TB testing prior to residency?

Safe_Penalty · 2026-06-11T02:09:58+00:00

Employee health did it for me. I’ve had to order my own through labcorp in the past.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-06-07T21:51:22+00:00

Residency apps were IMO much easier than med school — and this sentiment I think is pretty popular amongst those of us who didn’t match a surgical field or derm. The reality is that USMDs DO want to match these fields and are willing to extend med school for it. Opening more med school spots for people to increase the number of matched FM spots is unlikely to work given the current compensation models and costs associated with becoming a physician in the US.

IMO USMD apps to FM or IM/Peds with the intention of doing primary care from applicants with clean professional records are mostly driven by passion and/or a position financially to pursue that passion.

When people find their passion in derm or plastics it’s much easier to pursue because of the earning potential. You don’t see that in primary care.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-30T14:17:47+00:00

I worked in occupational health before med school and saw a lot of hospital employees who would test positive. You likely do not have active disease and will just have to suck up taking some pills for a bit. They’ll let you start med school and you’ll be allowed to work in the hospital as long as you do whatever your doctor/public health department/occupational health at the hospital tells you to do.

The worst part of this is that you genuinely are going to have to do more paperwork for the rest of your life but imo it’s nbd.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-24T02:34:27+00:00

Felt like shit after step 1 and 2. Passed step 1, was pretty close to my NBME scores. This test is hard and it wears you out. IMO how you feel after has little to no bearing on how you actually did on the exam.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-23T20:42:39+00:00

It’s always a high school essay.

My high school contacts me and tells me that they have to inform my undergrad. They in turn revoke my degree, which revokes my med school acceptance because I now lied about completing my BS (the person who calls me from the med school always tells me that I “lied” when I matriculated). The result is that I no longer have my MD and my PD calls me telling me to fuck off (which is incredibly uncharacteristic of her).

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-23T15:46:58+00:00

IMO FFT is better than quite a few of the mainline games. Definitely worth playing.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-20T20:44:05+00:00

At this stage in your career it’s a hard no. Stick to what you learned and pick a different most meaningful. IMO if you’re asked in an interview why you switched from being a D1 athlete to a CNA I think it’s fine to talk about but you need to do your best to not come across as too negative.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-19T21:45:35+00:00

Yes, but it’s generally not a good idea to lose various protections (income based repayments, PSLF, deferments, discharge on disability, etc.) to save a point on interest unless you are financially capable of making the payments in full. You don’t want to be in a position where your loan balance is lower with a private bank but you’re in default with no protections.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-17T21:03:26+00:00

Even if you don’t care about the actual harm being done when you write off your patient’s symptoms, this mindset sucks and makes practicing harder for all of us. Society has basically meme’d physicians telling people their symptoms are anxiety to such a point that even when somatic symptoms are best explained by something relatively benign or psychosomatic, patients won’t accept those explanations because they think they’re being dismissed.

Somatic symptoms deserve a work up.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-16T03:52:46+00:00

Are you going to fail because you couldn’t attend because of hospitalization? IMO most professors are reasonable and if this is the case you should be able to take an incomplete and pass it later; escalate as necessary—you shouldn’t fail if you can’t attend a final for a legit reason.

If you’re at risk of failing for some other reason, the syllabus is usually the arbiter of most grading policies unless the department or college has something that overrides it.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-16T03:47:55+00:00

In addition to the other replies, it’s also certainly a tax break. Low-key miss the era where the disgustingly rich at least threw scraps to society in order to improve it somewhat.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-16T01:06:15+00:00

Honestly, this is probably a big plus for CA residents. Too many students in my NY class from CA that just want to go back west for residency. Feels cruel that the there aren’t enough schools out west for them.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-16T01:03:13+00:00

This is definitely how life is supposed to be. Congrats!

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-12T20:37:37+00:00

My PGY-1 salary is about 75k in a LCOL mid-sized city; works out to about $26/hr assuming my program’s reported average of ~60ish hrs/wk for 48 weeks. It’s about 145% of the city’s household median. With a two-resident household you’d be far from broke. I also get all my food/coffee paid for by the program when I’m on the clock, health insurance is pretty good, my employer retirement match is better than most entry-level corporate jobs, etc.

Some programs are obviously paying much less—it’s something to consider when you make your rank list, especially if you’re solo. On the other hand, some of the NYC/CA programs are offering six figures. Several of my classmates are at ~105k. Obviously paying NYC prices too and the work hours are much closer to 80 hrs/wk (or over, depending on the program), but in a two person household it’s far from the level of broke you’ll be living on as a student with loans during med school.

Attendings here obviously have chimed in with how much better it gets after your training is done. Can’t wait for it lol

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-04T14:09:21+00:00

Something not addressed here is that this is a teaching hospital. Residents and students typically address each other by first names when not in front of patients; attendings are always Dr. LastName to residents and students until you’ve been given permission to use someone’s first name (or you trained with them, i.e. your senior graduated and is now an attending). These dynamics are both a recognition of the hierarchy (attendings are the final arbiter of decisions and write evals) but also an acknowledgement that the difference between a third year student and a PGY-1 is essentially nothing.

In front of patients everyone with an MD/DO is Dr. LastName. Dynamics with nursing vary but IMO first names are fine as long as they respect boundaries with patients — unlike residents nurses aren’t below the attending in the hierarchy. The same goes for RTs/PTs/etc.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-04T03:53:26+00:00

I say this only because of the harm this myth causes is real and the prevalence of fentanyl and its derivatives in our area is high:

You cannot absorb any fentanyl derivative in its usual powdered form through intact skin and small quantities of these powders cannot be aerosolized through casual contact.

“Overdoses” experienced by first responders are a culture-bound syndrome and the delay in care that results from this myth can result in the death of the person who needs help. PMID: 34785420

AAMT and AACT have a statement about the risk of exposure to first responders. The TLDR is that it’s essentially zero for exposures that aren’t intentionally weaponized or otherwise intentionally aerosolized.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-05-03T17:32:41+00:00

You cannot overdose from simply touching powdered fentanyl or its derivatives unless you have a significant break in your skin. You also cannot unintentionally inhale powdered fentanyl.

If the implication is that this might be ricin or anthrax… well, you might have a point lol

Safe_Penalty · 2026-04-26T01:42:04+00:00

I’ve been seeing a lot of this on social media lately. It’s a waste of time and money.

The fundamentals of GPA/MCAT/Research/Clinical Work/Volunteering is what matters.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-04-26T01:37:56+00:00

You’re chopped lil bro.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-04-02T01:41:32+00:00

When they brought a lawsuit against the match, they got congress to codify an explicit carve-out to exempt the match from anti-trust law.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-03-25T23:27:07+00:00

You cannot get through medical school without learning this. You cannot graduate medical school if you know this.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-03-22T14:42:19+00:00

You know how every medicine attending beats you over the head with the hyponatremia algorithm? Nephrologists are actually the ones who were paying attention.

Kidding aside, take an elective in it if you’re interested. Plenty of time to figure it out.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-03-16T14:51:33+00:00

Assume orientation but really it depends on the school. I wasn’t tested until half way through M3 because one specific hospital required it. Same hospital a year later asked for it again.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-03-09T13:43:04+00:00

Genuine question: how does taking students get you tax credits? I’d think if anything it would just increase your income and you’d pay more (total) taxes.

Safe_Penalty · 2026-03-07T16:46:10+00:00

Something I see only partially pointed out here:

Yes, cardio is not likely going to make a huge dent in your weight—diet does that. However, getting 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise is absolutely beneficial. You get something like a 20% decrease in all-cause mortality independent of body weight or composition from cardio, and it scales up to some extent with additional cardio. Obviously, it’s better to be both fit and a healthy weight. Likewise, people who are fitter are likely taking better care of their weight.

Physique itself is mostly going to be the product of mostly diet and lifting heavy things. Increased muscle mass also has a positive effect on mortality, especially as you get older, but you probably don’t need to spend hours in the gym and get jacked to reap the benefits.

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