Amsa Ad Lib

Many fourth year students are working hard to finalize their rank order lists as time is closing in, after weeks on the interview trail. It’s a difficult process to narrow in on your top choices, and one that takes several factors into consideration over a long period of time. This week, AMSA's National President Dr. Kelly Thibert shares some of the strategies she’s using while compiling her rank list, as well as strategies she took while on the interview trail that would help her make a decision down the road.

Have you given thought to how your life experiences outside medicine will improve your skills as a physician? Coming from a family of physicians, Vidya Viswanathan felt like she needed to cut her own path--one leading in a totally different direction. Her journey took her far afield from health care. Here’s her story of how she found her way back--and how she’s served by everything she learned along the way. Vidya’s story, titled "What do you think I should do," was part of a series of Story Slams presented at AMSA’s 2016 Annual Convention.

Many systems influence the way med students practice medicine, which ultimately impacts your patients’ lives. Advocacy is the way med students can change those systems for the benefit of your patients and practice as compassionate clinicians. AMSA ad lib caught up with Luis Manriquez, MD, to see how one group of students in Washington state took steps to bring change to their medical curriculum, and he shares how you can strive toward reform in your community and at the curriculum level. Interested in keeping up with the Health Equity Circle? Visit healthequitycircle.org.

Even today, patients in rural communities across the United States face barriers to basic health care. Several factors come together to produce major disparities in rural health care including cultural and economic differences, educational disparities, near isolation of rural areas, or lack of support from legislators. Hear from Ron Brewer of Remote Area Medical, or RAM, how they are helping make a positive impact on these rural health disparities. Plus hear from students who have volunteered in RAM clinics across the country and how you can get involved too. Interested in learning more about RAM? Visit ramusa.org.

Biases in medical training are affecting medical students, but many--including you--may not appreciate that it’s happening. Fixing the problem won’t be easy, but some trainees themselves are working to address pervasive bias in medicine from the ground up. For the students trying to intervene, the first step in addressing bias in medical training is getting everyone to recognize how deeply--and sometimes subtly--ingrained it can be. Medical students Tehreem Rehman and Jes Minor started the Systemic Disease project. Among other goals, the project aims to gather stories from those exposed to or victimized by bias in medicine to start a conversation and increase awareness. To learn more about the Systemic Disease project, visit their website at www.systemicdisease.com or follow @systemicdisease on Twitter. You can also find Tehreem (@tehreemrehman) and Jes (@jes_minor) on Twitter as well.

Medical school comes at a high cost; are you ready to take on over $150,000 in debt? Maybe you don’t have to. In fact, you could leave with none at all. Joining the armed forces is one way to have your medical school paid for in its entirety, but what’s the trade-off? In this episode, Aaron Saguil, MD, MPH, FAAFP, of the Uniformed Services University joins us to share his insights on military medicine as a career path.

Have you thought about where are you going? Not just a particular training program or fellowship, but physically, geographically where? For some, the geographic locations of the residency programs or even medical schools they apply to are secondary at best. Partly, this is because applicants may be wary of adding another factor to an already overwhelming research effort that accounts for reputation, competition, cost--and eventually salary and career flexibility. Sarah Linden founded a company seeking to help drop those pins much more thoughtfully--even scientifically.

Long days as a resident and late nights in the hospital are both physically and mentally exhausting, but learning to have fun and growing from others' experiences can be the key to success. This week we hear a story from the University of North Carolina (UNC) - Chapel Hill School of Medicine Story Slam, themed "Humanity and Hilarity." The winner that night was Dr. Kenya McNeal-Trice, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Residency Program Director at UNC, who shared her story titled "Smelly Cat" about a particularly rough night when she was a senior resident on the pediatric ward.

Have you ever advised a patient to eat healthy and exercise, then hit up the McDonald's drive-through on the way home from work? Maybe it’s time for a wake-up call. Hear from one student who had a wake-up call while driving down the highway with a cup of curly fries, and how she made a fitting realization that would improve her life as a med student and she hopes will improve her relationships with patients.

You’ve spent months on a complex research project, from conception to designing your study, to collecting data and coming to your conclusions. It’s all enormously complicated—now, explain the whole thing in 60 seconds. In the most recent Match, fourth-year M.D. match applicants in the U.S. listed 4.7 presentations, abstracts or publications in their professional profile on average. Though the importance of those experiences may vary by specialty or even residency program, the ability to boil your project down to a quick explanation tailored to your audience is critical.

What does the county fair have to do with the journey to becoming a physician? In one student's experience, a lot. Stories are great for connecting people and learning from the experiences of others. In this episode, Joey Johnson tells about his own waiting game on the way to med school from a rural community.

You’re unlikely to attend only one residency interview, and even then, it’s doubtful that it’d be right in your backyard. Traveling for residency interviews adds to the list of those hidden costs around the corner in med school, and sometimes the best way to prepare yourself is by hearing from those who did it before you. On this episode, we'll catch up with three current residents--Dr. Dimal Shah, Dr. Rita Kuwahara, and Dr. Alison Case--who went through the process not long ago. Hear how they funded their travel while still bringing their A game to each interview along the way.

What have you heard about primary care? That there's "too much paperwork?" Or that you're "too smart" to go into it? Or, paradoxically, that "there's too much to learn"? In the spirit of National Primary Care Week, let's talk about the so-called stigma of primary care, and its effect on med students' career choices. Dr. Wanda Filer of the American Academy of Family Physicians addresses the "stigma" head on--and touches on the joy a family physician can find in life-long care of patients.

Some residency programs host a social event for you to meet current residents and interns from the program before the formal interview takes place. Joining us this week are Dr. Jeremy Grayson--Pediatric Anesthesiologist at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and former Program Director--and Dr. Alison Case--first-year resident at Lawrence Family Residency Program--to discuss what you should be looking for out of this experience, how you can use it to your advantage, and how important this interaction really is to residency programs during their selection process.

Most fourth-year medical students are about to begin an annual fall ritual: residency interview season. Last year, then-fourth-year Sahar Barfchin spoke with Perry Tsai about making their specialty choice and Sahar's experience on the residency interview trail.

After being awake 24 hours straight, where’s your head at? Will it be ready for life or death decisions? The ACGME—the accrediting body for residency training in the U.S.—first adopted duty hour restrictions in 2003. In 2011, the ACGME introduced a 16-hour shift limit for first-year residents. The ACGME also granted nearly 190 waivers to certain internal medicine and surgery programs that were participating in the iCOMPARE and FIRST trials, respectively. These trials were intended to examine the effect of longer shifts for residents. Dr. Kelly Thibert says the trials themselves were—and continue to be—unethical, and that current pressure on the ACGME to reverse work hour restrictions is misplaced.

What does cultural competency have to do with guns and gun violence? And what does it have to do with future physicians? Earlier this summer on AMSA ad lib we covered gun violence as it affects the health care workplace: the hospital itself. But, of course, that isn't even the primary way that gun violence will affect physicians. There are many others, from the victims as patients to their families suffering from loss. Medical students will need to be the ones to push for change, since as physicians they will encounter the grim results of gun violence. The change may be public policy, or a community-based program. Or maybe even finding common ground with gun owners. For some insight, community and public health programming coordinator Allison Hare spoke with an expert, Dr. Daniel Webster.

Are you being taught how to help patients understand all of the overwhelming medical messaging they’re getting? Though the way that medical students are taught has changed gradually over the past century, the way patients learn has lurched forward. Arguably, the modern physician’s job has changed accordingly. The question is whether the physician will be ready for that job. Dr. Rishi Desai found himself on the leading edge of creating useful health information for patients and future physicians alike. Today, he’s the chief medical officer of Osmosis, a learning platform for medical students, where he is one of the people outside traditional medical education helping to shape the way medical students actually learn.

In the past few months, trainee wellness has been making the news again. Studies have been revisiting resident work hours restrictions. Depression and suicide among medical residents, students and physicians themselves is an ongoing crisis. Some of the solutions are systemic, but the medical education system is resistant to change; in the meantime, medical trainees must be on the lookout for themselves and their peers. Recently, Dr. Allan Peterkin presented 10 tips to participants in the AMSA Applied Match Preparation program, and in this episode, we bring you a few highlights.

What's it like to interview for a residency position in neurosurgery? How does it compare to interviewing in other specialties? In this episode, medical students share their experiences and questions, including tackling rumors about the neurosurgery interview process.