Five Student Loan Mistakes You Need to Avoid

student loan mistakes

While student loans are a necessary financial tool for most of today’s future doctors, the process of repaying them can get complex due to the many types of loans and the accrual of interest. If you make the wrong move, you could wind up facing a costly error—one that may take years to recover from. The following five student loan mistakes are a few of the worst errors that you can make. Do what you can to avoid them.

Read more

Things I Didn't Realize About Medicine Until I Became a Physician

became a physician

Recently SDN member medinquirer noted that it’s common for premed students to learn about medicine through shadowing, volunteering, working in related fields, etc. But surely, said medinquirer in his post, there are things you don’t realize about medicine until after you become a full-fledged, practicing physician. What are those things? Here are some of them of them, as shared by members of the SDN community:
SurfingDoc:
No one teaches you about billing, prior authorizations, etc. until to have to do them. There is no real “education” in those endeavors, but they are part of the system and a requirement of the job.

Read more

Residency Applicants Beware! Make Sure You Understand the Match Participation Agreement

With Match Week approaching, this is an exciting and hectic time. As you prepare for the next phase of your medical career, it is also important to understand legal issues involved in the Match®, administered by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP)®. As part of the online enrollment process for the Match, residents accept the NRMP’s Match Participation Agreement (MPA). Residents cannot register for the Match unless they accept the MPA. The MPA is a binding contract exceeding 30 pages. Many residents never read the MPA during the online enrollment process. Others may skim the MPA, but not read the terms carefully. Lurking within the MPA, however, are numerous restrictions on what residents may do before, during, and after Match Week. Applicants who fail to comply with those restrictions in the MPA may commit a match violation, which could lead to substantial penalties and adverse consequences for your medical career. Therefore, it is essential to be aware of your obligations under the MPA and to assure your compliance with the MPA.

Read more

How To Start A “Medwives” Support Group

Medical Spouse

By Amy Rakowczyk, SDN Staff Writer

When my husband and I arrived in our new city of Columbus, Ohio for him to begin his medical training, we didn’t know what to expect, but we knew we wanted one thing for sure: to find other people in our same situation and develop some friendships.
My husband is prior military, so we had grown accustomed to joining “Family Support Groups” at each new military station. It was like a ready-made family, already created for you, all you had to do was show up.

Read more

Physician Burnout: What It Is and Its Impact on Future Doctors

Physician burnout is a widely discussed topic among practicing physicians and public health researchers. Many studies have been done showing the implications of burnout on patient satisfaction, career satisfaction, and care outcomes. A few studies even try to measure the dollar cost of burnout to society. However, very few articles appear to address the impact of physician burnout on one very important demographic in medicine: future physicians. Future physicians, such as residents and medical students, are molded by the doctors who come before them. The prevalence of physician burnout is likely to affect the outlook future physicians have regarding their own careers and the possibility of them experiencing their own burnout as well.
Background
Physician burnout in the United States is becoming more common. According to one recent study, roughly 45% of physicians reported feeling signs of burnout, an increase from 39% in a study conducted in 2013. Put another way, nearly 1 out of every 2 physicians has experienced burnout or will in the future.

Read more