When I became a medical student, I was astounded by the number of opportunities available. The more I looked, the more awesome things I found. My interests in policy and leadership development led me into a number of roles with my medical student society and a summer working in the Canadian Medical Association Leadership in Medicine office as an intern (program now sadly defunct) were the highlights. These experiences led me to discover …
Do what you love, love what you do
Junior medical students get a lot of information from senior medical students. They have just gone through the system so it makes sense that these students would seek out their advice on everything from how to study to how to prepare for residency match. Generally, that advice is good. However, there is one statement that drives me crazy no matter what it is about. It goes something like this: You have to do THIS to get …
FAQ About Medical Student Electives
This is a topic for which the “how to” seems to be passed down from senior to junior medical students and never written down. I remember being pretty clueless about this process when I went through it. I was a relative late-comer to the Royal College EM sweepstakes, having decided to pursue that program only during the summer before fourth year. This was compounded by my inability to plan anything in advance, ever. I …
Medical Concepts: Acute Angle Closure Glaucoma
A 62 year old woman presents to your Emergency Department with a chief complaint of severe right eye pain. Upon further questioning, she reveals reduced vision in the affected eye and colored halos around lights. She reports a diffuse headache and two episodes of vomiting. A quick physical exam reveals significant conjunctival injection and a fixed, mid-dilated pupil. Does your differential contain acute angle closure glaucoma? What is Acute Angle Closure Glaucoma? Acute angle …
National Rounds | Diagnostic Reasoning: Should we trust our gut?
5On May 24th, 2016, Dr. Jonathan Sherbino (@sherbino) of McMaster University was invited to speak at Grand Rounds at the University of Saskatchewan on the topic of diagnostic reasoning. His presentation explained how physicians think of a diagnosis and how we can teach learners cognitive strategies to improve their diagnostic reasoning. This blog post has taken that wisdom and (hopefully) captured it in blog post form as the first blog edition of CanadiEM National Rounds. Misdiagnosis… The Boogieman …
CaRMS CVs: Writing them Right
Originally published by Brent Thoma on August 31, 2013. Expert reviewed and re-published on September 23, 2014. How time flies. About 4 years ago at this time I was in Edmonton on an Emergency Medicine elective when the CaRMS website opened to applicants. The next few months were a blur of an empty word document in need of a personal letter, many frantic e-mails to my references (that I tried to make sound …