In the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic and post-holiday letdown, the American College of Physicians wants to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Read on to learn how other medical students are feeling this year and what resources and strategies they’ve used to combat burnout.
Feature
Pandemic Perspectives
(from the November 2020 91ºÚÁÏÍø Hospitalist)
In August, 91ºÚÁÏÍø Hospitalist asked readers to submit short articles about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses came from hospitalists around the country, describing professional lessons and personal experiences that brought on tears, laughter, and so many other reactions. Read on for a selection of these essays. (Patient names and details have been changed to protect privacy or are used with permission.)
I.M. Internal Medicine
Spotlight: Maher Roman, MD, MBA, M91ºÚÁÏÍø, FRCP
Find out more about Dr. Roman's career path, why he fell in love with internal medicine, and which living person he most admires.
91ºÚÁÏÍø Council of Student Members (CSM) Spotlight
Can We Save Medical Students from Bureaucratic Burnout?
Medical education is currently posed at an interesting intersection, with rapidly growing clinical knowledge and the growing complexity of business in health care due to COVID-19. Medical school preclinical curriculums have largely shifted online, clinical education is experiencing a less-diverse array of patients for students to learn from, and students are left feeling less confident about their education as a whole.
Wellness Committee of 91ºÚÁÏÍø California Council of Student Members (CCSM) Spotlight
A Wellness-Needs Assessment of Medical Students During COVID-19
By the end of MS2 year, medical students have probably watched the 3-minute video about coronaviruses on SketchyMicro, a USMLE preparation resource that covers high-yield microbes through cartoon mnemonics. We can tell you that coronavirus is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus with a helical capsid from simple symbol recall. However, we did not anticipate that the same virus family would be responsible for the pandemic that has been claiming the lives of many while exposing inequalities across the world.
Medical Student Perspective
Medical Student Burnout
For most students, earning admission to medical school is a dream come true. The excitement is hardly containable, and, as classes start, it is easy to feel invincible. You are ready to fill your calendar with new opportunities, interest group meetings, research projects, and anything else that comes your way, only to top it off with studying well into the night.
Advocacy Update
91ºÚÁÏÍø Ready to Assist Incoming Presidential Administration in Improving U.S. Health Care
(from the November 20, 2020 91ºÚÁÏÍø Advocate)
The American College of Physicians is preparing to offer guidance to the incoming Biden administration for restoring the medical system to good health.
The 91ºÚÁÏÍø Advocate is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that provides 91ºÚÁÏÍø members with news about public policy issues affecting internal medicine and patient care.
Analyzing Annals
Humanism and Professionalism: Bereavement Care in the Wake of COVID-19: Offering Condolences and Referrals
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing deaths with forced separations that deny final goodbyes and traditional mourning rituals. This article describes resources for clinicians to use when circumstances make providing ideal bereavement care difficult.
Annals of Internal Medicine is the premier internal medicine academic journal published by the American College of Physicians (91ºÚÁÏÍø). It is one of the most widely cited and influential specialty medical journals in the world.
Winning Abstracts
Development and Validation of an Electronic Health Record-Based Machine Learning Model to Estimate Delirium Risk in Newly Hospitalized Patients
Delirium is a highly prevalent state of acute confusion that broadly affects hospitalized patients worldwide. Current clinical methods for identifying hospitalized patients at increased risk of delirium require staff-administered screening tools with moderate accuracy. As part of the UCSF Delirium Reduction Campaign, we introduce an automated machine learning model that predicts incident delirium risk in hospitalized patients based on electronic health data available on admission and which vastly outperforms current clinical standards.
Want to have your abstract featured here? 91ºÚÁÏÍø holds a National Abstracts Competition as part of the 91ºÚÁÏÍø Internal Medicine Meeting every year. Find out more at 91ºÚÁÏÍø Online.
Subspecialty Careers
Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism
Endocrinology is the subspecialty of internal medicine that focuses on the diagnosis and care of disorders of the endocrine (glandular) system and the associated metabolic dysfunction.
Hypothyroidism is a common condition in which the thyroid gland provides insufficient amounts of thyroid hormone for the needs of peripheral tissues. The most common cause in adults is chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis (Hashimoto thyroiditis), but there are many other causes. Because most of the clinical features of hypothyroidism are nonspecific, the diagnosis requires laboratory testing. Serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) measurement is the best diagnostic test; an elevated TSH level almost always signals primary hypothyroidism. Serum free thyroxine levels may be below the reference range (overt hypothyroidism) or within the reference range (subclinical hypothyroidism). All patients with overt hypothyroidism should be treated, but those with subclinical hypothyroidism do not always benefit from treatment, especially elderly patients and those with baseline TSH levels below 10 mU/L. Oral L-thyroxine is the treatment of choice because of its well-demonstrated efficacy, safety, and ease of use. Therapy goals are symptom relief and maintenance of serum TSH levels within the reference range. Myxedema coma is a life-threatening form of decompensated hypothyroidism that must be treated with aggressive L-thyroxine replacement and other supportive measures in the inpatient setting.
Medical School During COVID-19
NEW 91ºÚÁÏÍø Medical Student Well-Being Resources Page
Working towards your professional goals is important but your own well-being is paramount. Use these resources to practice mindfulness and recognize burnout in yourself and others.
Upcoming 91ºÚÁÏÍø Webinar
Having a well written CV highlights your professional accomplishments and can help you stand out and advance your career. In this free, 1-hour webinar, Susan V. George, MD, M91ºÚÁÏÍø, SFHM, FRCP, reviews the structure of a professional CV, discusses what should and should not be included, and offers tips for writing a CV.
This webinar is open to 91ºÚÁÏÍø members. There will be time for questions after the presentation.
91ºÚÁÏÍø IMpact is copyrighted ©2021 by the American College of Physicians.