As my colleagues and I entered the residency application cycle my medical school announced it would be joining a number of other prominent institutions in suspending the election of medical students to AOA the medical school honors society. I cannot fault this decision as it was taken based on the consensus opinion of the medical […]
Medicine in Media: Manhua vs Manga
In previous writing published elsewhere, I have considered how medicine is portrayed in Japanese manga. In many of those works medicine as an institution is presented as the problem and the heroes of the works are often brilliant renegades who force spotlights onto corruption and professional inertia. In this piece, I wished to contrast that […]
Christmas Wish List: Residency Edition
Now that I’ve gotten medical school under my belt, I have moved onto the next step—residency, specifically intern year. You can say my wish list has changed a bit. It’s still the most wonderful time of year, and with that comes yummier food, holiday music, and much needed time with family to make priceless memories. […]
How to Enjoy the Holidays During Residency
Residency is just hard. Most of the time, you typically won’t have all of your holidays off because you’re working. For some, they never get holidays off because that’s just how the chips fall or the cookie crumbles. So how do you make the most of the holidays whether you’re working in the hospital or […]
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
I know I’m most likely sharing the obvious, but let’s talk about how important it can be to have a great, collaborative team. Right now, I’m on inpatient internal medicine at the VA, and I really love my team. That can be vital to one’s experience. I have one upper-level PGY-2 Internal Medicine resident and […]
The Hardest Part of Inpatient Internal Medicine
I will tell you that being on inpatient internal medicine wards is just tough—it’s one of the tougher months during residency. Typically, patients are very sick. I’m at the VA, so many of them are much older and/or at the end of their life. And let me tell you, that is HARD! Besides the incredibly […]
I Made the Right Choice
Here I am, writing to you—sharing all the tea on my residency experience. This month I’m on inpatient internal medicine wards at the VA. Let me tell you—there was a period of time where I wondered if Internal Medicine was my passion. I loved the patients and I loved the people. Maybe it’s where I […]
Gathering During a Pandemic
This year, the holidays are tinged with a note of anxiety. In years past Thanksgiving was a time to gather and nurture old relationships. It was a busy time where I would plan on at least half a dozen feasts between various groups of family and friends. But this year each interaction was carefully weighed […]
First Day on the COVID Ward
I pressed the dome of my N95 solidly onto my face and stretched the tight yellow straps over my head. Next came the face shield—hurriedly 3D printed at a local university when demand had far outpaced the supply—which was hung vigilantly in front of my mask and glasses. I was now ready to enter the […]
Holiday Gifts for Med Students
For my last holiday season in medical school, I decided to put together a list of some of the best gift ideas for a medical student in your life. These are some of the essentials that have helped me through these last three and a half years, and I think that these can be a […]
