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Medical training and practice will be hard on you, and on your peers. Surviving the stress takes preparation and awareness. We'll hear how one medical student used self-care to prepare for her transition to medical school, and AMSA's Rebekah Apple explains the importance of resilience and some steps for building it up.

Biases in medical training are affecting medical students, but many--including you--may not appreciate that it’s happening. Fixing the problem won’t be easy, but some trainees themselves are working to address pervasive bias in medicine from the ground up. For the students trying to intervene, the first step in addressing bias in medical training is getting everyone to recognize how deeply--and sometimes subtly--ingrained it can be. Medical students Tehreem Rehman and Jes Minor started the Systemic Disease project. Among other goals, the project aims to gather stories from those exposed to or victimized by bias in medicine to start a conversation and increase awareness. To learn more about the Systemic Disease project, visit their website at http://www.systemicdisease.com or follow @systemicdisease on Twitter. You can also find Tehreem (@tehreemrehman) and Jes (@jes_minor) on Twitter as well.

As a physician, you won’t be able to solve all of your patients’ problems. Some of those problems, especially systemic ones, will remain just out of a doctor’s reach. In this episode, we learn how to extend that reach. When it seems like medicine isn’t enough, that caring for patients goes beyond the scope of your abilities as solitary provider, or that the problems facing your patients are deeper and more entrenched than medicine can possibly address, those thoughts can be demoralizing. It may even make you question medicine as a career choice. But you aren’t the first to come to that realization, and today we have some concrete advice for you from Dr. Leana Wen, commissioner of health for the city of Baltimore.

It no longer seems impossible, or even unlikely: What happens if your medical center itself comes under attack? Have you thought about your role? What would you do? What should you do? Would you have time in the moment itself to weigh ethical considerations, personal safety and protocol? Probably not. In this episode, we get an inside look at a training exercise preparing health care providers for an attack on their own institution, and learn about the bioethics of just such a situation.

Have you ever advised a patient to eat healthy and exercise, then hit up the McDonald's drive-through on the way home from work? Maybe it’s time for a wake-up call. Hear from one student who had a wake-up call while driving down the highway with a cup of curly fries, and how she made a fitting realization that would improve her life as a med student and she hopes will improve her relationships with patients.

Are you being taught how to help patients understand all of the overwhelming medical messaging they’re getting? Though the way that medical students are taught has changed gradually over the past century, the way patients learn has lurched forward. Arguably, the modern physician’s job has changed accordingly. The question is whether the physician will be ready for that job. Dr. Rishi Desai found himself on the leading edge of creating useful health information for patients and future physicians alike. Today, he’s the chief medical officer of Osmosis, a learning platform for medical students, where he is one of the people outside traditional medical education helping to shape the way medical students actually learn.

You’ve spent months on a complex research project, from conception to designing your study, to collecting data and coming to your conclusions. It’s all enormously complicated—now, explain the whole thing in 60 seconds. In the 2016 Match, fourth-year M.D. match applicants in the U.S. listed 4.7 presentations, abstracts or publications in their professional profile on average. Though the importance of those experiences may vary by specialty or even residency program, the ability to boil your project down to a quick explanation tailored to your audience is critical.

Med students get pretty serious about the resources they use to study. What goes into making some of these tools? In this episode, med student Sarah Smith spoke with the founders of OnlineMedEd, Dr. Dustyn Williams and Jamie Fitch, about the videos and other resources they put together to help medical students.

What have you heard about primary care? That there's "too much paperwork?" Or that you're "too smart" to go into it? Or, paradoxically, that "there's too much to learn"? In the spirit of National Primary Care Week, let's talk about the so-called stigma of primary care, and its effect on med students' career choices. Dr. Wanda Filer, a former president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, addresses the "stigma" head on--and touches on the joy a family physician can find in life-long care of patients.

Even as the definition of a “nontraditional” med student has shifted, there are outliers. Elaine Luther is one such outlier. But medical school isn't just about the medical career that follows. It is itself an accomplishment—and a statement. Here's Elaine's story about what stood in her way, and the night that refocused her on a dream she'd been denied.

What's it like to interview for a residency position in neurosurgery? How does it compare to interviewing in other specialties? In this episode, medical students share their experiences and questions, including tackling rumors about the neurosurgery interview process.

Leaving your personal statement to the last minute will lead to a frantic search for the right topic and in turn, not your best work. Many of the timelines you’ll see out there place preparing for your residency application in your third year of medical school. But waiting to think about starting on your application materials until then, could mean you’re missing out on getting the most out of a meaningful experience that took place in your earlier years.

A week and a half ago, Hurricane Harvey struck coastal Texas. Even now, Hurricane Irma is slamming into Caribbean islands and will soon approach the Southeastern United States. T.J. La, student editor of The New Physician magazine, grew up in Houston and experienced Harvey both as a resident of the city and as a future physician.

Learn how to be a effective leader. We've all heard that leaders aren't born, they are made. But who "makes" them, and how? In this episode, Drs. Deborah Hall and Suzanne Rose explore the importance of medical leadership, starting in medical school, and how med students can improve their leadership skills.

You’re unlikely to attend only one residency interview, and even then, it’s doubtful that it’d be right in your backyard. Traveling for residency interviews adds to the list of those hidden costs around the corner in med school, and sometimes the best way to prepare yourself is by hearing from those who did it before you.

Why do program directors ask the questions they ask during the residency interview? What are they looking for in your response, and how do they evaluate the success of your answer? We turned the tables on Dr. Tom Kuivila, Residency Program Director in Orthopaedic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic, to learn why program directors ask the questions they ask, what kinds of answers they're looking for, and how to give the right responses during the interview process. Hear how he would answer both simple and tough questions in a residency interview.

Some residency programs host a social event for you to meet current residents and interns from the program before the formal interview takes place. A former program director and recent residency applicant explain what you should be looking for out of this experience, how you can use it to your advantage, and how important this interaction really is to residency programs during their selection process.

How can you establish and manage your online presence as a future physician? And better yet, why is that important to your future practice? We caught up with Dr. Kevin Pho, founder and editor of KevinMD.com, and a leading physician on social media.

The ACGME voted this year to change the rules on work hour restrictions, allowing interns to work up to 24 hour shifts with an additional four hours of transitions in care--an increase from the 16 hour shift restriction that was previously in place. How can you stay resilient going into your intern year with this change?

Your prerequisites, GPA, MCAT prep and essay answers have gotten you this far. Now it’s time to ace the med school interview. Setting your nerves aside and facing a med school interviewer--does it really all come down to this moment? How do you get ready? What should you do once you are there, on campus? What should you not do? We spoke with two experienced interviewers and experts about common mistakes they’ve seen made, how to avoid them, and what medical schools want to find out about applicants during the interview day itself.

You’ve completed an international elective or global health experience; so, what’s next? Explore how you can maximize the value of that experience and what next steps you should be taking upon your return with Dr. Joseph C. Kolars, Senior Associate Dean for Education and Global Initiatives at the University of Michigan Medical School.

It’s a ritual so common among medical students that it would be cliche--if it weren’t so solemn. For some medical students, the experience of anatomy lab--when the medical student first pulls back the shroud on a body donated for study--marks the boundary that separates physicians from lay persons. For some medical students, it’s their first tactile exposure to the magical inner workings of the human body. For some, it’s a first shared team experience, working together with colleagues just met. Though much of the experience of anatomy lab is relatively similar across medical schools, for each individual, that first moment is a unique one.

You’ll hear about the classes, the professors. You’ll hear horror stories about particular rotations. Friends and other med students will tell you all about exams. But when it comes to looking at the big picture of being a med student, they may be leaving out the social and emotional sides. Here are five true things no one will tell you about medical school.

Medical training and practice will be hard on you, and on your peers. Surviving the stress takes preparation and awareness. We'll hear how one medical student used self-care to prepare for her transition to medical school, and AMSA's Rebekah Apple explains the importance of resilience and some steps for building it up.

Leaving your personal statement to the last minute will lead to a frantic search for the right topic and in turn, not your best work. Many of the timelines you’ll see out there place preparing for your residency application in your third year of medical school. But waiting to think about starting on your application materials until then, could mean you’re missing out on getting the most out of a meaningful experience that took place in your earlier years. Corbb O’Connor, one of AMSA’s Applied Match Preparation, or AMP, program coaches shares how to get started early to craft an impactful application.

Boiling yourself down to one page may seem impossible, or maybe even a little depressing. It doesn’t have to be that way--in fact, it shouldn’t be that way. The personal statement is a chance to connect all of the dots. It’s an opportunity to explain your interest in medicine--and your value to it--better than a Step 1 score. Medical schools typically offer some guidance on developing your personal statement, at least in the form of a few examples or templates. As much as you like, though, it doesn’t really boil down to a step-by-step, paint-by-numbers guide. Dr. Daniel Gouger says your personal statement is the product of your unique experiences and what you’ve internalized from those experiences. To that end, we won’t tell you what to do in your personal statement. But here are some don’ts.

Medical school is traumatic at nearly every stage of training. The resulting wear and tear on medical students has lasting, detrimental effects. One of those is substance abuse. Does it have to be this way? What are the factors that contribute to substance abuse among medical students? From ineffective feedback to the stress of the residency Sorting Hat to the toxic, corrosive nature of the physician ego, Dr. Daniel Gouger--AMSA’s Education and Advocacy Fellow--walked ad lib’s Pete Thomson through some underlying causes.

Medical school comes at a high cost; are you ready to take on thousands debt? Maybe you don’t have to. In fact, you could leave with none at all. Joining the armed forces is one way to have your medical school paid for in its entirety, but what’s the trade-off? AMSA ad lib sat down with Aaron Saguil, MD, FAAFP, LTC (P), USA, MC. Dr. Saguil serves as the Associate Dean for Recruitment and Admissions at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine—America’s Medical School—in Bethesda, Maryland, and shares the pros, cons, and why it may or may not be the right fit for you.

Medical students at the Yale School of Medicine have recognized the need for understanding sociology and health justice as an important part in the development of physician professional identity, as well as how these principles underscore the social determinants of health that impact patient care. The group, in part led by Robert Rock, Yale School of Medicine class of 2017, engaged in a curricular reform project within their institution. Their commitment progressed from what began as a student lead health justice elective course to a comprehensive health justice curriculum for their medical school that's further supported by an interprofessional student group for health justice. Dr. Daniel Gouger, AMSA's 2017-2018 Education & Advocacy Fellow, spoke with Robert Rock on ways you can implement changes in your med school too.

For rising fourth-year medical students, the whirlwind of the residency application and matching process is about to kick off. It's time to get those ducks in a row. Your career is about to get real. And one of the first formal steps is getting all of your application materials into the MyERAS system. For those not yet familiar with it, the Electronic Residency Application Service, or ERAS, is the system most U.S. residency programs use for a centralized application system. It includes tools for letters of recommendation, filtering programs to apply to, responding to messages from programs, and even scheduling interviews when the time for that comes. MyERAS is the portal that applicants themselves use for their information and materials. And June 6 is when it opens for residency applicants aiming for the 2018 Match.

Med school admissions isn't just about GPA and MCAT scores anymore. Applicants have to explain how medicine is a good fit for them, and vice versa. But how do they convey that in their application and to a medical school admissions committee? We talk to admissions expert Dr. Gary Rose.

Last Friday, Dr. Vivek Murthy was abruptly replaced in his position as the U.S. surgeon general. In this episode, we look back at the inspiring words of one of the youngest surgeons general. As the 19th Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Murthy worked to educate the general public about their own health. But drawing on his own background and lessons from his personal journey, he offered sage advice at AMSA’s 2015 convention to medical students about overcoming challenges they’ll face in training, the value of their youth and enthusiasm, and the importance of taking risks.

Don’t think you’ll be affected by addiction? If you’ve spent any time on the wards, you’ve almost certainly heard disparaging comments about patients suffering from substance abuse disorders—you may have even made some of those comments yourself. Next week there’s a chance for you to learn about better ways to frame this disease, from which physicians themselves are far from immune. The AWARE week is a collaboration between AMSA’s Medical Education team and Community & Public Health team, with the goal of shedding light on addiction and recovery. In November 2016, the surgeon general released a report on addiction in the United States and declared the opioid epidemic in the United States a public health crisis. The training medical students receive on addiction varies widely by institution, and the AWARE week aims to offer some direction for medical students to find more information appropriate to their level of knowledge of addiction.

Balancing medical school and advocacy work is difficult--how can you find the time to change the world when you're busy making your clinical rounds or studying for the USMLE? AMSA's Chief Executive Officer Joshua Caulfield spoke with AMSA National President Dr. Kelly Thibert about things you can do and ways you can make a difference, all while keeping a successful balance between your medical school workload and your extracurricular activities.

As a physician, you won’t be able to solve all of your patients’ problems. Some of those problems, especially systemic ones, will remain just out of a doctor’s reach. In this episode, we learn how to extend that reach. When it seems like medicine isn’t enough, that caring for patients goes beyond the scope of your abilities as solitary provider, or that the problems facing your patients are deeper and more entrenched than medicine can possibly address, those thoughts can be demoralizing. It may even make you question medicine as a career choice. But you aren’t the first to come to that realization, and today we have some concrete advice for you from Dr. Leana Wen, commissioner of health for the city of Baltimore.

Discrimination in health care settings sets barriers for LGBT individuals to receive proper care, which leads to significant health disparities in the LGBT community. And one of the biggest barriers LGBT individuals are facing is the lack of trained providers. How can you learn the proper patient care techniques in your medical training, especially if it's lacking from your med school's curriculum? This week is National LGBT Health Awareness Week, and Benjamin Brooks with the National Coalition for LGBT Health joined us to discuss why LGBT health is important and how you, as a provider, can help reduce the existing disparities in health care delivery. Since its creation in 2000, the National Coalition for LGBT Health has advanced the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals through advocacy, education, and health services research. Learn more about the Coalition and its programs at www.healthlgbt.org.

As overseas clinical experiences continue to grow in popularity and importance, how do you choose the right one? Are you considering the ethics of the program? If not, you should be--medical schools and residency programs are watching. Hear from Dr. Jessica Evert of Child Family Health International on how students can evaluate programs beforehand and what you can do if involved in an ethical dilemma on the ground.

You use designed objects constantly. Chances are very strong you are using one right now, as you listen to this episode. Have you taken a moment to consider where design in medicine succeeds? And what happens when it fails? If design in medicine and health care doesn’t interest you, you may not have taken long enough to consider how important and far-reaching it is. Devices, systems and processes can all be designed. And too often, they haven’t been well-designed. That leaves a lot of room for physicians—and even medical students—to involve themselves in improving how things work in health care.

For fourth-years, it all comes down to a single moment. The Match Day ceremonies that will cap off next week at campuses across the country are the end of a long journey for fourth-year medical students. Along the way, they made some huge decisions about themselves and their careers. On Friday of Match Week, they'll get their envelopes. Here's what that's like.

You’ll hear about the classes, the professors. You’ll hear horror stories about particular rotations. Friends and other med students will tell you all about exams. But when it comes to looking at the big picture of being a med student, there’s a lot they’ll leave out.

Many fourth year students are working hard to finalize their rank order lists as time is closing in, after weeks on the interview trail. It’s a difficult process to narrow in on your top choices, and one that takes several factors into consideration over a long period of time. This week, AMSA's National President Dr. Kelly Thibert shares some of the strategies she’s using while compiling her rank list, as well as strategies she took while on the interview trail that would help her make a decision down the road.

Have you given thought to how your life experiences outside medicine will improve your skills as a physician? Coming from a family of physicians, Vidya Viswanathan felt like she needed to cut her own path--one leading in a totally different direction. Her journey took her far afield from health care. Here’s her story of how she found her way back--and how she’s served by everything she learned along the way. Vidya’s story, titled "What do you think I should do," was part of a series of Story Slams presented at AMSA’s 2016 Annual Convention.

Many systems influence the way med students practice medicine, which ultimately impacts your patients’ lives. Advocacy is the way med students can change those systems for the benefit of your patients and practice as compassionate clinicians. AMSA ad lib caught up with Luis Manriquez, MD, to see how one group of students in Washington state took steps to bring change to their medical curriculum, and he shares how you can strive toward reform in your community and at the curriculum level. Interested in keeping up with the Health Equity Circle? Visit healthequitycircle.org.

Even today, patients in rural communities across the United States face barriers to basic health care. Several factors come together to produce major disparities in rural health care including cultural and economic differences, educational disparities, near isolation of rural areas, or lack of support from legislators. Hear from Ron Brewer of Remote Area Medical, or RAM, how they are helping make a positive impact on these rural health disparities. Plus hear from students who have volunteered in RAM clinics across the country and how you can get involved too. Interested in learning more about RAM? Visit ramusa.org.

Biases in medical training are affecting medical students, but many--including you--may not appreciate that it’s happening. Fixing the problem won’t be easy, but some trainees themselves are working to address pervasive bias in medicine from the ground up. For the students trying to intervene, the first step in addressing bias in medical training is getting everyone to recognize how deeply--and sometimes subtly--ingrained it can be. Medical students Tehreem Rehman and Jes Minor started the Systemic Disease project. Among other goals, the project aims to gather stories from those exposed to or victimized by bias in medicine to start a conversation and increase awareness. To learn more about the Systemic Disease project, visit their website at www.systemicdisease.com or follow @systemicdisease on Twitter. You can also find Tehreem (@tehreemrehman) and Jes (@jes_minor) on Twitter as well.

Medical school comes at a high cost; are you ready to take on over $150,000 in debt? Maybe you don’t have to. In fact, you could leave with none at all. Joining the armed forces is one way to have your medical school paid for in its entirety, but what’s the trade-off? In this episode, Aaron Saguil, MD, MPH, FAAFP, of the Uniformed Services University joins us to share his insights on military medicine as a career path.

Have you thought about where are you going? Not just a particular training program or fellowship, but physically, geographically where? For some, the geographic locations of the residency programs or even medical schools they apply to are secondary at best. Partly, this is because applicants may be wary of adding another factor to an already overwhelming research effort that accounts for reputation, competition, cost--and eventually salary and career flexibility. Sarah Linden founded a company seeking to help drop those pins much more thoughtfully--even scientifically.

Long days as a resident and late nights in the hospital are both physically and mentally exhausting, but learning to have fun and growing from others' experiences can be the key to success. This week we hear a story from the University of North Carolina (UNC) - Chapel Hill School of Medicine Story Slam, themed "Humanity and Hilarity." The winner that night was Dr. Kenya McNeal-Trice, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Residency Program Director at UNC, who shared her story titled "Smelly Cat" about a particularly rough night when she was a senior resident on the pediatric ward.

Have you ever advised a patient to eat healthy and exercise, then hit up the McDonald's drive-through on the way home from work? Maybe it’s time for a wake-up call. Hear from one student who had a wake-up call while driving down the highway with a cup of curly fries, and how she made a fitting realization that would improve her life as a med student and she hopes will improve her relationships with patients.

You’ve spent months on a complex research project, from conception to designing your study, to collecting data and coming to your conclusions. It’s all enormously complicated—now, explain the whole thing in 60 seconds. In the most recent Match, fourth-year M.D. match applicants in the U.S. listed 4.7 presentations, abstracts or publications in their professional profile on average. Though the importance of those experiences may vary by specialty or even residency program, the ability to boil your project down to a quick explanation tailored to your audience is critical.

What does the county fair have to do with the journey to becoming a physician? In one student's experience, a lot. Stories are great for connecting people and learning from the experiences of others. In this episode, Joey Johnson tells about his own waiting game on the way to med school from a rural community.