For many third-year med students, this is a challenging time of year. Preparing an ERAS can be daunting, but it’s even worse if you don’t know what specialty you want to practice. Here’s a short piece I wrote with my colleague David Presser MD MPH called “Choosing a Specialty: The Generalist vs. The Early Committer.” And here’s a complementary, but non-medical, New York Times article called “You Don’t Want a Child Prodigy” that’s a great follow up to our piece.
The AAMC recently published their Report on Residents 2021. Of note,
There are more goodies; the information is summed up in this table.
Last week ERAS Communications sent out a notice to candidates that while applicants may certify and submit their MyERASes as early as Wednesday, September 1 at 9 am EST, applications submitted on or before September 29 at 9 am EST will display an application date of “September 29” to programs. (Applications submitted after September 29 will display the actual application date.) This means that there is no penalty for candidates to wait to submit their applications until the 29th at 9 am EST. This date is considerably later than recent past years.
This is great news for applicants who are still working on their written materials. Use the time to make sure yours are in the best shape possible.
A recent article in Emergency Medicine News caught my eye. Emergency physician Dr. Tom Belanger conducted a small study (n=573) in which he crafted a nine-question Likert scale survey and then attempted to predict emergency physicians’ employment structures based on respondents’ answers. He used statements like “I am paid fairly,” “I am secure in my career,” and “Emergency medicine is a good career” in his survey.
In medical school and residency, I thought little about employment structure, which can include democratic, hospital employee, contract management, independent or locums, academic, resident, or government systems. As a student, I was so focused on what specialty I would choose and was so influenced by the academicians I worked with that I didn’t even consider that I could choose a field in which I might be happy in one employment structure and discontent in another.
Belanger found that employees of contract management groups (CMGs) tended to be the most negative respondents, and owners of CMGs were not far behind. On the other hand, owners of democratic groups were the most positive in almost every aspect.
In this study, all respondents were in the same specialty and yet, employment structure divided respondents with regard to their career satisfaction. Belanger’s graphs are worth viewing in his piece, but the take-home point for medical students and residents is the importance of the employment structure in which you ultimately work, a topic that may not have even crossed your mind until now.
As of this writing, I’ve administered 214 COVID vaccines. I’ve had the opportunity to vaccinate through a hospital in my area where health care workers and volunteers are eligible. The latter group includes some senior citizens who have been volunteering for decades at the hospital.
I’ve vaccinated several people over 90; two people on supplemental oxygen – one who had just come from chemotherapy; one person who shared my birthday; multiple who are immigrants from Vietnam, Iran, and Mexico; one who had recently lost both her mother-in-law and mother to COVID; and someone who told me her only past allergic response had been to her husband.
If you have the opportunity and skill set, I highly recommend vaccinating. It is the most satisfying volunteer experience I’ve had. People are so grateful, and the mood is so celebratory. I’ve had my photo taken several times, and the hospital has music playing in the background. It feels like I’m at a bar mitzvah (without the food).
Here’s a piece on medical students who have joined the vaccination effort.
Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more
