The Ultimate Christmas Wish List

The holiday season is here again! If you’re a normal person, you’re shopping for gifts, watching Christmas movies and spending time with family and friends. If you’re a graduate student, like I am, you’re eyeing the happy carefree people at Starbucks, sipping their peppermint mochas, as you sink deeper into your hoodie to study. But all good finals come to an end and soon you too will get a much‐needed break and a chance to kick back with family and friends! Here’s a list of a few great gifts to get the graduate student in your life (or buy them for yourself!).

1. Giant microbes (Drew Oliver) Recreating the world’s most virulent pathogens as plush, cuddly bedpals-­ what a concept! Choose from Flesh Eating Strep Pyogenes, West Nile Virus and Salmonella, among many others! Giardia’s pretty cute. Sure, a teddy bear is nice but does it come with fimbriae capable of adhering and unleashing gastroenteritis and neonatal meningitis, like E. Coli does? I think not. 

2. Occam’s Razor (Nerdcore) Occam’s Razor, or selecting the hypothesis that makes the fewest assumptions, is an important principle in making a medical diagnosis, one you’ve no doubt heard a professor throw out as he or she encourages you to think of horses not zebras when you hear hoofbeats! Sharpen your diagnostic skills with this card game by matching key symptoms to a diagnosis! It can be played in many ways (solitaire style, gin rummy, SPOONS, among others), with any number of players and all skill levels!

3. Anatomy Coloring Book (Wynn Kapit) Much of the healthcare student’s creative energy goes into finding a great mnemonic; how dutifully we’ve all learned that Randy Travis Drinks Cold Beer! This is another way to learn the brachial plexus. Filled with page after page of beautiful illustration, this book is a creative, low stress way to brush up on your anatomy or prepare for a course. Who said coloring was just for kids?

4. EMS Monopoly (Hasbro) As if life isn’t stressful enough. Take a whirlwind ride down Intubation Intersection and Hemmorhage Highway as you race against other EMTs, medics and responders to save patient lives (while commanding as many EMS stations and hospitals as possible). Just try to avoid being sent to jail for falsifying your credentials!

5. A great book: It is difficult to imagine medicine differently than it is practiced today but almost every aspect of medicine, from ethics to training, has a rich history behind it. Curl up with a great book this winter break and learn a bit more about the rich heritage of which we’re a part.

William Osler: A Life in Medicine (Michael Bliss) Considered by many to be the father of modern medicine, William Osler shaped many aspects of medical education today, from bedside learning to the creation of the medical residency. Learn about American medicine at the turn of the century (it was once thought that most of the graduating class of Harvard Medical School couldn’t even read!) and William Osler’s lifelong contribution to it.

Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery (Michael Bliss) A contemporary of Osler’s at Johns Hopkins, Cushing is in turn considered the father of modern neurosurgery. Tackling cases deemed hopeless by the science of the day, Cushing dramatically improved survival for many intracranial tumors, and he revolutionized American medicine by introducing blood pressure measurement.

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (Siddhartha Mukherjee) The author weaves skillfully through generations, empires and schools of thought to present a comprehensive history of cancer. The book is indeed a biography of this ancient malady, discussing how it has changed over time and how we have changed in our understanding and treatment of it.

Other great books: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot) The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (Anne Fadiman)

I hope you find something on this list that piques your interest and I wish everyone the happiest and safest of holidays! 

Marsha Kocherla is a second-year medical student in Augusta. Her interests include poetry, yoga and classic movies!

Read More

Let's Talk About Regional Campuses!

The time has come to decide where the M2s want to do their clinical rotations next year. In light of that little application burning a hole in our inboxes, here is the down and dirty about the three clinical campuses in question: Rome, Savannah, and Albany.

(First years, don’t start worrying about this yet but keep reading to get a taste of these “regional campuses” you’ve probably heard about by now.)

Rome (NW):

Rome’s curriculum is a special one, which I believe most of us find intriguing, but also slightly terrifying.  Thinking about being bounced from specialty to specialty every week and having to take all the shelf exams at once can make even the most confident medical student feel unsettled. However, Rome’s longitudinal curriculum seems to boast the best method for retention of clinical knowledge and skills of each specialty. 

Switching from Peds to Psych to Neuro etc. forces you to repeatedly retrieve the information you have amassed so that your newfound expertise never gets the chance to degrade completely (as we frustrated medical students know happens at an alarmingly rapid rate). However sometimes constant repetition in a compact period produces the best results, and so Rome has four-week intensive rotations in Surgery and OBGYN, where you can become a suturing master in no time. 

As for the shelves deal, well that week will be abysmal no doubt. Our helpful students up in Rome let us know that the best approach to taking the shelves in this manner is to study for this week as if it was for Step 2. They also alluded to the fact that this made studying for Step 2 a bit easier, which is supported by their impressive CK and CS scores as a group. In addition, Rome students’ shelf scores were higher on average to Augusta’s, which is reassuring. 

Lastly, the faculty in Rome has come from all over the country and is friendly, knowledgeable and eager to teach bright-eyed students like us. This combined with the impressive hospitals and remote beauty of Rome as a city, it would be a pleasure to spend clinical years at the NW campus.

Savannah (SE):

Savannah’s regional campus trip was optional, which I think says a lot about the immediate appeal of this campus to most of us. Around 80 of us made the trip and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in one of the most beautiful cities in the Southeast. To get down to it, Savannah would be a wonderful place to live, with the beach not far away and the picturesque downtown vibrant with culture awaiting you every weekend. 

Students at this campus spend half of their time in Savannah and the other half in Brunswick, which is around half an hour away; however, they establish their residency in Savannah and stay in campus housing in the latter. The SE campus has impressive hospitals with dedicated and especially animated faculty, and it seems like it would be a delight (and quite interesting) to work alongside them the next few years. 

I would say the students there were also the most excited and enthusiastic about their campus out of the three.  Curriculum-wise, Savannah (and Albany as well) follows the same framework as Augusta, namely 4-6 week rotation blocks for each specialty and a shelf exam at the end of the rotation. 

The bottom line is, if you are looking for the classic appeals of a regional campus such as the one-on-one attention with the faculty and more hands-on opportunities in surgeries for example, all while enjoying the coastal air, Savannah might be right for you.

Albany (SW):

Albany’s campus seems to be the one to go to if you are looking to get your hands completely filthy in the surgery rotations. Now this was never explicitly stated, but after having heard about all of the campuses, the SW’s spiel was the most convincing about the chances we would have being first-assist right next to the surgeon and delivering babies left and right. For example, the Dean mentioned that we would have the opportunity to “catch” 20 babies by the end of our OBGYN rotation, whereas in Rome they estimated performing somewhere around 5-8 deliveries. This is one of many times I felt that Albany values giving us the best opportunities to learn on our rotations. 

Albany’s hospital also impressed me the most—they boast state-of-the-art technologies housed in a beautiful building with a surprisingly comfortable vibe that I can’t quite explain but I’m sure the patients love. The staff at the hospital also seemed to truly care about the patients and the quality of care given to them, from the clinical standpoint but also from emotional standpoints, which was encouraging to see and hear. And as one of the few major hospitals in the region, Albany takes in every kind of patient from all over the Southwest, providing an excellent learning environment for us burgeoning clinicians. 

Albany as a city is not much to rave about, I’ll admit, but as a whole I believe that the clinical experience will be rich enough of an adventure that a hopping nightlife probably won’t even be missed. And as for recreation, I’ll bet the Dean would love to take you fishing sometime ;)

And there you have it! Now obviously, a lot of my ramblings are based on my opinions and the general feel that I got when visiting each respective campus, so please take from them what you will. I would lastly like to reiterate that, as many people have already mentioned to us, wherever we end up doing our 3rd and 4th year rotations, it will be a remarkable learning experience and most likely all that we have ever wished for. So don’t sweat too much over the next few days about your decision and make sure to celebrate Thanksgiving to the fullest! Happy Holidays!

Lahari Shetty is a second-year medical student in Augusta.  Her interests include OBGYN (at least currently), reading, and a good conversation over coffee/tea!

Read More

Confessions of a Second Year: Beginning Again

First off, I’d like to preface by saying my views may not reflect everyone perfectly, but for the majority I think I’ve hit the nail on the head.

I recall first year days – reminiscing about the green pastures that would inevitably be second year. Boy was I misunderstood! I thought it would be first year plus, but it is indeed a whole new sport I’m playing now. Balancing all the same information and then compounding it with pharmacology, pathology, immunology, and microbiology is something I don’t think I could have been prepared to handle.  But on the positive side- things are really getting interesting. As difficult and detailed as the content may be, we’re really getting an idea of how everything plays out together. I bet most of us have had a few “Eureka!” moments that’d make Einstein roll over in his grave.

Grades- nobody is concerned about grades in the way I thought they might be. Everyone’s battle at this point is his or her own. I’m confident that there are few people that are performing much differently than before, but I’d say the majority is focused on passing the next hurdle. Our concerns reign much higher than quiz points these days. Plus, in the grand scheme, I think many of us have appropriately rationalized that any individual score doesn’t define us. (We’re really deep this year!)

You may have thought field trips were a thing of the past… until M2 year! So many of us have loved visiting our regional campuses in Rome, Albany, and Savannah this semester. Learning more about them keeps our minds set on the next stage in life. In a few months, we’ll be bright eyed and bushy tailed with patients at our disposal. May the life long learning we wrote about in our personal statements serve us well.

Did you think I wouldn’t mention it? Here it is! STEP ONE is certainly the red elephant in the room.  It’s on everybody’s mind. Many of us have already invested a couple months’ rent on resources. Some have literally been studying since day one of medical school. The stress this test brings is constant and varied throughout the population. But no matter the level of worry, we are all cognizant of it. This is not all bad. We need to be knowledgeable and informed about what is coming soon! PATIENTS! I’m so eager for the days that I’ll be trained to help people in need. If it’s just a few tests away- bring it on. I may be young, but I’m ready!

We’re so close to patient interaction we can almost taste it. The next milestone always seems to be the more desired one- and history repeats itself with the Class of 2018. We are taking each challenge head on and eager to reach the new heights we’ve been envisioning for some time now.

May the curve be ever in your favor – and ours!

Nellena Adekoya is a second-year medical student in Augusta.  Her interests include pig collecting, movie watching, and pap smearing.

Read More

Health Happenings: Georgia News Update

There is an abundance of national news headlines regarding the medical field and health policy decisions to catch your attention in recent months. However, there are also important stories happening closer to home regarding patient health and the policies and legislation being implemented to address such concerns. What follows is a brief synopsis of some of the current events happening in the healthcare field right here in Georgia.

1. Maternal Mortality

Several years ago it was reported that Georgia had the highest maternal mortality rate in the country at 28.7 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2011. Maternal mortality is defined as maternal death during pregnancy or within 42 days of the end of the pregnancy. In response, the Georgia General Assembly formed a maternal mortality panel to investigate the matter further and identify areas for improvement. The first report from that investigation has detailed 25 pregnancy-related deaths and 60 pregnancy-associated deaths from 2012 data. Several key elements of the report include: 1) Errors in classification of deaths, suggestion that improved standardization of reporting is needed; 2) African-Americans were represented at a much higher rate in the group; 3) Obesity, chronic medical conditions, and lack of access to care were cited as possible contributing factors in many incidences. The committee will continue to review cases from subsequent years and the Department of Public Health has begun work to improve clinical outcomes and reduce errors in reporting with the data already provided.

2. Cannabis Oil Research

Dr. Yong Park has been leading trials at the Medical College of Georgia regarding the use of cannabis oil in treatment of seizures after approval by the legislature and Governor Nathan Deal late last year. Updated data from the studies will be available in December but preliminary results have shown significant improvement in patients with severe forms of epilepsy, with over 200 families currently qualifying for the medical marijuana registry. The state’s Commission on Medical Cannabis met recently to study the effect of the law and whether it should be expanded to allow growth and distribution of cannabis oil within the state of Georgia. As it stands now, families may be able to possess cannabis oil but the sale of any form of marijuana still remains illegal in the state.

3. Medicaid Expansion

In the June 2012 Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act, the provision that required states to expand their Medicaid rolls was deemed unconstitutionally coercive by a majority of the court and the expansion became optional for states. The state of Georgia was one of those states that opted out under Governor Nathan Deal. Some lawmakers, however, are working to introduce legislation to expand Medicaid via the General Assembly next year. Georgia remains among the 5 states with the highest number of uninsured in the nation.

If your curiosity has been piqued by some of these topics, I encourage you to keep reading about the statewide stories that may affect medical students and providers.  Applying for and attending the Medical College of Georgia’s Advocacy Day is also a great opportunity to meet with legislators and get a first hand look at how the political process works and how decisions made in the capitol can affect the patients and the medical community throughout the state.

Jaimie Huntly is a fourth year medical student based on the Southeast campus. She is currently applying for residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her interests include health policy, global health, travel, languages, running, and reading.

Read More

Pharmaceutical Price Gouging, The People Behind It, and Why It Needs To Stop

The pharmaceuticals industry has made recent controversial headlines concerning the cost of drugs for patients. The discussion was catalyzed by the actions of CEO Martin Shkreli of Turing Pharmaceuticals, who recently raised the price of Daraprim (pyrimethamine) from $13.50 to $833 per pill after purchasing the marketing rights. Daraprim is an important for treating multiple protozoal agents, including Toxoplasma gondii infections in immunocompromised AIDS patients. This is one instance in a continuing trend of the pharmaceutical industry increasing the prices for drugs that are critical for treating patients who have to either burden the enormous cost or go without the medication they need.

Shkreli faced widespread criticism and backlash to the price increase, and despite public statements that he would lower the price, Daraprim still costs over $800 per pill. This issue is not limited to one person though. There have been many similar instances where companies have dramatically increased the prices of specialty drugs, including the cancer drug Imatinib/Gleevec from Novartis and the anti-parasitic drug albendazole, whose marketing rights were acquired by Amedra Pharmaceuticals in 2010. Furthermore, the pharmaceuticals industry wields significant power that allows these actions to be completely legal. Last year, the industry spent over $250 million dollars and employed over 1400 lobbyists to influence politicians and campaigns. Additionally, many companies spent more money on advertising than research and development, reaping billions in profits per year.

As members of the medical community, our primary objective should be to advocate for the well-being and longevity of patients under our care. While the pharmaceutical industry is crucial towards the development of new and more effective treatments and even cures for diseases, it is, at the end of the day, driven in part by the whims of people like Martin Shkreli and so many other unknown yet powerful corporate entities. Those whims are geared towards profits without regard for life, the bottom line over the impact on families, and most importantly, uninhibited capitalism. Given the power of the pharmaceutical industry and its vice-like grip over so much of medicine, physicians have a responsibility to be the voice for the millions of patients that cannot afford their medications.

Compassion, integrity, and acknowledgement of the significance of human life are the staples of the medical professional, and it is time to bring those concepts to the pharmaceutical industry as well. When the effectiveness of pharmaceuticals are measured by how much profit they can generate over a number years instead of how many years of life it can extend, it is clear that a radical change in the culture of that industry is necessary. Although pharmaceutical companies do not need to become charities overnight, reductions in the cost of medications, reductions in spending on advertisement, increasing spending on R&D and development of cost-effective manufacturing techniques, and limits on spending for political lobbying would be a great first step towards building an industry that works for humanity instead of at the expense of it.

Subhendu De is a 2nd year medical student in Augusta. His interests include medical innovation, healthcare journalism, and current technology. This hobbies include exercising, cooking, and various sci-fi and fantasy media.  

Read More

Hump Day Humor

Read More

Women in Medicine: Thoughts from Two Docs on Laney Walker

Earlier this year, Academic Medicine reported the results of the AAMC’s Women in Medicine and Science Benchmarking Survey.  This Survey was initiated in 1983, and represents a mature and comprehensive data set with over 90% (119) of the 129 medical schools in the U.S. responding.  Together, these AAMC  (American Association of Medical Colleges) data reflect a hopeful, yet slow moving change in the healthcare industry for women across all levels of academic medicine.  The proportion of female faculty new hires rose, but female faculty departures increased as well. The proportion of full-time female professors increased, but only by 7% since 2003, and this increase was offset by an increase in departures from the academe (5%).  More females are applying to medical school, but the number of male applicants also has risen.  Women still represent fewer than 50% of all medical school applicants.

Although these AAMC data do not promote much optimism, female health care professionals in the beginning, middle and end of their careers must continue striving for a seat at the table.  Consider these 4 tips from two senior MCG faculty members who served as faculty participants during this forum:

1. It’s Vital to Know Your Mission and Purpose

Reflect on your life story and identify your passions.  The way you deal with early challenges in your life often defines you.  So ask yourself:  What is my life story?  What parts of this story have shaped the person I am today – have resulted in the values I treasure?  What am I truly passionate about?

It is likely that your passions, if authentic, will intensify and converge into a short ‘list’ over the years.  This narrowing can serve as a compass on your career path, helping you to define your priorities – both personal and professional.

2. Take Charge of Your Career

You are in charge of and responsible for your own career.  If you decide to sit idle and let your career “happen” the outcome is uncertain.  However, if you take the reins and guide your journey mindful of your purpose, with your specific goals in sight, and also remain open to support from others; you will determine your own destiny and legacy.

• What are my near term career goals?
• Who provides support for me in my network as I strive to achieve these goals?
• Who are my mentors?
• Who are my advocates/sponsors/champions?

3. Know your Priorities – both Personal and Professional.  What are your boundaries at home and work and always operate within them. 

4. Learn How to Negotiate.  When it comes to negotiation, confidence is not masculine or feminine.  It’s a practice.

As Steven Covey has advised us:   “Begin with the end in mind.”  And of course, enjoy the journey, too!

Honoring the light in you all -

Nita & Caryl

This is a guest post from Drs. Maihle and Hess.  Thank you for sharing your great wisdom with us!

Dr. Nita Maihle is a cancer biologist who was recruited to GRU in 2013 to develop educational programming for the GRU Cancer Center. She also runs a research laboratory where she studies breast, ovarian and other women’s cancers, with a focus on biologically targeted therapies and biomarkers for early detection. She was on faculty at the Mayo Clinic for 15 years, and Yale University for over a decade. During her career she has served in numerous leadership capacities, including service on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Cancer Institute, as well as President of Women in Cancer Research, a ~7,000 member Council of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Dr. Caryl Hess joined GRU in 2014 as  the Director of the Office of Leadership Development.  She oversees the GRU Leadership Academy, a program which promotes the development of leadership skills and abilities.  She is the former director of the Cleveland Clinic Academy where she oversaw the leadership and management curriculum and courses for 43,000 physicians, nurses, and administrators and directed various external, revenue-generating programs, including the Samson Global Leadership Academy, Cleveland Clinic's global leadership program for healthcare executives.  She has conducted research, presented and spoken to diverse audiences on the topics of leadership development, curriculum and technology.  

Read More

The Away Rotation: Demystified

So you want to do an away rotation. Or at least, you think you do… Here’s a quick guide from a fourth year, who’s been there, and done that, twice.

1. Talk to the advisor in your specialty of interest. They will give you honest, accurate advice on the positives and negatives of rotating away from MCG. For many fields, away rotations are a great way to earn an interview, and some programs will let the month serve as your interview, guaranteeing the option to put that program on your rank list. Also, the month will give you a good “feel” for the training program at that institution. For some competitive fields, away rotations are almost an unofficial requirement. However, some specialties may recommend not doing away rotations at all, as the benefit may not be worth the time, expense, and travel.

2. Research programs. Again, talk to your advisor. Ask where previous MCG students have had success matching and if they have any recommendations on specific programs. Most away rotations are listed on VSAS, but if you do not see a specific program you are interested in, be sure to check that school’s website, as many programs have separate, individual applications.

3. Decide on where to apply, and remember, they can be competitive. Plan your finances accordingly, as most cities with medical schools are more expensive than Augusta, and you will have to find a place to sublet since most schools do not guarantee housing for visiting students.  Rotatingroom.com, craigstlist.com, and airbnb.com are good sites to search. Contacting old college friends on facebook and organization list-servs are also good options to find housing. You can also offset costs by listing your own apartment on such sites for medical students visiting MCG. Once you decide on a list, plan on filling out A LOT of immunization forms, visiting your doctor for signatures, and possibly acquiring letters of recommendation or writing a personal statement. Yes, this part is a headache.

4. Accept a rotation, (or 2 or even 3). Review MCG’s curriculum requirements frequently to ensure the rotation will count towards graduation. As of Fall 2015, two “off-campus” electives can count towards graduation, as long as they are “sufficiently different” in content. The away rotation is a great way to demonstrate to residency programs you are willing to leave the South, so consider programs in a different part of the US (or even internationally).

5. Complete away rotation(s), and bring your A game. Remember, the rotation functions like a month-long interview, and you should try your best to show you are interested, engaged, and knowledgeable. In addition to reading about your patients, asking thoughtful questions, and arriving to all activities promptly and ready to work, interact with as many faculty members as you can. If you can, try to set up brief, private meetings with attendings, and bring your transcript, CV, and personal statement. While some programs may allow such meetings to serve as your interview, for those that don’t, the impression you make may score you a formal interview a few months later. It may be reasonable to ask a faculty member you worked closely with for a letter of recommendation. Getting involved with a case report may be a viable option, as well. All this being said, avoid being overbearing, obnoxiously “gunning”, or hard to work with, and have fun. While programs want smart, enthusiastic residents, they also want people who are easy to work with and have interests outside of medicine. Take advantage of your free time to explore a new city, catch up with old friends, and above all, enjoy yourself.

Caroline Lewis is a fourth-year medical student based out of the Southeast campus. She is currently applying to residency in Dermatology. Outside of school, she enjoys yoga, cooking and trying new restaurants, and seeing live music.

Read More

Naturally Distracted

Athens is a great place for a medical student to be distracted. Even if immune to the temptations of the well-known nightlife, musical and sporting scenes in this town, the natural setting of Athens can get a student's attention during the day.

What do I mean by natural setting? While certainly a bustling city, Athens is surrounded by woods and farmland and has not quite been phagocytized by the Atlanta metropolitan area. Attractive natural settings like the Georgia Botanical Gardens and the Sandy Creek Nature Center are as accessible as Kroger and Publix. Sometimes the wonders of nature can be difficult to escape. My backyard, within the Athens city limits and near the medical campus, has hosted a wide variety of avian species - at least 21 since I started keeping track.

Visually appealing and aurally grating in similar measure, Blue Jays have a way of making their presence known that can test the nerves. Today, I sat at my desk trying to tune out a typical Blue Jay ruckus while I stared at a schematic of the clotting cascade. Then, all of the sudden, the Blue Jays started going nuts. I looked out my window in irritation and counted about five in the thicket that protrudes into my yard. As I peered, wondering why they had to be such jerks and contemplating banging on the window, I noticed some large yellow talons on a tree branch in the thicket and then spotted the rest of the raptor just as it launched out, Blue Jays in pursuit. I was able to get a good enough look as it did so to ID it (with the help of the Audubon Society website) as a Cooper's Hawk: chest markings much like a Brown Thrasher's, adapted for camouflage in thick cover, and a banded tail. Backyard species #22.

Brown Thrashers hang out in my backyard; I'll see one at least half the time I look out the window. During the occasional stressful day of my first year, I'd get a kick out of watching them peck the ground in what looks like stop motion animation/agitation. Fast forward a year and I'm stuffing crunchy peanut butter into a laundry pole for the woodpeckers before class. My habit of paying attention to birds that has developed may be blamed on Athens, myself or perhaps even the emergence of a physician's eye for details. But since I wish to use such an eye as a physician - and I'm not one yet - I now abandon that inquiry and return to the clotting cascade.

Emerson Floyd is a second-year Athens student who grew up in Macon, GA and is trying to use his time wisely. 

Read More

Hump Day Humor

Read More

If I only knew then what I know now: A Primer for M2's

As I begin to write this article, generally unaware of the ultimate audience that it will reach, and reflect on the past year of my medical education, I can’t help but to appreciate the brevity of it all. You begin the first days of second year excited to learn “real medicine,” having paid your dues to the basic sciences. You tell yourself that you’re going to nail pathology, pharmacology, and microbiology. You go to class, you try new study techniques and strategies. You spend the entire second year with the inevitability of STEP 1 looming in the back of your mind, powerless to change the fact that “summer is coming.” And then, somewhere along the way, you stop and realize that it’s already over. You never really found the time to go back through your pharm-cards on weekends, and you never actually read that whole section of Harrison’s like you had intended. But now you’re past STEP 1, you’re on the wards, and none of that really seems to have made all that big of a difference. 

I think that my point in all of this is that despite all of the advice that I’m about to humbly bestow upon my peers, the underlying message is that advice is great, but experience is better. By that I mean you’re going to collect the input of as many people as you can who’ve come before you, buy the recommended books and study aids, even emulate their study schedules, and in the end the only way that you will find what works for you is to live and do it for yourself. You’ll come out on the other side of STEP 1 with the knowledge and experience necessary for the wards, and most certainly your own formula for success to pass onto the next generation. All that being said, I’ve put together what I think are some of the most universally applicable pieces of advice for new M2 students.

1. Don’t let the dark cloud of STEP 1 interfere with what you’re learning now. Yes, that day will eventually come; and yes, you will (hopefully) be well prepared. But in my honest opinion, the most impactful studying that you can possibly do now and through January is to learn everything in the curriculum, and learn it well. Learn for understanding, to answer the why questions, not just the what questions. Go to class, and go to class prepared. If you read ahead, or at least read First Aid/Pathoma beforehand, you’ll be able to ask questions to solidify your knowledge. If you choose not to go to class, I would at least set aside those blocks of time for extra reading and review so that you don’t let yourself blow it off after the first pass. In all honesty, the better you learn it now (when there’s actually a reasonable amount of time to do so), the less you’ll have to work this summer. If you do feel compelled to do something, I would simply suggest annotating First Aid or your primary review resource as you go along with supplementary details. 

2. If you start thinking about your curriculum vitae now, you won’t have to kick yourself later. This is mostly advice from the "what I wish I had done" file. As you begin third year, you soon realize that you need a current copy of your CV earlier than you think. Some competitive externships prefer students to apply up to 9-12 months before the actual clerkship start date, and many of those applications require you to attach a current CV. While it may not seem like a big deal (maybe you figure you can knock one out in a weekend or so),  once you start to factor in the long hours you spend on clerkships (possibly on weekends too!) and the studying/sleeping you’ll fill your free time with, it quickly becomes very easy to blow off until the last minute. When that happens you’ll find yourself scrambling to remember when you did that one volunteer program, or what the title of that poster actually was; you might even forget something in the shuffle of it all. In an ideal world, I would strongly recommend that in your second year you begin to assemble a working CV as you go along. That way you can identify areas where you could use some beefing up while still allowing yourself time to actually do so. Given that I currently can name zero people who have done that in their second year, a more practical alternative would be to keep a running list of “have done” and “will do” items to eventually put into your CV. Keep track of it in Evernote or mac notes, so you can add things as they sporadically pop into your brain. That way, when you do sit down for that dedicated weekend, you’ll at least have a decent list to work off of, alleviating some of the work load from your long-term memory. All-in-all, so long as you have a mostly complete CV going into your third year, you’ll be in great shape.

3. If you haven’t found a hobby or other way to de-stress yet, now is time to find one. If you haven’t realized this yet, medical school can be stressful. It can be really stressful. STEP 1 will inevitably heap even more anxiety onto your psyche, and if you’re anything like me that can get uncomfortable overwhelming. That is why I make it a priority to take time dedicated to myself now and then to refocus and blow off steam. Currently, my outlets consist of exercise (mostly running/weight training) and cooking (teaching myself/experimenting, not just fixing grilled cheese). Those are just my personal examples, and frankly I don’t think it much matters what you do, so long as you give yourself an outlet to shut your brain off and not think about pharmacology or pathology for a while. This will become crucial in the summer when you take STEP study breaks; and you had better be taking some study breaks. Another benefit of having a “thing” is that it becomes a terrific topic of conversation when you get to residency interviews. I learned this from a recent graduate who shared with me how he came to be known as the “guy who has run every day for the last seven years.” While I’m not suggesting that you try and emulate this by doing yoga for 5 hours per day for the next two years, I am more so encouraging you to have “a thing.” By this I mean you can kill two birds with one stone by cultivating a hobby that both helps you relax and helps you to differentiate yourself from other candidates down the line. So whatever you decide to do, just make sure it brings you some kind of joy, and then own it for the next few years.

Ultimately, I cannot say with any certainty that these things will impact your second year whatsoever. To reiterate my opening thoughts, everyone has their own experiences, anecdotes, and advice that they accumulate along their personal path to becoming an MD. My hope in writing this article is that a few of these things will resonate, and make the second year of medical school just a little bit easier to manage. I wish all of the second year students the best of luck not only on the fledgling academic year, but also with STEP 1 and the ensuing transition to clinical education. Have a great year!

Kenneth Sack is a third year Athens student and graduate of LSU planning on training in Orthopedic Surgery. He is from Alpharetta, GA and spends whatever time he isn't studying on exercising, cooking, being outdoors, or binge-watching The Walking Dead.

Read More

What's your plan? Understanding Healthcare Policy Proposals

Standing in the aftermath of the second Republican Presidential debate, we as Americans now recognize that Presidential campaign season has officially begun. We also are in the wake of the controversial passage and rocky implementation of the Affordable Care Act—popularly known as Obamacare—and we will now hold our first national election in which the law’s advocate-in-chief will not be on the ballot. Republican and Democratic candidates alike will offer their perspectives on the law, its strengths, its weaknesses, and what should be done in response to them. As I talk with my friends in and out of medical school, several questions bubble to the surface: how should we as voters react when we hear candidates speak about Obamacare and their respective health plans? What would be helpful for us to remember in the midst of those conversations?

A few things will help us as citizens navigate these choppy campaign waters. First, do not expect a candidate to give a full plan with nuanced details during a speech, rally, or interview. Winning votes determines the success or failure of candidates, and therefore getting votes becomes the candidates’ ultimate focus. In order to do this, any candidate worth her or his salt simply must speak in language and ideas that as many voters as possible can understand. 

            

While this political reality has the advantage of engaging many citizens regardless of background or education level in the political process, it has the inherent limitation of cutting short some of the more substantive policy discussions that many voters would like to see in a campaign. Health care is a great example of this. Health policy is a complicated field that candidates must boil down into digestible phrases we hear such as “repeal and replace Obamacare” or “universal health care.”  

This leaves many voters wanting to know more. For example, repeal Obamacare and replace it with what exactly? What do you mean by universal health care? What is your plan?

For voters who find themselves asking these questions, a few things will be helpful to know. First, while every serious candidate will have a health policy proposal, the authors of those plans will be campaign advisors, not the candidates themselves. Many of these advisors are health policy scholars who work either in academia, at think tanks, or sometimes for the campaign itself. Whereas candidates spend their time trying to get votes, policymakers spend their careers focusing on ideas, such as the details of how to reform Medicare to make it more financially sustainable and improve reimbursement rates for health care providers. They write papers, publish studies, give speeches, and make friends with (prospective) candidates. When candidates make it to the point in the campaign where they need to offer a health policy proposal, they (and their campaign staffs) often turn to their friends and allies in the policy world.  

If you really are interested in the details of a candidate’s plan, find out who is writing their health plan and then look at what that policy person has spent a career advocating. In the age of the Internet, any Google search will find you a list of publications, many of which will be electronic. Read those and read about the think tanks that employ or have employed those advisors. With a little research, you will gain a good understanding of some of the details in a plan and especially how the plan’s author thinks.

As you might imagine, in the same way that different candidates have different ideologies, different policymakers do, too. So Republican candidates turn to conservative health policy scholars and think tanks, and Democratic candidates look to progressive or liberal ones. For example, The Heritage Foundation (http://www.heritage.org) and American Enterprise Institute (https://www.aei.org) are both well-known conservative think tanks. The Center for American Progress (https://www.americanprogress.org) promotes progressive or liberal policies. Looking through publications on each of these sites will enable you to understand what types of policies a policymaker is likely to promote. It is important to remember that much of public policy is about priorities and means—what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there. As students training in health care fields, you will be able to use your clinical experiences to understand how you feel about whether a set of policy proposals will allow health care providers like you to provide better care to patients across the country.

Gaining a better understanding of a health policy advisor and her or his health policy preferences is critically important because any policy plan has to meet the political reality of governing. Plans can change as a candidate-turned-President looks at what she or he must put in a plan in order to get it passed by Congress. Many of the campaign advisors will remain advisors during the governing process, either formally or informally. These policy advisors will help Presidents navigate new political waters.

In summary, campaign season is here again, and many of us will want to know more about the health policy proposals of different candidates. In order to do this, focus not only on the candidate but also on the author of the candidate’s plan. Her or his track record along with her or his current and former employers are good markers for better understanding the thinking that will inform not only the candidate’s health policy proposal during campaign season but also the adjustments that she or he will need to make when confronted with the political realities of governing from the White House.

Jonathan Crowe is a second-year medical student in Augusta. His health care interests include caring for patients, health policy, global health, and medical technology innovation.  When he is not at school, you can find him sleeping in, hunting for good barbeque, listening to music a little too loudly, spending time with friends, and loving most things either athletic or outdoors.

Read More

Top Three Attending "Pearls" for Success

We’re lucky to have such great attendings at our school who are more than willing to share what they know.  Here are three of my favorite attending “pearls”:

1.  “Trust but verify.”

I heard this saying from multiple attendings, and for good reason.  The EMR is great for a lot of things, but it can be full of incorrect information that gets copy and pasted over time.  I had a patient who had a purportedly negative tobacco history.  Wrong – he had a 50 pack year history and was still smoking.  Verify your patient’s histories.  Make sure orders that are put in for your patient have actually been done, especially medication orders (check the MAR).  Verify lab and radiology results - don’t just take someone’s word for it.   If something feels off, verify.

2.  “For us, we see this all the time, every day.  But for you, it’s happening for the first time.”

I’ve loved this quote ever since I heard it early in my third year.  Once you’ve been in the hospital for a while, things get very routine.  This quote reminds me to not become too nonchalant, especially when it comes to informing patients about major treatment plans.   Break the news slowly, don’t rush it, and help the patient understand.  This is true for even the most common of things.  I underwent an endoscopy a few months ago.  Although I knew it was a fairly routine procedure, I was still nervous when they wheeled me into the endoscopy suite.  I realized then how grateful I was to be told what was happening, even if it was just “we’re setting up the meds.”  Do your patients a favor – keep them in the loop and explain what’s happening.  It’ll go a long way for patient comfort. 

3.  “You should stay here 24 hours.  You’re paying for your education.  The longer you stay, the cheaper it is per hour.”

While nobody wants to maximize his or her price per hour ratios by staying longer, you can maximize the quality of time that you are at school by being proactive.  You’re paying to be wrong now before they pay you to be right later.  Get as involved in your patient’s care as possible – ask why you’re doing what you’re doing.  Anybody can follow an algorithm, but you’re in school to learn why the algorithm is the way it is and what to do when the algorithm doesn’t work (which seems to be the case more often than not).  Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty, and take the initiative to ask to do procedures.  Your time in the OR is the best time to get signed off on a lot of procedures (especially foley caths) as is your time on Labor and Delivery (ask to practice starting IVs).  If your patient needs an EKG, ask the nurse if you can do it (put on the leads yourself and learn how to work the machine).  You have to be at school for several hours a day – might as well make it worth it! 

Jennifer Simpliciano is a fourth-year medical student based out of the Augusta campus.  She is currently applying for residency in Internal Medicine.  Outside of school, she enjoys going ballroom dancing, eating too many desserts, and singing loudly in the car to 90s music.

Read More

Local Med Student Gets Out of the Way

Augusta, Georgia – A third-year medical student at Medical College of Georgia received overwhelming praise from administration last week for his unexpected capacity to not be in the way.

“We were just blown away by how naturally it came to him,” commented Dr. Zachary Greco. “At first we thought he was just a chair or table or something, but then we realized it was just because he was getting in our way so much less than his classmates.”

Ryan Johnson, an Augusta native, says that he is unsure how he developed the talent.

“I mean, I spent all summer really cramming basic science for the USMLE…but I guess little by little, the isolation was really teaching me how to blend into the background.”

Ryan’s surgical preceptor was especially vocal about his unique skill-set. “I wish all students would follow the lead of this young man. This is literally the first student that I have ever not hated. The first one! And I’ve been teaching students for over thirty years!” His excitement was palpable.

Ryan tells us that he never expected to be so good at something as a third-year student. When pressed for more details on how other students could work to be less in the way, he was genuinely at a loss. “I really can’t tell you how I keep coming into the hospital every day and be not in the way for fourteen to sixteen hours. I guess I’ll need to look a little deeper inside to find the answers.” He tells us that one day he hopes to teach future generations of medical students to be as little of an inconvenience as he has become.

Although the attention has been mostly positive, not everyone is particularly happy about the revelation. “I’m pretty convinced he’s cheating somehow”, said George Mint, a jealous classmate. “I’ve known him since first-year, and I’ve never seen him stay out of the way like he is this year. There’s something fishy about how good he’s gotten in such a short amount of time.”

Fishy or not, Ryan looks to be commended by faculty in the form of a kindly-worded email later this year. Naturally, he is modest about all of the recent acclaim.

“I don’t do it for the pats on the back. I do it because getting out of the way is my calling, and it helps me get yelled at less.”

Andrew J. Jones is a third-year medical student based out of the Augusta campus. His interests include history, science fiction, space travel, obscure television series, B movies, and playing musical instruments by ear.

Read More

Hidden in Augusta: Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival

Although not very “hidden” in Augusta, Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival only comes once a year, and I guarantee you won’t want to miss it!  The festival is held downtown and features a fine arts and crafts market, live performances, and delicious foods and delicacies from around the world.  

The festival is a fantastic excuse to get out of the classroom and hospital, soak up some sun, and support local artists and talent.  Take a walk on the streets of downtown to admire the colorful and imaginative fine arts and crafts from the young and old.  Perhaps you’ll be inspired to start your own project or find that one piece of artwork that completes your living room décor.  

When you’ve worked up an appetite from all the walking, head over to the food stalls to satisfy your hunger.  Here you can try foods from Cyprus, Greece, Nigeria, Philippines, Spain, Turkey, and more!  Make sure you bring enough money so you can try everything.  You’ll have so many mouth-watering options, you’ll probably have to come back on multiple days just to try a little bit of everything!  

After you’ve had your fill from around the world, settle in for some live entertainment.  There are multiple stages around the festival for you to choose from, so you’re bound to find something you like from jazz music to Irish dancing to indie rock.  

Everyone deserves a break.  Take some time off this weekend, and check out Arts in the Heart!  

What:  Arts in the Hearts of Augusta Festival

Where:  Broad Street and the Augusta Common downtown

When: 

Friday, September 18 from 5PM – 9PM

Saturday, September 19 from 11AM – 9PM

Sunday, September 20 from 12PM – 7PM

Cost:  A limited amount of badges are on sale at SunTrust Bank locations across Augusta for $5.  Gate price is $10 (badges are good for the whole weekend).  Children 10 and under are free.  

For menus and performance schedules, visit http://www.artsintheheartofaugusta.com/

Photo courtesy of artsintheheartofaugusta.com

Hidden in Augusta is a series featuring suggestions for events, restaurants, and activities in Augusta.  If you have a suggestion, please email panacea.mcg@gmail.com.    

Read More

How to Be an Anatomy Rockstar

Snapping on your gloves, you enter the cadaver lab for the first time. The stench of formaldehyde hits you like a ton of bricks. Undaunted, you walk through crowds of anxious medical students toward your table and lab mates.

Are you pumped? 

Read More

Check us out every day this week!

Welcome to Panacea, a blog run by MCG medical students that will feature content made to enhance (or possibly distract you from) your educational experience!  We will be posting something every day this week to celebrate our opening week.  After that, check us out every Friday for our feature blog posts and periodically throughout the week for other goodies we might post.  Follow us on facebook and twitter for even more updates.  

Read More