The role of the personal statement really is to give people a sense of who you are and how you might fit into this program. Who are you as a person? What triggers you, What will make you a good fit for this program? And it is a way to…
"You received an interview invite based on ERAS filters the program set, so you already have your foot in the door. Don’t have them yawning at a two-page extravaganza of your life story that makes them wonder if you know what full stops are and cringing at thoughts that were…
“I know all physicians tend to be perfectionists to get to where we are. Type A. We always love to do well on report cards. How does that make you personally feel?” You nailed it. We are competitive. We got where we were by being competitive, and CMS and our…
"You practice in a rural environment, You're a solo practitioner. As a hematologist-oncologist. Tell me some of the challenges that you face." First, we have a dearth of subspecialty support like infectious disease. We just recently got a pulmonologist. We don't have a rheumatologist. And as therapies for cancer expand,…
With so many demands on their time, physicians today report record levels of burnout. Burnout is caused by many factors, one of which is clinical documentation. Studies indicate physicians spend two hours documenting care for every hour spent with patients. At Nuance, we are committed to helping physicians do what…
Over three liters of fluid, undigested food, bile acid, stomach acid, spilled into her abdominal cavity, and clearly, that is likely why she went into respiratory distress. At the conclusion of the NG tube insertion under anesthesia, they repaired the tear in the stomach as best they could. They cleaned…
I said to him, "How do you go for an NG tube and end up in ICU on a ventilator?” And then my anger spilled over, and I said, “Other than medical incompetence.” And he never looked at me. He never told me his name. He simply stared straight ahead…
"I am heartbroken at the loss of my sister. No, breast cancer didn’t physically kill her, and for that, I am grateful. Its presence in her medical history, however, quite possibly did as it was apparently used as the justification for all that went wrong. Perhaps the young hospitalist will…
“Tell these medical students reasons why they may want to consider general internal medicine as a career.” I always wanted to be able to help my patients no matter what was wrong with them. And, of course, where that starts is in finding out what's wrong with them, what their…
“For those who are interested in moving into that venture capitalist space. I know there are a lot of doctors, especially over the last few years during a pandemic, they realize that clinical medicine isn't as secure as it used to be, and they want to branch out. What kind…
"There is great hope for this bill to accomplish the stated goals in the medical and energy worlds. There are many excellent summaries regarding this bill, and I would urge any interested readers to find a review of the bill and read through it. We will hear much more about…
I'd never felt anything like it before until I started experiencing it. It's not just I exercised; I'm tired or sore the next day. It's that my heart rate went up, and I can't move. I had periods where I couldn't speak, like I just felt so entirely paralyzed by…
As physician leaders, I don't think there's any room for racism or antisemitism in our profession. I learned in medical school way back in the day, once one person said, “You may not like a patient, but you need to acknowledge it and move on and treat 'em like a…
"Despite the terror of the Soviets, it was clear that not even their mighty tanks could eradicate the social tides that now, like a tsunami, could not be turned back. The power of the movement forced Ernő Gerő, just a few months into his rule, to step down the next…
“When you say that clinician would troubleshoot with you, what kind of questions would that clinician typically ask you? “ I remember one question that really stuck with me when he asked, “What is it that you are most worried about,” because especially with multisystem conditions, it feels like everything's…
“What were some of the things that health care clinicians would say to you in the past?” On maybe the worst end of things, it was simply if my results did not come, it would just be, “I don't have anything. I should calm down and go away.” I had…
"Patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and their allies will rally in DC, London, and Edinburgh this September to “demand bold, urgent governmental action” for the millions of people living with ME, long COVID, and other infection-associated, chronic diseases. As researchers continue to find many similarities between ME and long COVID,…
I've considered writing not just to be therapeutic but actually to be an academic pursuit within medicine. And I think I always keep that front and center for anyone out there, particularly a physician writer. The fact is that what we do is as academic, a profession as people who…
"Give me an example of how your writing has moved the needle for you professionally as a hematology-oncology physician.” I think one of the reasons it has – and when you say to move the needle, I love that phrase because we interpret it in so many different ways. I…
"I think it’s much more likely that my patients — some of whom are terminal and facing their own mortality; others who are suffering through a multitude of side effects from their cancers or our treatments – my beautiful patients haven’t let cancer compromise that core of humanity that allows…
We are in a rarefied profession where we have the privilege of being invited into people's lives when they are at their most vulnerable, and we're offered the opportunity to try to help them get through that crisis. Then we go through training, and a lot of times, that training…
Really focus on your language and try to get as many ideas as you can from those around you. One of the ones that I got was the power of I wish statements. I wish I had better news. I wish that the treatment had worked. I wish there were…
"The value of empathy in medicine is seldom debated. Just as the art of medicine is taught as the balance of knowledge and application, so has empathy been recognized as both a value to be fostered and a skill to be learned. Medical curricula have reflected this, and while didactics…
When it comes to our changing health care system, I think it's important to have physicians' voices because a lot of times policymakers, they really don't have physicians’ best interest in mind, and a lot of the physician advocates, or sometimes they may not advocate for physicians who are currently…