It seems like each year (despite the questionable politics of Washington), the number of competitive med school applicants increases. In the context of a physician shortage, this metric seems advantageous; however, we simply don’t have enough institutions (especially centered around primary care) which can accommodate the growing needs of healthcare.
Baylor Med’s first year medical students begin their first real day of med school tomorrow morning. In light of this milestone, I wanted to share something which I initially took for granted as a student but find myself constantly using as a resident.
During our Quality, Value, and Patient Advocacy lecture, we revisited the common theme of addressing healthcare costs. In retrospect, medical school really doesn’t drown us with knowledge about the costs of routine complete blood counts, chest x-rays, etc. These “routine tests” are a very real contributor to the cost of…
As technology continues to refine the possibilities in healthcare, it seems like medicine is quickly approaching a point where computer algorithms could accurately diagnose and treat a number of conditions independent of physician intervention.
An applicant from yesterday’s pool of medical school interviewees asked me what percentage of my clinical workups have relied on the Internet… and after half-a-second of contemplation, I responded with an adamant “100%!”
Walk through the hospital and I guarantee you’ll see a medical student, resident, attending, or other healthcare provider utilizing some sort of tablet device. In some venues, iPads and Android tablets have become as commonplace as the traditional clipboard. The question – do these devices actually service a purpose at…
I was talking with the genetics intern on my inpatient pediatrics team about random things in evolutionary medicine, and come to find out, every autosomal recessive condition has a heterozygous advantage… and they usually make a lot of sense.
I received an inquiry yesterday questioning the very notion of entering medicine. Hey Rishi,I’m heading into my second year of college as a computer science major. I was perusing through your blog, and was inspired to apply to medical school. I’ve always had an interest, but some random articles on…
Our pediatric grand rounds topic last week was MELAS syndrome, a mitochondrial genetic disorder characterized by neurological and muscular symptoms like ataxia and fatigue, respectively. MELAS is an acronym for: mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, stroke-like symptoms. As with typical mitochondrial inheritance patterns, MELAS is passed maternally (from mother to children), although…
Ophthalmology. O-p-h-t-h-a-l-m-o-l-o-g-y. Yes, the word has two ‘h’s in it. Apparently, this fact is very high yield for testing purposes. :-D