The MCAT, Residency Match and Beyond

Published: November 28, 2008
Category: Applications and Admissions, Medical (MD, DO), Medical Students, Premedical Students
Comments: 15 Comments

by Jessica Freedman, MD

What are the latest trends in medical admissions? At the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), 3,800 medical education professionals from around the country addressed changes in the MCAT, criteria for evaluating applicants, predictors of success in medical school, what elements of the residency application are most important, and a wide variety of other subjects that may interest premedical and medical students and residents. Here are some of the meeting’s highlights.

MCAT Update

Quick facts:

Read more »

The Successful Match: Social networking sites - A new way to screen residency applicants?

Published: November 24, 2008
Category: The Successful Match
Comments: 23 Comments

by Samir P. Desai, M.D.,
and Rajani Katta, M.D.

Authors of The Successful Match: 200 Rules to Succeed in the Residency Match and 250 Biggest Mistakes 3rd Year Medical Students Make And How To Avoid Them

“I saw his drunk photos on MySpace, and he just strikes me as immature. Do you think that matters?” “I don’t know, but we have 30 other great applicants here to choose from.”

“She’s a member of the Facebook group, ‘Medical Students Behaving Badly.’  I don’t think that’s someone we should bring in as a resident.”

Applying for residency, as every applicant knows, is a long, complex process, and understandably so. Residency selection committees use every tool at their disposal to compare applicants. Would programs use internet search engines and social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, to screen applicants? Read more »

Essay Workshop 101

Published: November 20, 2008
Category: Essay Workshop 101
Comments: 1 Comment

“The application is a lifeless thing — a few sheets of paper and a few numbers. The essay is the best way to breathe life into it.”

A frequent topic in the SDN Forums is the postgraduate application essay. In researching the field, we asked for help from one of the largest and well-known essay editing services, EssayEdge.

With the help of their editors, we co-developed a course for students which is available for free on SDN. Please click a link below to begin the course.

Each of the lessons should help you with a different aspect of the essay-writing process.

Enter the Workshop by selecting a link below:

Creating an Animated Forum Avatar

Published: November 16, 2008
Category: Just For Fun
Comments: 2 Comments

By Joe Sisk and Tommy Welling

You’ve donated to SDN, it’s time to add some style to your sidebar. I’m going to walk you through the basics so you’ll feel comfortable creating your very own animated avatar.

Basic Info:

What is an animated avatar?
Animated avatars are image files, typically .gif format, that have multiple frames set to play in a sequence over time. This gives the appearance of motion.

For your avatar to fit on the SDN forums you’ll need to keep a few principles in mind:
-the maximum file size is 195.5 kb
-the larger the dimensions (xxx by xxx) the larger your file size will be
-the more frames your animation has, the larger your file size will be

There are ways to manipulate both the dimensions and animation length without appreciable loss of quality. These will be discussed later. Read more »

Faculty Interview: ATSU-School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona

Published: November 10, 2008
Category: Medical (MD, DO), Medical Students
Comments: 32 Comments

This is the second interview in the Student Doctor Network series of “community-based medical education” interviews.

(See the previous interview with Gerard Clancy, MD, the Dean of the newly established University of Oklahoma (OU) School of Community Medicine in Tulsa.)

The A. T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona is located in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa. The structure of the school differs from that of other medical schools in having only the first year of medical school in Mesa, and the remaining three years for each student located in one of 11 participating community health centers.

SDN interviewed four members of the A. T. Still University faculty in Mesa.

SDN: Doctor Wendel, as Associate Provost of the A. T. Still University, please give us an overview of your new community-based medical school.

Dr Wendel: Our understanding of the need for a new medical school grew out of a relationship the A. T. Still University had developed with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). We realized that there are an estimated 50 million people in the United States with unmet health care needs. Read more »

Competition Provides PharmD Students with Tools Needed to Launch a Business

Published: November 4, 2008
Category: Pharmacy (PharmD)
Comments: 1 Comment

by Deleisa Johnson

Plato said, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” But, just having a good idea is not enough. Transitioning an invention from idea to marketable product takes something more—an entrepreneurial spirit, as well as a little confidence.

Three Washington State University PharmD candidates have taken an idea, their entrepreneurial spirit, and the confidence gained from winning the 2006 NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition and launched a much-needed product for pharmacy students.

Flash Forward is a company that produces flash cards of the top 250 drugs. Jason Doss had the idea for the cards in his first year of pharmacy school. “I knew I was going to have to make flash cards for class and I wanted to make it easier by purchasing a set of flash cards instead,” he said. Not finding any for purchase, he realized that there was a need that was not being met. Read more »

Vote

Published: November 3, 2008
Category: Student Doctor Network
Comments: 8 Comments

I voted“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

If you haven’t already voted, go to the polls today and vote.  Be sure to follow these 4 steps:

  1. Check your voter registration card (or sample ballot) for the location of your designated polling site.
  2. Bring photo ID and proof of address.
  3. Get in-line before the polls close.  Even if the polls close, as long as you are in-line you cannot be turned-away.
  4. Vote carefully - review your ballot for accuracy before turning it in.
Single Payer Healthcare

Published: October 31, 2008
Category: Health Care Policy and the Student Doctor
Comments: 24 Comments

by Alison Hayward, MD
SDN Staff Writer

In this election season, healthcare has been an increasingly pressing issue for American voters.

In an August 2008 TNS Healthcare survey, nearly 60% of voters age 18-29, and 75% of voters over the age of 65 agreed that healthcare issues would play a major role in their presidential election choice.

The feeling that our current system is a “failure” predominates, and thus healthcare reform is seen by many as a mandate for the new president.

Healthcare professionals must understand the issues involved in the politics of health in order to move towards reform – and that brings us to one of the most contentious issues, that of single payer healthcare. Read more »

Career Spotlight: Nuclear Pharmacy

Published: October 28, 2008
Category: Pharmacy (PharmD)
Comments: 9 Comments

by SDN Member SpirivaSunrise

Nuclear pharmacy is a specialized practice area in pharmacy that involves compounding and dispensing radiopharmaceuticals to be used in various nuclear medicine procedures.  Unlike radiology, nuclear medicine is a fantastic tool for assessing physiology (function), as opposed to only structure and anatomy.

It is a unique niche within pharmacy and this article will provide an overview of the specialty area, including common radiopharmaceuticals and procedures used in nuclear medicine, as well as the role of a nuclear pharmacist on the healthcare team.

From a business perspective, the industry’s current standing includes nuclear pharmacies which are either institutional (and cater to a single medical center), or commercial.  Centralized commercial pharmacies are contracted by hospitals/clinics to provide radiopharmaceuticals.

Today, there are only a few major radiopharmacies: GE (formerly known as Amersham), Covidien (formerly known as Tyco or Mallinckrodt), and Cardinal Health (which bought out Syncor, among others), as well as a few smaller independents. Read more »

Record Enrollment at U.S. Allopathic Medical Schools

Published: October 22, 2008
Category: Medical (MD, DO), Medical Students, News, Premedical Students
Comments: 8 Comments

Portions from the AAMC

The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported yesterday that, “First-year enrollment at the nation’s medical schools this year increased nearly 2 percent over 2007, to more than 18,000 students.” This represents the highest allopathic medical school enrollment in U.S. history.

Most of the enrollment increase was due to the three medical schools that have just established branch campuses (Mercer University School of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, and University of Arizona College of Medicine). It does not reflect the anticipated enrollment at new schools expected to open within the next few years.

Notable is the growth in Latino students, with an increase in first-year enrollment by more than 10 percent. Latinos now represent 7.9 percent of the 2008-09 entering medical school class.

Additionally, the number of Native American first-year enrollees increased by more than 5 percent. The number of African American first-year students remained nearly the same as in 2007. Native Americans and African Americans represent 1.0 and 7.2 percent, respectively, of this year’s entering medical school class.
Read more »

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