Hello, Spousal Unit here in my first post. Indy and I got married in the middle of medical school applications, I’m a Muggle (non-medical type) who works from home and makes sure our two Tiny Humans grow into productive members of society. This situation works since it allows me to easily tag along as Indy’s career takes us all over
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As a residency applicant, it’s easy to focus on trying to be the most desirable applicant possible. Remember, though, that you are interviewing the programs just as much as they are interviewing you! You also need to try to learn which programs will be the best fit for you, both in terms of academics/training, and in terms of the environment.
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Our last interview-season post focused on putting your best foot forward as an applicant in a remote residency interview (Zoom, Skype, etc). Today we are talking about how you, as the interviewee, can glean as much information as possible about the programs you are considering, despite the limitations of remote interviewing. It may sound strange, but with a little bit
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Continuing our theme of housing and home-buying topics for folks who are getting ready to start residency, let’s consider another common question: how far should I live from the hospital? Of course, as with anything else, it depends. Let’s look at a few of the factors to consider. Commute Time It’s important to remember that as a resident you will
» Read moreAt my institution, we have off-service interns from other departments, who rotate through our labor and delivery unit to learn about labor management. During the day, the OB intern is in charge of labor (including primary c-sections during the second part of the year), triage, and postpartum. The upper-level OB resident (PGY-3 or PGY-4) is in charge of the antepartum service, consults, repeat
» Read moreAs a generally curious and inquisitive person, I tend to ask a lot of questions. The learning curve as an intern in steep, and time to read and research is often limited. It’s hard to find the answers that you need quickly, and you have a to-do list at least a mile long. As a new intern, I fell into
» Read moreMatch day is very exciting! Congratulations to everyone who matched. After matching, though, what comes next? What do you need to do? For those who matched in the civilian (NRMP) match, here are the items that should be on your radar in the near future: Update your contact information Your new program will have LOTS of paperwork for you.
» Read moreI was recently part of a very interesting conversation about the balance between education and service in a residency program. The question was whether clinic hours are considered education or service. Is clinic always educational, because there is potentially something to learn from each patient? Is it always service, because there is only so much to learn from doing yet
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A reader recently asked me a question about choosing residencies. Specifically, he wanted to know about the reasons why I chose to request civilian deferral for residency. I have also received several questions about the actual process of applying for a civilian deferral and going through the military and civilian match, and I wrote a post on that subject here. For the purposes
» Read moreIt’s been a long time since I posted and I don’t have a huge amount of time to write, but I wanted to share this little moment. When you’re working all the time, dealing with unpleasant patients, and “exhausted” becomes your default setting, it’s amazing how little things can make all the difference. For example, today I had to go down
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