Guide to SDN Resources

SDN Resources

Updated October 21, 2021. When most people think of the Student Doctor Network, they think … Read more

Medical Families Affected By Hurricane Harvey

Today I woke up groggy after a night of restless sleep. I tossed and turned thinking about this storm – what has happened and what is yet to come. The devastation is unfathomable and it’s not even over yet.

I live in Galveston, TX and my husband is PGY-2 Family Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). I have grown to absolutely love the people, culture, and the medical community here. Our group of medical families is strong and we have adopted each other like family. I am so incredibly grateful for these friends, especially as we go through this heartbreaking and challenging time together.

Last week when we heard that Hurricane Harvey was coming, it looked like Galveston would be a target. It has been in the past with storms such as Hurricane Ike in 2008. Many people who work in Galveston choose not to live on the island because of the threat of storms. The mainland is supposed to be the safer option. Not this time.

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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.

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Navigating Your Future: A Roadmap to Specialty Exploration

Congratulations! You’re in medical school. What you will soon realize is that your answer to “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is going to have to change. Simply saying “doctor” is no longer enough. You need to start to figure out what kind of doctor you want to be. And, although applying to residency may feel very far off, there are steps you can do starting in your first year to help you pick the specialty that best suits you.
Most of us have fairly limited exposure to different specialties as pre-meds; mine consisted primarily of shadowing cardiothoracic surgeons. Yet there is a huge diversity among medical specialties, some of which you may have never heard about. Physiatry, anyone? Others you know of can be quite different than what you had envisioned. A friend of mine recently shadowed an interventional radiologist and was surprised by the surgical nature of the specialty.

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20 Questions: Jennifer Hatfield MHS, CCC, SLP

Jennifer Hatfield, MHS, CCC, SLP, is owner, president and speech language pathologist at Therapy and Learning Services, Inc. serving the greater Chicago and northern Indiana areas, as well as the creator of both Little Fingers Speak (an infant sign language program) and The Munch Bunch (a food exploration group for picky eaters). Hatfield received a bachelor’s degree in communication disorders with a minor in psychology from Valparaiso University in Indiana (1992). She received her master of health science degree (MHS) from Governor’s State University (1996).

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