Articles for Medical Students

Primacy or recency effects seem most pronounced when the beginning or ending information in a question stem is something with which you are unfamiliar. We all have a special tendency to fixate on unknown content. If you suspect that primacy or recency information is distorting your reading of a given question, try changing the order in which you read the question. Skip the initial content, read the rest of the question first, and see if this changes your perspective. Simply, if reading the question forward seems confusing, try reading it backwards. Remember, no one single piece of information is the …

COMLEX Level 2-CE The Level 2-CE exam demonstrates the student’s ability to make appropriate medical diagnoses using patient history and findings recorded from physical examinations. This examination draws on the student’s knowledge of the following clinical specialties: emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics & gynecology, osteopathic principles, pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery. The format of the Level 2-CE is similar to that of the Level 1 exam. It is an eight-hour exam broken into two, four-hour segments, with both segments administered on the same day. COMLEX Level 2-PE The Level 2-PE exam is administered at the NBOME’s National Center for …

Work as Part of a Team Remember that healthcare professionals are a team. Nurses, techs and doctors all work together. Be humble and never bad-mouth anyone. Hospital communities can be small, word gets around. Love the nurses, they might save you from a difficult situation and help you out. They can clue you in to important patient information and fill in any blanks left by a busy resident. Treat them poorly and you might make your life very difficult! Stick Your Nose In! Poke around a bit. Make friends with faculty and ask them when you need help. Keep your …

Being smart and doing well in the sciences are obviously important components of being a successful physician. However, do not fall into a medical career because you have done well in the sciences. Although this is a necessary requirement, you must also be able to relate well with people. As a physician you have an opportunity to help others. Wanting to help others and enjoying helping others are necessary attributes of a good physician. This is something that cannot be taught. However, if helping others is important to you, but being a doctor is not the right fit, there are …

Additional pediatric subspecialties not listed above include: Critical Care Medicine Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Emergency Medicine Hospice and Palliative Medicine Medical Toxicology Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Rheumatology Sports Medicine Transplant Hepatology Sleep Medicine Private Practice Pediatrics Salary vs. Salaries of Employed Pediatricians Private practice physicians typically have higher gross incomes and more autonomy than physicians employed by medical institutions. That said, physicians in large practices or hospital-associated practices report that once malpractice coverage, retirement contributions, life insurance and health benefits are taken into account, their compensation comes close to that of private practice physicians. Employed physicians also tend to report that they …

Will pursuing medicine destroy your marriage or your significant relationships? Maybe. But when you are 75, will you look back and wish that you had tried? This may sound cold, but my experience with men/relationships is that there are no guarantees, and divorce or death could be just around the corner. You don’t have any control over what life will bring you. If that relationship that I sacrifice my dreams for breaks up, what am I going to be left with? Regrets of “if I had only . . .”? It is not right to put someone else in charge …

Both residency and parenthood are physically and psychologically taxing experiences, and tackling both at the same time is a daunting proposition. However, having a baby during residency is fairly common these days. Here are a few tips from resident-moms who have been through the process: 1) Get familiar with your program’s parental leave policy. The best case scenario is that your program has a well-defined parental leave policy specifying the amount of leave you can take, whether leave is paid or unpaid, and how extended or delayed training will be handled. If your program does not have a written parental …

There is never a perfect time to have a baby. This statement rings especially true for female physicians-in-training who are in medical school or a residency program during their prime childbearing years. Women who decide to have a child during their residency training can take comfort in the fact that they are not the first to do so. However, simultaneously surviving the demands of residency and motherhood is no small feat, and it certainly helps to plan ahead. Aiming for a family-friendly residency program will make your life before, during, and after childbirth a little bit easier. Here are a …

The various pieces of the medical residency application puzzle are more than the sum of their parts. Sure, the whole package is what matters in the end. But as your application makes its way through the various selection channels, each component has to stand on its own. To find out more about the residency application process, MomMD consulted experts for advice on how to make these pieces of the puzzle shine for selection committees at the nation’s top medical training programs. What follows is an interview with Washington University School of Medicine‘s Assistant Dean for Career Counseling, Dr. Kathryn M. …