Dr. Ahmed Hankir MBChB PGCert (Psychiatry) PGCert (Epidemiology) is a specialty trainee in psychiatry in the National Health Service (UK), an Associate Professor of Psychiatry with the Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies (USA), and a Senior Research Fellow for the Bedfordshire Centre for Mental Health Research in association with Cambridge University (UK).
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.
A Few Practical Thoughts for Dealing with Death in Medicine
Death is an unfortunately common event in the field of medicine. How do you deal with it? How do you keep from dwelling on it, letting it shape your practice, making you too calloused or too emotional? These are important questions to think about as you begin your journey in patient care.
Dealing with Subjectivity in Clinical Rotation Evaluations
One of my friends recently got back her evaluation from a rotation she had just completed. These evaluations, paired with the rotation’s shelf exam determine your score on that particular rotation. Therefore, these evaluations can be pretty important, especially if that is the field you plan to pursue. She looked down the column of various grading parameters and found that while she had received a satisfactory grade, it was not what she wanted. She called me the next week, crying into the phone about how she would never be able to fulfill her dreams because of this evaluation. Now, this may seem crazy to those who are not in medicine, but especially with mounting stress and increasing responsibility, the smallest things can tip people off. Meltdowns like hers are definitely not unheard of, and I have come close to having one myself. It’s hard to be a third year medical student, and the subjectivity of these grading systems that can exacerbate that.
Quiz: A Case of Broken-Heart Syndrome
A 67-year-old woman presents to the emergency room with acute chest pain and dyspnea after the death of her husband. She is hypotensive, tachycardic, and diaphoretic. A diagnosis of takotsubo cardiomyopathy is suspected. Which of the following findings best confirms this diagnosis?
The Top 3 Myths About Medical School
Maybe you have been watching Untold Stories of the E.R. on loop, and you are … Read more
"Personal Branding" as a Premed: How Knowing Who You Are and What You Stand For Can Help You Get In
I began my first job when I was just 12 years old (don’t worry, I had a work permit from my school!). It was natural for me to want to start earning my own income and save money for eventually purchasing a car. I continued to work through high school and on into college. I worked two jobs to pay for my tuition, housing, and living expenses. It wasn’t always easy, but providing for myself gave me a sense of pride and encouragement that I could achieve whatever I set my mind to. Although I wasn’t fully aware of it at the time, having this sense of determination shaped my personality and defined who I was. Eventually, sharing these experiences with medical school admission committees helped to convey my most desirable qualities as an applicant: responsibility, work ethic, perseverance, and strength.
Q&A with Dr. Adigo Atabo, Functional Medicine Specialist
Dr. Adigo Atabo, BM BS BMedSc(Hons) MRCS MIH FWACS(Plastics) IFMCP, is the founder and Medical … Read more
How Med Student Parents Make It Happen
Can you be a parent while you’re in medical school?
Listener Courtney, a 26-year-old mother of three wants to know if her med school dream is even possible. Obviously this is a two-part question since there are both moms and dads to consider, so we’ll have a mom on a future show to help. But first, Gabe Conley, Marissa Evers, Joyce “Spicy” Wahba, and Kaci McCleary invited 2004 CCOM grad Dr. Tom McNalley on the show to represent the dads. Tom was 39 with three kids of his own and a wife who was working towards her PhD when he entered med school. We’ll find out how they did it.
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What infection preceded this rash?
An 8-year-old boy is brought to the pediatrician by his mother over concerns of a new-onset rash. He is otherwise healthy, though his mother mentions that he was unwell two weeks prior to the rash appearing. On examination, numerous small salmon-pink scaly papules are seen on his trunk and extremities. Which of the following infections most likely preceded this cutaneous eruption?
Location, Location, Location! Should You Apply In-State or Out-of-State?
The AAMC Premed Team recently conducted a few twitter polls which asked premeds to share what you are looking for in a medical school. We received hundreds of responses, and while a school’s mission statement and scholarship opportunities were both important influences, the results pointed to one factor above all others: location!
Q&A with Benjamin Stobbe, Executive Director of Clinical Simulation
Ask any doctor, in any specialty and of any age, and they will remember their training in medical school. It is full of learning, new experiences, new friends, and major strides in both personal and professional development. With so many changes, dozens of obstacles in each student’s life must be confronted and overcome. Fortunately, medical schools have extraordinary people who devote their time and talent to guiding and supporting medical students through their four years. This column interviews these people at medical schools around the country to help students learn more about the resources they have available during their years in school.
Tales from the Clinic: from Theory to Practice
There is nothing to fear but fear itself.
Kylie Miller and Issac Schwantes take a break from their fairly new clinical duties to let Gabe Conley and Erik Kneller know how it’s going working with actual patients. What unexpected things have they learned? Were their professors really correct when the said that arcane bit of information would actually be useful in the real world? Were their fears (whatever they were) realized? Would they rather grandma puke every time they broke wind, or have a shingles outbreak whenever they get a passing grade or better in medical school? Dave assures them: these are the questions listeners want answers to.
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What’s causing this patient’s diminished femoral pulses?
A 56-year-old man presents with a three-month history of erectile dysfunction and bilateral buttock pain on exertion, but not at rest. His past medical history is significant for type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Examination reveals bilaterally diminished femoral pulses. What is the most likely diagnosis?
A Day In The Life Of A Medical Spouse
Days Defined By The Medical Life Have you ever wondered what the day-to-day looks like … Read more
Q&A with Dr. Perri Klass, Pediatrician and Journalist
Dr. Perri Klass is a pediatrician and journalist for the New York Times, an author, … Read more
A State of Emergency: Exploring the Specialty of Emergency Medicine
Perhaps no single aspect of medicine is more visible to the public, especially in stories, … Read more
A Creeping Eruption
A 40-year-old male presents to his family physician with a pruritic, erythematous lesion on his foot after returning from vacation in coastal Brazil a week earlier. On examination, a serpiginous, slightly elevated tunnel can be seen on the lateral aspect of his left foot. He is otherwise well, but mentions that the intense pruritus is disturbing his sleep. Which of the following treatments is the next best step?
Reflections On Witnessing My First Patient Death
He is younger than me! This is not happening. This could have been me. These … Read more
Q&A with Dr. Rozelle Kane, NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Fellow, Nutritional Researcher
Dr. Rozelle Kane is a physician, an NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Fellow with the Department of … Read more
Checking the Boxes: Should You Give Up Your Job To Do Research?
Sometimes the requirements aren’t required.
Annie wrote in to [email protected] to ask Kaci McCleary, Erik Kneller, Gabriel Conley, and Marissa Evers if she should give up her 10-year job as a radiology tech so she’d have time to do research before applying to medical school. As is often the case with these kinds of questions, the answer is no! But maybe yes. In some cases.
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