Residency applications: How M4s should address COVID-19’s impact

Photo by Thirdman from Pexels

Photo by Thirdman from Pexels

A residency application, like any job-application portfolio, has a narrative. It is the story of your personal and professional journey though medicine. For applicants in the upcoming physician residency-application cycle, that journey was certainly affected by a year and a half of medical education during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.

READ MORE

2 NW hospitals adding residencies

Dr. Michael Macechko (from left), program director of family medicine residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest, participates in table rounds Thursday, July 8, 2021, with Dr. Takwi Muma, a post graduate year three, Dr. Jacqueline Thorpy, pgy2, and Dr. Jovan Baker, pgy2, at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville. U.A.M.S. and Washington Regional have a plan to add up to 92 physician fellowships and residencies in Northwest Arkansas by 2030. The hospital currently has 28 residents working there, so I was thinking of a photo of them at work. Check out nwaonline.com/210711Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)

Dr. Michael Macechko (from left), program director of family medicine residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest, participates in table rounds Thursday, July 8, 2021, with Dr. Takwi Muma, a post graduate year three, Dr. Jacqueline Thorpy, pgy2, and Dr. Jovan Baker, pgy2, at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville. U.A.M.S. and Washington Regional have a plan to add up to 92 physician fellowships and residencies in Northwest Arkansas by 2030. The hospital currently has 28 residents working there, so I was thinking of a photo of them at work. Check out nwaonline.com/210711Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington Regional Medical Center and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest Regional Campus recently announced a plan to add up to 92 physician residencies and fellowships in Northwest Arkansas by 2030.

READ MORE

An open letter to 2021 medical school graduates

JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images

JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images

To the medical school graduating class of 2021:

As I write this, I imagine a younger version of myself sitting next to you, not knowing, like you, what will come next.

I worried, during that anxious period between graduation and the start of residency, whether I was up to the physical and mental tasks of being a physician: the long hours and the intellectual requirements of practicing medicine. What I learned was that the most important challenges would be emotional, ethical, and philosophical, tests of the spirit and soul rather than of the body and mind.

READ MORE

Why class of 2021 medical school graduates are poised to become the change agents our health system needs

Students at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson pose after their commencement ceremony on May 14, 2021. Courtesy: University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson

Students at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson pose after their commencement ceremony on May 14, 2021.

Courtesy: University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson

With their education disrupted by the pandemic, this year’s graduating class developed “grit” through hard-earned lessons that will benefit their careers.

Every year, medical students nationwide go through a rite of passage just as I once did more than 40 years ago, completing their undergraduate medical school work and receiving their MD degrees. And every year, the ritual of a commencement speech is part ceremony, part inspiration — and also part impatience, as graduates are typically eager to move on to the next step in their careers.

READ MORE

Graduate Medical Education Positions And Physician Supply Continue To Increase: Implications Of The 2021 Residency Match

health-affairs-blog-healthprofessionals-medicaleducation-salsberg.png

The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Main Residency Match occurs in mid-March each year. At that point, tens of thousands of students nearing completion of medical school and other physicians are matched with tens of thousands of graduate medical education (GME) training positions in nearly 6,000 training programs. With the merger of the Accreditation Commission for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) accreditation system between 2015 and 2020, the “NRMP Main Match” now covers an estimated 96 percent of the physicians entering GME in the US. This post looks at some of the major takeaways from the 2021 NRMP Match including the implications for the physician workforce.

LEARN MORE

Applications to medical school are at an all-time high. What does this mean for applicants and schools?

Doctor Reviewing Applications_1200x666.jpg

As applications spike during COVID-19, candidates are asking how to make their applications stand out, while admissions officers are taking steps to handle the influx.

At Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, applications for admission to the class of 2025 are up more than 35% compared to the same time last year. At Boston University School of Medicine, they’ve risen by 26%. And at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, admissions officers have seen applications increase by 27%.

In fact, nearly two dozen medical schools have seen applications jump by at least 25% this year, according to AAMC data.

READ MORE

Medical students haven’t been deterred by the stress of Covid on hospitals and staff — they are eager to help

106863758-1617654139426-Chika-Okeke.jpg

As we head into the second year of the coronavirus pandemic, health-care workers have been applauded as heroes for fighting an unpredictable and deadly virus. It’s taken a toll on them physically and mentally, yet applications to medical schools for the 2021 academic year have surged by 18%, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

READ MORE

Personal Finance Basics for Medical Students

accountant-1238598_1280.jpg

Master the Basics of Money Management as a Premedical or Medical Student

Medical school education begins with learning the basics of science and medicine. By the end of your second year of medical school, you’ll be preparing for the United States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE) Step 1 examination (also simply called Step 1 or the Boards). Similarly, it’s never too early for future physicians to prepare for and learn the basics of personal finance and debt management. These basics are much easier to understand than pathology and anatomy—yet, changing habits and making decisions based on those personal finance basics is the real challenge.

READ MORE