Medical Schools

Getting through medical school and raising a child are two activities that on their own can each be challenging - not to mention exhausting. But what’s it like to do them simultaneously? In a candid piece on Mothers in Medicine (a blog that I consider a must-read for doctor-moms), a writer shares the less-positive aspect of her juggle:

I judge myself constantly. If I were not a medical student mom, I could have given my child a more even-keel life filled with playgroups, museum activities, more reading and less TV. Should I be doing those things despite needing to study and handle school and fatigue? Should I have done more anyway? Maybe sucked it up, because darn it – medical school moms are supposed to be smart and manage the house and family? Having it all and doing it all, right?

Now I’m looking backwards. I am less than two weeks from graduation as I write this, and I still judge myself for decisions I made in medical school. We did survive the away rotations despite living in a 350-sq ft apartment for one of them. We survived each of the Step exams and third year. We even survived a crazy interview season that involved many flights, and I matched somewhere that is perfect for my family. However, did I do enough of the right things to balance out the wrong ones? Should I just be thankful Sesame Street and Super Why! have taught my toddler all his letters and numbers? (Thanks PBS!) I don’t really know, but I console myself that he is a loving, sweet toddler who seems to somehow really love me…

When Bay Area high-school students arrived on Stanford campus last Friday for Med School 101, little did they know they were about to spend the day practicing medical procedures on simulated patients, examining brain tissue samples, studying anatomy on a life-sized iPad, or learning how to use crowd-sourced research data to build and launch a company.

The day-long program kicked off with a welcome speech from Ann Weinacker, MD, chief of staff at Stanford Hospital & Clinics, who spoke to the crowd of 140 about the range of career options in science and medicine. “There is no end to the opportunities,” she told students. “You can bring babies into the world, you can help people die with dignity, you can go into research and help cure cancer.” Weinacker ended her talk with by telling students to ultimately “follow your heart and do what inspires you.”

Following Weinacker’s presentation, students headed off to sessions on a variety of medical and scientific topics taught by some of the country’s top experts. We’ve chronicled the excitement of the day and range of students’ educational activities in tweets and photos on our Storify page. We hope you enjoy perusing the collection of student experiences.

Previously: Image of the Week: Studying brains at Stanford’s Med School 101, Live tweeting sessions at Stanford’s Med School 101, Med school: Up close and personal, A quick primer on getting into medical school, Teens interested in medicine encouraged to “think beyond the obvious” and High-school students get a taste of med school
Photo by Norbert von der Groeben

Two days ago, on Match Day, Stanford medical students, and others at institutions around the country learned where they’ll be heading to residency in July. In this photo, Stanford student Danica Lomeli hugs her father, Luis, while her mother, Diana, reacts to the news that Danica will be doing her residency in family medicine at UCLA.

This year’s class was particularly successful, with all 91 students matching, 70 percent receiving their first choice and 85 percent one of their top three choices. Students matched in 15 different states, with two-thirds divided between Massachusetts and California. Nineteen matched with Stanford residencies.

Previously: Good luck to medical students on Match Day!, My parents don’t think I’m smart enough for family medicine: One medical student’s story, Image of the Week: Match Day 2012, Match Day 2012 decides medical students’ next steps, A match made in heaven? Medical students await their fate and Brian Eule discusses Match Day book

This morning, medical students at Stanford, and thousands more around the country, will gather at the same time for the annual Match Day celebration. Arriving dressed up and nervous, the students will join family, friends and faculty members as they prepare to hear where they will be “matched” for their residencies, the next phase of their medical training. We wish our students at Stanford and around the country the best of luck!

For those not familiar with Match Day, it’s a nerve-wracking affair during which each student receives a letter at 9 a.m. Pacific time detailing where they will spend the next four to seven years of their lives completing residencies. The post-graduation assignments are determined by the nonprofit organization National Resident Matching Program, which uses a computer algorithm that aligns the choices of the applicants with those of the residency program.

My colleague Tracie White will be joining anxious students this morning on the Stanford campus to capture the excitement of the day. Watch for her story later on Scope.

Previously: Image of the Week: Match Day 2012, Match Day 2012 decides medical students’ next steps, A match made in heaven? Medical students await their fate and Brian Eule discusses Match Day book
Photo fro by Norbert von der Groeben

There’s an interesting story today on NPR’s Shots about a medical school revamping its admissions requirements to accept a greater number of students from a range of academic backgrounds.

Through the FlexMed program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, college sophomores in any major can apply for early acceptance without taking traditional science requirements or the MCAT. The Shots post offers more details about why the school began offering the program and the motivation for expanding it:

“It was designed to attract humanities majors to medicine who would bring a different perspective to education and medical practice,” says Dr. Dennis Charney, dean of the school. And it worked so well, he says, that the school expanded the program on Wednesday.

By 2015, about half the incoming class will be admitted through the new FlexMed program, which will accept students of any educational background, including those in computer science and engineering.

“We’re really looking for students that are innovative, that think out of the box,” Charney says, “the [Mark] Zuckerbergs of the world that would go into medicine instead of [creating] Facebook.”

The medical school plans to keep tabs on students admitted through the program and those that majored in pre-med as undergraduates to determine if there are any differences in career choices or accomplishments.

Previously: Stanford dean discusses changing expectations for medical students, A quick primer on getting into medical school, The rise of the medical school Multi-Mini Interview and Medical schools’ more seasoned students

In a recent survey of medical schools, a small percentage reported using social-media activity to evaluate applicants. In his most recent column on the AAMC’s blog, Wing of Zock, Bryan Vartabedian, MD, offers some guidance for those schools that are considering doing more of this. I quite like his summary:

Digital presence does not supplant smarts and skills. The ability of a physician to function in person is critical. But it’s not a zero-sum game. We can continue to mandate high emotional and interpersonal intelligence while devising new ways of seeing physician candidates. If we’re looking for candidates who excel at taking standardized tests and maintaining a high GPA, the application is all you need. Beyond that, seeing an applicant think and create will likely help identify the next generation of uniquely motivated students.

Previously: Discussing a new way to choose medical students and A conversation with 33 Charts’ Bryan Vartabedian about professionalism in social media

It’s been several months since Lloyd Minor, MD, took helm of Stanford’s medical school, and a new video and Inside Stanford Medicine article provide a detailed look at our new leader. The pieces outline his successful career at Johns Hopkins University and discuss his pioneering research in otolaryngology (“It’s widely acknowledged that his work changed the field,” Robert Jackler, MD, commented), and they offer a glimpse into his home life and share how his childhood experiences “shaped his outlook and values.” They also highlight his vision for the school and describe how, as explained by Lucy Shapiro, PhD, he’s perfectly poised to lead the school:

He has had an incredible career as a physician, as a basic scientist and as an educator, serving as provost at a very great university, Johns Hopkins University, so that he has the experience of dealing with people from many parts of our campus.

…

One of the most exciting and important things that has happened at Stanford over the last… 15 years is the emergence of interdisciplinary work. Dr. Minor comes in at a time when he’s ideally suited to deal with the flowering of this new way of working in science and in medicine.

Previously: Meet the medical school’s new dean: Lloyd Minor, An introduction to Lloyd Minor, Stanford medical school’s new dean and Lloyd Minor named dean of Stanford’s School of Medicine
Photo in featured entry box by Norbert von der Groeben

An article in the current issue of AAMC Reporter offers a look at medical schools’ efforts to de-stress and provide support for their (often very stressed) students. Some schools have made adjustments to their curricula or developed wellness programs, Rebecca Goldberg writes, and:

Another approach to supporting students’ mental health involves building a sense of community through participation in extracurricular activities. At Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, the student-run Wellness Committee divides first-year students into colleges that train and compete each year in The College Cup. The event features athletic and nonathletic events, including 5K runs, trivia challenges, and cooking competitions.

“It’s perfectly okay to come here and study hard and do as well as you can, but it’s also okay to take care of yourself,” said Scott Rodgers, M.D., associate dean of student affairs at Vanderbilt. “You don’t want to lose your humanity by becoming a doctor. Students should participate in activities outside of medicine, maintain personal connections, and make their own physical health a priority.”

While medical school should be challenging, it also can be fun, Rodgers added…

Previously: The need to address med students’ mental health and A closer look at depression and distress among medical students

Lloyd Minor, MD, the former provost of Johns Hopkins University, officially became dean of the Stanford School of Medicine on December 1.

A few days before he assumed his post, I sat down with him for a 1:2:1 podcast. We had a wide-ranging conversation, beginning with his childhood in Arkansas. We talked about his parents – his mother was a kindergarten teacher whose most famous student was Chelsea Clinton, and his father worked for the Internal Revenue System, helping Minor prepare his taxes every year until he passed away. And he described how his world-view changed when he discovered the stark inequities between black and white schools as a young teen bussed to a former all-black junior high school in Little Rock.

We talked about Minor’s values and why he believes collaboration, not hierarchical top management, is the key to success for any leader. When I asked him whether this was the best of times or the worst of times for health care, he replied, “Both.” He believes academic medical institutions can play a significant leadership role in the reshaping of medicine, and he sees Stanford as a place that is uniquely qualified to be at the forefront of that change.

Minor is a physician-scientist whose ground-breaking work on a debilitating inner ear disorder was featured on the popular prime time medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” which we talked about, too.

And why did Minor choose to come west to Stanford and leave Baltimore after 19 years at Hopkins? You’ll hear him discuss that in the podcast.

Previously: An introduction to Lloyd Minor, Stanford medical school’s new dean and Lloyd Minor named dean of Stanford’s School of Medicine

The Association of American Medical Colleges recently released an infographic (.pdf) detailing the vital role that the nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals play in the health-care system. The visual tool offers a nice overview of how medical schools and teaching hospitals work together to achieve the three missions of education, patient care and medical research. Among the statistics featured on the infographic are:

• The nation’s nearly 400 major teaching hospitals train 80,000 resident physicians annually in primary care and other specialties
• One in 8 physicians in the nation teach, conduct research or cares for patients as a full-time faculty member at a U.S. medical school
• Scientists at medical schools and teaching hospitals conduct about half of all external research funded by the National Institutes of Health
• Teaching hospitals operate 100 percent of the nation’s 41 comprehensive cancer centers and 63 percent of pediatric intensive care unit beds

Previously: Why basic research is the venture capital of the biomedical world, Future of medical research is at risk, says Stanford medical school dean and The economic benefits of publicly funded medical research