Medical

Learn about medicine and how to become a physician in our articles for pre-medical students (including the MCAT), medical students, resident physicians, and practicing physicians.

What Skinny Doctors Don’t Get About Their Obese Patients

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Let’s just keep talking about treating obesity

Fifi Trixiebell (not her real name) wrote to [email protected] asking us to discuss what medical students learn about nutrition, and whether they think the keto diet is just another fad. Luckily, Madeline Slater, Emma Barr, Kyle Kinder, and newbie Sam Palmer–M1s all–just had a unit on nutrition so that’s an easy one. But Fifi Trixiebell had written in before, a message which–despite his policy of answering every listener question–Dave had passed over. Why did he ignore it? He’s not sure; it was a while back, but it may have triggered him (though, to be clear, it wasn’t Fifi’s fault). We also discuss an article from HuffPo about the “unique and persistent trauma” doctors visit upon their obese patients.

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Research Basics: Should I Get Involved and How Do I Start?

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research basics

The year is 1921. A medical student toils away at a dimly lit lab bench deep in the bowels of the University of Toronto. His intense concentration does not waver even as a bead of sweat begins to slip from his brow, splattering onto the chemical-stained surface below. Charles Best lets out a sigh of relief, unclenching the shoulders he had tightened while manipulating miniscule fragments of pancreatic tissue under the microscope.

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Are physicians hopeless in the face of the obesity epidemic?

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Obesity may not be hopeless, but it is very difficult for physicians and sufferers

Listener Hannah wrote in after shadowing physicians, noting that many of the morbidly obese patients she observed resisted their doctors’ advice to lose weight. Is there any hope that doctors can treat this intractable illness when patients don’t “want” to do the work? Aline Sandouk, Claire Casteneda, Kylie Miller, and newbie Ali Hassan offer their views and what they’ve learned so far about treating this difficult disease.

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The Flame-Broiled Doctor: Book Review

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Flame-Broiled Doc

Physician burnout is something of a hot topic nowadays. I say that not to belittle it—it is a major problem that needs to be discussed—but rather to make the point that it sometimes seems that the conversation is so broad and spans so much that there is nothing new to add to it. It can be difficult, among all of the thinkpieces, podcasts, and blog posts, to find anything about physician burnout that hasn’t already been said before. I am happy to report that Franklin Warsh’s The Flame-Broiled Doctor brings to the table a fresh perspective that adds nuance to this timely topic.

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Opportunities in Primary Care

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surgical specialties

Medical students are bombarded with decisions regarding what they want to do with their lives, from choice of specialty to options within the field itself. Quite a few medical schools these days push for students to pursue primary care specialties. These include family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine and (sometimes) psychiatry. There are many incentives offered for students to pursue these in-demand fields: scholarships, loan repayment options, etc. Below are a few opportunities for medical students who are set on primary care fields.

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What’s causing this patient’s spontaneous laughter?

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A four-year-old girl is referred to a pediatric neurologist with new-onset generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Her father mentions that she has also had sudden episodes of spontaneous unexplained loud laughter for the past year, and they now occur almost daily. Neurological examination is unremarkable. An MRI reveals the findings seen here. Which of the following other clinical features is commonly associated with this patient’s condition?

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Free Resources Every Aspiring Doctor Should Read

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free premed resources

As you make the decision to pursue a career in medicine, you may wonder, “Where do I even start?” It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the process, but there are a lot of resources out there designed to help you. No matter what stage you’re in, below you will find free resources, information, and tools that you can take advantage of throughout the process to guide you as you navigate your medical journey.

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