I never thought I would have one of these posts…I remember when I was in high school and university, I stumbled upon several medical student blogs. They were often full of anecdotal  stories, their frustrations and rambling thoughts. Every once in a while, they would have nothing to write and instead post up a bunch of links and act as a middle man. I promised when I started this blog, I wouldn’t fill it with mindless rants, I would always have something to say or share.

Drawing Blanks – Well, I really have nothing to write about at this moment. My schedule has gone into overdrive with several exams looming, papers to write, several meetings to attend, summer plans to arrange all along with keeping some sanity in my personal life. When school is finally done this year, I promise I will write a few reflective posts on how I have changed and what I have learned. I will also talk a bit more about admissions having seen firsthand the entire process from start to end now. It’s definitely interesting how much work gets put into it.

Lastly, I will be possibly working on a complete guide to medical school admissions. I know there are already a lot of resources out there, but no definitive work has really synthesized all the information. I know it’s a large task to undertake, but I feel like I have a clear and thorough understanding of most of the components and it would be valuable to share it with everyone.

So without further delay, here are some links

Doctor Diaries - An NYT article about a documentary of 7 doctors from when they began medical school over twenty years ago to where they are now. I haven’t watched it yet, but it does look promising. When I do have time, I’ll be sure to check it out.

Physical Exam – Another excellent article by Dr. Pauline Chen about the importance of having good clinical and bedside observational skills. Especially with all the high technology, the “art” of medicine is largely being supplanted by the “science.” Definitely some food for thought. Perhaps more training and importance placed in these basic skills will help keep health care costs in control?

A Better Health Care System – A piece written by Atul Gawande in the New Yorker (I swear I don’t live in New York!) I came upon this article while I was writing a paper on health care costs and reform and he definitely frames the current situation very accurately. A lot of the main arguments presented here relate to the current shift to electronic health care records around the world.

Google Flu Trends - If you haven’t already checked out Google’s Flu Trends, it’s a nice collection of data from google.org on the incidence of flu in America. With all this talk about Swine Flu (it’s the new “thing”), it’s reassuring to know that many people have been expecting and preparing for a crisis like now. The head of google.org, Dr. Larry Brilliant, recently stepped down from executive of google’s philantropy arm to lead the Skoll “Urgent Threat Funds” which includes preventing future pandemics.

Don’t Become a Doctor - One of my absolute favorite series by Incidental Findings, it’s of immense value for anyone to read this – premeds, medical students, residents, doctors and the general public. I am playing around with the idea to start a Reasons to Become a Doctor Series. Obviously, with my limited experience I would be unable to contribute much, but by recruiting other medical bloggers I would like to get as many perspectives on this issue as possible. Similar story from Forbes.

Stay tuned for more original content coming soon!