache? Tylenol. Joint aches? Tylenol. Period cramps? Tylenol. Of course, they were family doctors with years and years of experience, but it came to …
Third years — this one’s for you. You’re already a few months into the year, and probably getting the hang of things by now. As you wade through the ocean of scut, progress notes, and evaluations, it can be easy to lose sight of the potential bias in your perspective. However, if you remain mindful of your perspective, you may be a better judge of your specialty interests while simultaneously getting more enjoyment out of your …
A patient with a past medical history of hypertension and IV drug use (IVDU) presents to the ED. He reports a one month history of neck pain. He denies any trauma. He also reports having upper extremity weakness for two weeks. He denies any previous episodes like this. He denies any fevers or chills. He reports an IV drug history for a number of years and reports that his last heroin injection was two days …
Last weekend, I had an opportunity to participate at a community clinic in conducting physical examinations that includes a thorough male genital check for inguinal herniations. It was an organized event which occurs yearly “to promote the well-being of high school and college student athletes by providing comprehensive physical screenings, free of charge, to all students participating in interscholastic athletics or allied activities” with the help of healthcare student volunteers (medical, dental, nursing, or physician …
A little humor goes a long way with a lot of patients. The degree to which a positive attitude—on their part and ours—can help them get through a difficult time in their lives never ceases to amaze me. One patient came to us with massive lower extremity swelling and an EF of 15 percent. He was an inpatient for over a month and had a Foley catheter for more than three weeks. He had an …
It was 6:58 a.m. and it was my first day in the hospital as a third-year medical student. I was excited. I had my short white coat on and my pockets were full of little gems recommended by those more experienced than myself. As I found my team I saw the second-day-interns nervously preparing for rounds. I hoped my excitement was not too obvious. I could not believe I was about to round on real …
The night flow team had picked up a woman in her late 60s with a history of diverticulosis presenting to the ED with bleeding from the rectum. She was scheduled for colonoscopy the next day and orders were placed for NPO (nothing by mouth) after midnight and GoLytely (bowel cleanser) to be finished within three hours before midnight. As a third year medical student, I picked up this patient the morning of her colonoscopy. She …
Editor Emeritus: Former Medical Student Editor (2012-2013) and Former Resident Editor (2013-2015)
Wayne State University School of Medicine
My name is Kimberly Ku, and I am a member of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Class of 2013. I graduated from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor with a double major in biology and anthropology. Since the start of medical school, I have been a fervent advocate of patient safety and quality improvement, founding the WSU Chapter of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) as well as the WSU SOM student organization, Wayne IHI. Through the IHI, I have written multiple quality improvement projects, including a grant award-winning project at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. I work closely with WSU's Vice Chair of Medical Education as well as many other faculty to promote greater patient safety and quality improvement mindfulness in the clinical curriculum of both the WSU SOM and the residency programs at the Detroit Medical Center.
Outside of patient safety and quality improvement, I contribute widely to authorship and co-authorship of clinical research projects at the DMC. As a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society, I am a strong believer of volunteerism and dedicating spare time to the creative arts. I am applying for an Internal Medicine residency program with specific interest in Oncology/Palliative Care. I also plan to pursue an MPH or MBA after residency in order to incorporate public policy/business management into my work as a future academic physician.
