Medicine's Diversity Problem

Here's a recent article from Emergency Medicine News about Dr. Alden Landry who started the Tour for Diversity in Medicine, a project to encourage minority students to become health care providers.

It's worth exploring the AAMC's Practice Specialty by Race and Ethnicity table to better understand the lack of diversity in each and all medical fields.

Yes, Doctors in Training Should Work Fewer Hours

Here's a NYT piece by Dr. Dhruv Khullar, a current resident in training, regarding duty hours. His points in the last few paragraphs are his best. I remember doing - and I am not exaggerating - a 138-hour work week once during residency. I can assure you that I was not the best doctor I could be.

Physician Heal Thyself By Getting Help

I wrote recently about burnout, which affects 37.9% of doctors, as compared to 27.8% of the general population, according to an Archives of Internal Medicine study.

Beyond burnout, suicidality is a major problem for doctors. Physicians have much higher suicide rates than the general population with male doctors at 70% higher and female physicians at 250-400% higher, according to a JAMA piece.

For the younger cohort in the profession, things are also rough: Fifteen to 30% of medical students and residents screen positively for depression, according to Medscape, and suicide is the number one cause of death among medical residents.

Excessive work burdens and expectations, lack of a perceived internal locus of control, and isolation from friends and family can all lead to clinical depression among medical students and trainees. It’s critical to take note if you see symptoms in yourself or colleagues, including hopelessness, withdrawal, anger, recklessness, anxiety, substance abuse, excessive feelings of guilt, and inability to concentrate. Realizing that many others are in the same boat and that most institutions have psychological counseling options can be a relief. Additionally, a national resource is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1 800 273 TALK.

SOAP®

Just a reminder that if you have received few or no residency interviews, it's time to start getting ready for SOAP.

On March 14 SOAP begins, but you need to understand how it works and be prepared for its brisk schedule prior to that.

Here is the main residency Match calendar. Here is an article on the history and basics of SOAP. And finally here are NRMP® video tutorials on SOAP.