How would you manage this acute abdominal pain?

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A 24-year-old sexually active female presents with a three-day history of severe right upper quadrant pain that worsens on inhalation. She has a history of multiple sexual partners and does not use contraception. Examination reveals marked tenderness in the right upper quadrant and laparoscopy demonstrates the findings seen here. Based on this patient’s diagnosis, what treatment would address the most likely underlying infection?

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A Crucial Health Professions Pipeline Pt. 2

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More great stuff from the SHPEPers at CCOM

Our visit with pre-health students in the Carver College of Medicine’s Summer Health Professions Education Program continues as co-host Teneme Konne talks with SHPEPers Asjah Coleman, Kirsten Grismer, Ahone Koge and Margaret Mungai.  Before the show, Teneme also visited with two of Iowa City’s homeless population, and gained some insight into their lives as well as the reasons they are living on the streets.

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Your Research Can Change Medicine: Interview with Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, Editor-in-Chief, NEJM

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Jeffrey drazen

Medical journalists and researchers have a responsibility to perform meaningful, reproducible research to guide the direction and practice of medicine, both now and in the future. As upcoming researchers and practitioners, your work could have a significant impact on future medical practice. In this video, Nirmal Gosalia of DocThoughts discusses the future of research and medical journals with Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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OT Practice Setting Pros and Cons—Inpatient Rehab and Skilled Nursing Facilities

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skilled nursing facilities

It is typically seen as an advantage of a profession when there are many avenues for your career to take. Depending on the type of facility they work at, an occupational therapist can enter new roles, gain diverse work experience, and hone a range of skills. However, as a new therapist, the same element that makes occupational therapy so advantageous is something I found particularly trying. Graduating as generalists automatically prepares an occupational therapist for work in nearly any setting. This adaptability can be quite overwhelming, as it entails deciding which practice setting is the best fit, before having any paid work experience.

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PhD vs PsyD: What’s the Difference?

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PhD vs PsyD

Researching different degree options for graduate education in psychology can quickly become overwhelming. There are over 401 programs available in clinical, counseling, and school psychology, and they are divided into Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) programs. There is a lot of confusion and misinformation about what those doctoral-level degrees signify and various things to consider when deciding which of the two doctoral-level degree options might be a better fit.

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Medical Training Hierarchy: Your Role as a 3rd or 4th Year Student

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surgical specialties

I’ve just started my fourth year, and while it’s a relief to be done with all of my medical school exams, I’m finding that there are plenty of new responsibilities to take on! I’m no longer the lowest member of the medical food chain, which also means that I partially have the responsibility of taking care of my M3 classmates. I am currently rotating on a surgical service where this dynamic is especially prevalent. It comes into play when scrubbing in to surgeries or doing other “higher level” tasks. I think this hierarchy is important to discuss for those M3s just beginning their first clinical year.

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Recess Rehash: Emily Silverman, MD, and The Nocturnists

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the nocturnists

A live stage show featuring the stories of healthcare providers is now a podcast you’ll love.

The day-to-day of internship, residency, and an MD career doesn’t allow much time to process the effect it’s having on the practitioner. Rushing from one patient to the next, putting out the fires even while drinking from the firehose, and being selfless in service to the patients’ needs means that one’s own stories are buried, neglected. More and more, however, medicine is acknowledging the need for practitioners to examine and tell their stories so that they can learn from them, teach their lessons to others, and show colleagues that they are not alone. In 2015 Dr. Emily Silverman was in her second year of her internal medicine residency at UCSF. She found herself with a little more time following her frenetic intern year, and with her own stories that had gone untold and unexamined. She started to write, first in a blog she called The Nocturnists. Then, in 2016 she organized the first live storytelling session with her colleagues.

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Gain a Deeper Understanding with the Power of Test-Enhanced Learning

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Welcome to part two of our blog series in which we share proven learning strategies behind the Osmosis platform that help students learn medicine more effectively. (Read about spaced repetition and memory palaces in parts 1 and 3 of the series!)

Today, we’re going to explore test-enhanced learning, the act of testing yourself to improve your knowledge of a given subject. This study technique is discussed throughout our new textbook, How to Learn in the Health Professions, as well as in our video series on the science of learning.

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What History is Most Consistent With These Findings?

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A 62-year-old female, G3P3, presents to her gynecologist with a year-long history of worsening stress urinary incontinence. During the course of her investigation, a pelvic MRI is performed, and reveals the findings seen here. Which of the following histories is most consistent with these findings?

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SHPEP: A Crucial Healthcare Professions Pipeline

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Mentorship and Examples are critical.

The Summer Health Professions Education Program, SHPEP, has become a summer tradition at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Students from around the country participate in SHPEP’s goal: “to strengthen the academic proficiency and career development of students underrepresented in the health professions and prepare them for a successful application and matriculation to health professions schools.”

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How to Create and Live On A Student Budget

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student budget

It’s a fact of life: you need money to pay expenses that allow you to live comfortably. When you’re attending school, you may use your financial aid as your “income” and, therefore, you will want to manage that money wisely. The less money you borrow now, the less money you will need to repay—including interest—after graduation. 

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