Headline Stories
Remembering Why
Jon Snyder M'07For two months this past summer I had the privilege to work in a rural hospital in South Africa. The town of Klabisa offered little in the way of the modern world except for a severely understaffed hospital and an opportunity for a young medical student like me. I was able to live and work as one of the 6 doctors assigned to this 300 bed hospital and learn what it is really like to practice medicine for people in need. More importantly, it helped me to remember why it is that we suffer through long hours and days of class. I hope that you enjoy my story and that in some small way it helps you in rediscovering what it is that first brought you to medicine.
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Sleepless at St. Vincent's
Gary Blanchard, MD(1:37 a.m.) "Hello, Dr. Blanchard. Mrs. Schilling is complaining of chest pain." I don't order an EKG over the phone. I don't ask what the patient's vital signs are. I don't ask for three sublingual nitroglycerin to be placed at bedside. Instantly, I've already made three rookie mistakes before I even see my first chest pain patient as a physician (thankfully, the nurses look out for the newbies, and an EKG and nitro are evidently standard protocol when a patient complains of chest pain (good idea!) … not that I knew that at the time.). Knowing I am only 30 seconds away from the coronary care unit, I just utter, unconvincingly, "I'll be right there."
Read More...Summer big apple style
Jonathan Zelken M'07I decided a long time ago that I want to be a surgeon and an academician. I had, and still have, no prospective specialty in mind, but I've known for some time my personality and goals are better suited to a career in surgery than one in, say, firefighting. I decided more recently that I wanted a combined degree in business and medicine; that the climate of modern medicine necessarily calls for business-savvy physicians. I chose Tufts over some other schools because I could achieve a goal, at Tufts alone, of becoming a physician-manager.
Read More...A New Perspective
Willson Grandin M'07This summer I spent two months working in public health for a children's hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. It was an incredible experience and one that I can't hope to summarize in the small space allotted here. Below is a political commentary stimulated by some of the amazing people that I was fortunate to meet in South Africa.
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