Amsa Ad Lib

Most fourth-year medical students are about to begin an annual fall ritual: residency interview season. Earlier this year, then-vice president for leadership development Sahar Barfchin and Perry Tsai talked about Sahar's experience on the residency interview trail and about making the decision on a specialty.

In this episode we learn about the TenOne movement promoting Medicare for all. We'll also hear about the Medicare for All Act, a day of advocacy and action, and where the single-payer movement stands today after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Health information technology on the wards has been spreading rapidly, and it's come a long way--but there’s still room for improvement to be usable, convenient and effective. In this episode we'll be speaking with two medical students who are working with many of the stakeholders in health IT to improve the technology itself, the policy surrounding it and the training students and physicians receive.

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.

The cost of medical training puts a lot of pressure on their specialty choice, but for those who are really committed to primary care and community-oriented medicine, there are options. The National Health Service Corps is one of those options, awarding scholarships and loan repayment in exchange for commitments to serve in underserved areas. We spoke with the National Health Service Corps’ director, Dr. Luis Padilla, about what they are looking for in their applicants.

Becoming a physician is a complex journey that inspires questioning and self reflection. In this episode, Dr. Aliye Runyan talks about challenges within the health care system that may hinder the practice of reflection, as well as how physicians may have to collectively overcome them.

Turning passion into motivation is a critical skill that keeps medical students and premeds on the track to becoming practicing physicians. Sometimes the dream of becoming a physician and advocate for health is a literal one. Sometimes a particular interest may call you to stray from the path to medicine briefly.

As the 19th Surgeon General of the United States, Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy works to educate the general public about their own health. But drawing on his own background and lessons from his personal journey, he offered advice at AMSA's 2015 convention to medical students about overcoming challenges they'll face in training, the value of their youth and enthusiasm, and the importance of taking risks.

MCAT 2015 took effect in April nearly doubling the total exam time and adding questions on biochemistry, psychology, and sociology. In this episode, we will hear from premedical students about lessons they’ve learned while preparing for the MCAT as well as their experience taking the new MCAT, the old MCAT, or both.

Though reflection in medicine and narrative medicine may sometimes appear at odds with the rigidity of patient safety checklists, Dr. Aliye Runyan suggests the two are not as far apart as it would seem. In this episode, Dr. Runyan talks about how reflection in medicine and narrative medicine improve patient care, and how the patient safety checklist is a reflective practice in its own right.

Though there are many ways to cope with the stress of medical training--and many ways to improve medical care and practice itself, very few of those are easy to implement, especially in the middle of residency. In this episode, Dr. Aliye Runyan talks about the importance of reflection in medicine--and the difficulty of keeping up reflective practice in the middle of intern year.

A decision in the Supreme Court's King v. Burwell case is expected very soon. In this episode of AMSA ad lib, Dr. David K. Jones of Boston University's School of Public Health gives us some background in anticipation of a major decision that could affect the future of the Affordable Care Act.

Previously on AMSA ad lib, we heard about the potential of medical students to drive the development and implementation of technology in and outside of the classroom. In this episode of AMSA ad lib, we'll hear about how students have been working those ideas into patients' lives and how students can be stay on top of the latest tools.

We may think of medicine as a highly tech-centric profession, but physicians can be highly resistant to change. Sometimes they need a little push from the outside--or a little push from physicians-in-training. We'll hear about the democratization of health care technology in this episode of AMSA ad lib.

In medical school, the real lessons come at the bedside, and the most important of those come not from residents or attending physicians, but from patients themselves.

At the unofficial beginning of summer, physicians-in-training tell us how they have--or have not--taken enough time for themselves during their training.