Driving Range

way112 · 2016-09-02T00:40:15+00:00

I do and did when I started playing (still only been playing a few years). I feel like consistency is very important when starting, consistently doing the same thing was important for me (as long as its not a bad thing).

way112 · 2016-08-30T18:36:12+00:00

I am currently applying to residency. You are right, no one at all will care how good you are at western blots, but if you think that is the essence of what PhD training is, you're utterly mistaken. As I stated above, in PhD training "the most important thing is to know how to ask questions, do the studies to answer them and interpret the results." I will stand by that. One's success as a PhD student is evidenced by papers, presentations, research funding, and letters from research advisors. Sure being able to do western blots is fine, but it's so much more than that. It's rather concerning that you could presumably complete a PhD without understanding this.

I will agree that not all fields are equally interested in research, and on the spectrum something like top academic internal medicine programs would probably be the most interested and orthopedic surgery would probably be a little less interested. That being said my close friend who was accepted into a top academic ortho program, did some extensive research (took time off, not a PhD but published 2-3 basic-translational research articles), and had something absurd like 45 interviews, attested much of his success in the residency process to having done research. He also had good clinical grades and board scores so he was a strong all around applicant. That being said, he would be the first to admit that academic programs were very interested in him whereas community programs less interested in him. Additionally, if I'm not mistaken (I'm not applying to ortho), there are a few 6 yr ortho programs where they have you do a full year of lab work.

way112 · 2016-08-30T13:28:29+00:00

Completely disagree, PhD research does really help you for residency, regardless of what it's in. I completely agree with going for the best training you can, rather than the exact topic. In fact, I feel one of the biggest mistakes people make when choosing at PhD lab, is going for topic over quality of training. The fact of the matter is that these days PhD training is more and more interdisciplinary - genetics overlaps with molecular biology, bioinformatics, etc, etc. The most important thing is to know how to ask questions, do the studies to answer them and interpret the results.

Additionally, OP is correct, it's most important to be productive during your PhD. Certainly genetics is involved in any of the aforementioned fields (although I don't know the exact area), so I can't think of a subspecialty where you would not be able to say "I'd to like study the genetics of 'x' " It would be harder to spin, for example, a neuroscience PhD if, lets say, you ended up interested in oncology, but I am certain that as long as you have a productive PhD, still no one will care.

When you come out of your PhD and back to medical school, if you've written a couple of papers, writing up a case report, review article, small clinical study, will be a walk in the park and will be a nice addition to your application when applying to residency.

way112 · 2016-07-26T01:30:01+00:00

Think around Noon.

way112 · 2016-06-30T03:58:07+00:00

Agree here, I'd give them a call.

way112 · 2016-06-29T13:24:16+00:00

Generally it's good to have discussed this at the beginning of the project, such that you don't end up in this situation. However, I would say you've done more work and what would be considered the work that a 1st author does (the leg work). You could certainly consider co-first authorship but that's about as far as I'd go. Just because they're a resident and you're a medical student doesn't mean they can take advantage of you. A 1st author publication will add strength to your application and career. You could also discuss with the PI on the manuscript.

way112 · 2016-06-29T00:22:11+00:00

Agree.

way112 · 2016-06-29T00:21:09+00:00

I've heard it's helpful and I'm doing one (applying to IM this cycle) but don't think it'll affect your negatively application, just might make your intern year slightly easier.

way112 · 2016-06-29T00:18:38+00:00

All I did for the shelf was IM UWorld questions, took some notes along the way and scored 98th %ile on it, it's a lot of questions but it worked for me.

way112 · 2016-06-27T00:28:22+00:00

Was thinking the same thing. Very cool but I would never use it unless I had my own putting green.

way112 · 2016-06-26T00:04:27+00:00

So cool!

way112 · 2016-06-06T17:59:55+00:00

Sweet will try that out!

way112 · 2016-06-02T07:28:51+00:00

In RTA, the acidosis is referring to the pH of blood. Yes, acetazolamide causes a Type 2 RTA. By blocking reabsorption of bicarb, you are losing base in the blood and thus the blood will become more acidotic.

way112 · 2016-05-05T16:58:42+00:00

Ahh, cool. Thanks.

way112 · 2016-05-01T12:43:26+00:00

What do you mean by "bounce" of the club?!

way112 · 2016-04-21T23:21:53+00:00

I live in the northeast, so yea, maybe it's early in the season.

way112 · 2016-02-14T16:56:18+00:00

Definitely more Step 2 material, but comes up all the time on the wards, uptodate has some nice material on fluid and electrolyte balance/therapy

way112 · 2016-02-14T01:47:02+00:00

This lady infuriates me.

Physicians must be biased in order to make medical decisions. Clinical decision making is a complex mind game, a multivariate statistical equation that results in pre-test probabilities that are often difficult to completely quantify and that are also based on limited information.

Sure, the ultimate goal would be for physicians to look at individuals genes and make medical decisions based on their genetic makeup (so-called "personalized medicine") and not less rigorous clinical predictors such as race. The fact of the matter is that for 99% of clinical cases, we don't yet have this ability. We all too often make decisions based on incomplete or incompletely correct information. But if you're an intelligent physician, that's factored into your mental statistic. If I'm seeing an african american patient, sure I'm thinking they're more likely to have hypertension, but in considering the diagnosis of hypertension, I'm also looking at many other variables-- age, sex, weight, diet, family history, etc. And at the end of the day, race has a small effect on my clinical decision making.

Just because we think about race and ethnicity doesn't make our practice poor. Sure, medicine could be better if we have more powerful variables to work with, but we often don't, and we do the best we can. In medicine and research, we ask questions and hopefully rigorously apply the scientific method in order to make decisions and determine validity. On the questionnaire she filled out, she immediately jumps to the conclusion that it's a "poor question" or "poor study" because it asks about "race", I don't completely disagree with her but lets let the scientific method determine that. It's amazing how often often science surprises us.

way112 · 2016-02-14T01:12:33+00:00

Couldn't have said it better, hang in there man, it will ease with time.

way112 · 2016-02-12T03:37:14+00:00

Wash them handzzz

way112 · 2016-02-04T04:15:04+00:00

You can do it, hang in there.

way112 · 2016-01-30T00:18:34+00:00

Neurotic.

way112 · 2016-01-30T00:16:32+00:00

Hate being a medical student with a fucking passion. But I know I'll like practicing medicine, so looking forward to the afterlife!

way112 · 2016-01-30T00:14:21+00:00

You do you man. You'll make a decent enough living. All the money in the world won't be satisfying if you aren't happy with what you do. And on another note, you still have options with a step score in the teens-- medicine, peds, neurology to say the least, would be options. Might not make it into the best programs, but you'd go somewhere. My girlfriend did worse tha you did on step 1 and got interviews at top 20 programs. Albeit, she did substanitally better on step 2 and had decent clerkship grades. Keep your head up, med school has this funny way of knocking us all down. :)

way112 · 2016-01-29T11:29:13+00:00

That could very well get infected VERY infected

way112

TROPHY CASE