August 2011
3 posts
Hippocratic Oath 2.0
Times have changed since the days of Hippocrates and so too have the things that physicians must be wary of in practicing their art. The following “Hippocratic Oath 2.0” takes count of these new pressures. It also incorporates some of my own views as to what is important to the practice of medicine and for patient health. (Special thanks to Robin Hanson.)
I swear, according to the accumulated...
Go Trojans!
Hey Team,
Just checking in to let you know that I’ve now begun classes at USC Keck School of Medicine in sunny SoCal. I’m exceptionally excited to be beginning the journey into doctor-dom. More to come……
Z
July 2010
1 post
All about Ophtho
Life update: I’m done with my postbac premed coursework and, during the year-long lay off between applications and getting into med school, I have joined the work force!
Can you imagine your vision failing? I’m not talking about being unable to read the 20/20 line on your vision chart. I mean seeing a black donut hole in the middle of your field of vision—leaving you with only...
June 2010
1 post
Postbaccalaureate Premedical Programs
Having just completed a postbaccalaureate premedical program, I have some perspective on it that I’d like to share here:
First off, what are we talking about? Well, a postbaccalaureate premedical program is pretty much a fancy way of saying that you’re going to pay to take the premedical prerequisites for medical school and that you’re going to do so having already received your...
May 2010
2 posts
The MCAT is G-Loaded; Prep Company Tests Not...
Yesterday I took the MCAT, and, while I’m cautiously optimistic about how it went, I have to say, I was a little surprised by the test’s format and style of questioning.
For the past few months I have taken a Kaplan MCAT prep course. The course comes with practice full-length tests meant to approximate the authentic MCAT experience.
These practice full-lengths were not like the...
Spring Grades Are In--4.0 at AU; next stop, MCAT!
BIO-210-006 General Biology II 4.00 A
PHYS-210-008HUniversity Physics II 4.00 A
March 2010
2 posts
Taking Stock
I was born in San Diego, California in October of 1984 at Sharp Memorial Hospital, where my mother still practices as an Emergency Department physician. My mother considered herself blessed that she had ever had a child at all, given previous use of a type of birth control pill that was later found to render many childless.
My earliest memories relate to—of all things—my participation in ...
"Broken Heart" Not Just a Figure of Speech?
Heart “A” displays the characteristic ballooning of a “broken heart”—aka, a heart suffering from Takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
Dr. Steven Goldstein, my mentor at the Georgetown-affiliated Washington Hospital Center, oversaw a fascinating echocardiography conference today.
I was particularly interested in the lecture delivered on Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, commonly...
January 2010
1 post
Med School just a blink of an eye away!
Five A’s this past Fall semester, including science-GPA courses physics and statistics. This follows on my receiving four A’s in the summer (organic chemistry I and II). I hope to secure two or three more A’s in the next semester before med school app time.
HIST-207-001 The United States since 1945 3.00 A
PHYS-110-006 University Physics I 5:14.00 A
HFIT-580-001...
September 2009
2 posts
Five Awesome Things Accomplished at Washington...
I’ve worked out an arrangement to shadow at the Georgetown-affiliated Washington Hospital Center for the coming year. I will (primarily) be taking in the sights and sounds of the echocardiography department there. Here’s what I did today:
1. Witnessed open-heart surgery (again). This is becoming routine! Well, no, not at all, though I can tell it has become that way for the surgeons....
Welcome to the sausage factory →
August 2009
4 posts
Radiology--Ok, I see the draw!
So I shadowed a radiologist at UCSD Hillcrest today. Not sure shadowing is the right word this time around; radiologists, true to reputation, sit in a dark room all day reading images. Still, it was a fascinating experience that definitely turned me on to radiology (just like every one else!).
I should mention that my shadowing experience began at 9am, a far cry from the 6am appointment I had...
Peds Cards
So much to say, so little time till my ride to the beach gets here :)
I’m back home in San Diego, where the weather is sweet and the shadowing opportunities—thanks to a family legacy of doctor-dom—are even sweeter.
Today at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego I witnessed a catheterization on a two-year-old, open-heart surgery on a 19-year-old, and the long-term care of...
Halfway to Medical School, Baby
Summer Semester Report card:
Organic Chemistry I: A
Organic Chemistry I Lab: A
Digital Imaging: A
Organic Chemistry II: A
Organic Chemistry II Lab: A
Calculus I: A
Plus I’ve now been a featured commentator on health policy in every major Washington newspaper (and select magazines/blogs).
I’d say it’s been a successful summer indeed!
Preventive Medicine Doesn't Pass the Cost-Benefit...
Health care costs a lot: 1/6th of our GDP and climbing. And yet, for all the talk about reigning in spending, health reform proposals as they currently exist will only serve to increase those costs. One needn’t look further than Obama’s behind-the-scenes deal-cutting with the pharmaceutical industry or major hospitals to see that the existing players—the source of...
July 2009
4 posts
Here comes Cato... →
The Sights and Smells of O-Chem
Today in Organic Chemistry II Lab we synthesized compounds responsible for the smell of banana, pineapple, orange, and wintergreen, and rum. The common chemical backbone to all of these fabulous smells is the “ester.” Esters can easily be synthesized by combining a particular acid with a particular alcohol.
Taking in these various concoctions was a real pleasure—a nice change of...
When the Label Says "Organic"
USDA-certified “organic” grated cheese may contain wood starch (to prevent clumping); organic duck may contain a synthetic ingredient (to give it a stringy texture); and organic beer can be made from non-organic hops. The “organic” label has become so watered down as to become meaningless, argue some, who call for stricter guidelines from Washington. Make sense, till you...
Two Great Ways to Brighten Your Day
Want to whiten your teeth? Crest White Strips not working, and the dentist is out of your price range?
Look no further! Ebay has a killer solution for your teeth whitening needs. Affordable, effective, and not too tricky to use. The sets sold there come with an oxidizing agent-laden gel containing either hydrogen peroxide or urea, the two agents commonly used by your dentist. The concentration of...
June 2009
7 posts
Organic Chemistry Lab Report Reference Part I
Lab reports for science classes such as organic chemistry can be tricky. Among other things, the student might not know exactly what reaction took place at every step. Hard to write an official-sounding lab report when you don’t know what’s going on! Alternately, it can at times be difficult to discern what it is the TA wants from you/is using as the basis for your grade.
On the...
Organic Chemistry Lab Report Reference Part 2 for...
The 1-Step, 2-Step Hoedown: SN 1 and SN2 Nucleophilic Substitution and the Reactions of Alkyl Halides
Table 1. Properties of SN1 and SN2 Reactions
SN2
SN1
Reaction
RX + Nuc à Rnuc + X
same
Mechanism
concerted
Two steps
Intermediate
None
carbocation
Kinetics
Second order
First order
Stereochemistry
Inversion
Depends
Nucleophile
Affects rate of reaction
Doesn’t affect rate
Leaving ...
Swine Flu Update
Just had a confirmed case on my university campus. Awesome.
The Kennedy Bill
President Obama’s oft-repeated refrain when it comes to health care reform, offered again on Thursday, has been, “If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan.” But the Obama-backed Kennedy health-care bill, recently introduced in the U.S. Senate, belies that promise. For it would so radically overhaul the health care system, no health plan...
The Altria Tobacco Monopoly Act of 2009
…a.k.a. the Waxman-Kennedy bill, has passed. It puts the authority to regulate tobacco under the FDA, because, you know, the FDA’s mission is to oversee already-determined-to-be-hazardous substances.
The bill’s biggest backer? Altria (Phillip Morris). They are the entrenched industry leader and aim to stay that way. Moreover, their long history of dealing with state and federal...
“An LA Times article on Obama’s plans for healthcare reform begins...”
– Matt Bandyk
Organic Chemistry
I’m currently taking organic chemistry + lab over the summer. The experience is notable because while the professor for the course expects very little of us, assigning tests consisting largely of questions drawn verbatim from our homework, the lab teaching assistant requires a great deal of us. Thus, the “dreaded” o-chem is not so demanding after all, while lab has become a real...
May 2009
7 posts
Whoaaa, we're halfway there!
Update: Classes have begun in earnest! I’m two days into organic chemistry I as a post-baccalaureate student at American University. So far, the course and the school look to be a great fit for me. I’ll keep you posted as I progress…now back to studying Alkane chemistry!
3 Things Accomplished at HUH Today
1. Kicked the day off by giving a tour for new employees at Howard University Hospital. Economic recession has not hit HUH—there were *40* new nurses, LPNs, unit secretaries, managers, supervisors, techs, cafeteria workers, etc. on the tour. It was exhilarating to lead a crowd that big, and, yes, terrifying, too. Logistically, it was like playing that “snake” game on your cell...
Peds
Sianara, academic medicine and jam-packed urban ERs! On Monday, May 6, I took in the sights and sounds at a pediatric practice in rural Easton, Maryland. Some impressions and specific cases follow.
This is way different to what I’m used to. Though, in retrospect, it does resemble the practices I’ve seen as a patient. Unlike the incredibly busy Howard Emergency Department, where finding...
HUH/GUH highlights
One of the most common presentations at Howard University Hospital’s Emergency Department is also one of the most troubling ones: the “Sickle Cell Crisis.” Such patients show up sweating, shaking, shrieking—one patient described it to me as being “eaten from the inside-out.” While it tears me in knots to see these often very young people in such terrible, uncontrollable pain, the worst part...
Oh, Schnap!
1 (unconfirmed) case of Swine Flu at HUH.
Maybe I should skip my shift tonight!
April 2009
8 posts
Hands that Serve, Hearts that Care
On Friday, April 24, some of the most active volunteers at Howard University Hospital were recognized for their work a special ceremony held in the HUH cafeteria. While I have yet to accumulate the 20,970 hours that Beudell Rice Brown, the star of the night, has, I was recognized for the work I’ve been doing in the emergency department. Pics Follow…
Smokin' Hot Op-Ed
In the 1990s, then-Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner David Kessler arbitrarily claimed his agency had the authority to regulate cigarettes. The Supreme Court struck down the move as an illegal power-grab in 2000.
Nine years later that failed bureaucratic power grab may finally become a reality, with the newly-emboldened, regulation-friendly Democrats controlling both...
Yes, Universal Healthcare Means Rationing. Then... →
The Drug Pipeline
Today I attended a meeting at FasterCures, billed as the “Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions.” Amy Comstock Rick, a former appointee in the Clinton administration and current CEO of the Parkinson’s Action Network, presented on the “Valley of Death” between basic research in the sciences and the development and approval of actual clinical therapies. In essence,...
Three Things I Won't Soon Forget
On Friday, April 17, I observed at Georgetown University’s Emergency Department. Three experiences stand out for me:
(1) I saw a diagnosis of a cancerous brain tumor. The patient came in complaining of dizziness and fatigue and little else. She was by all accounts bright and cheery and a terrific patient. In some sense, it’s lucky for me that the most contact I had with this patient...
American College of Emergency Physicians
This morning I attended a meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians here in Washington, D.C. Apparently, the meeting is off the record and I can’t report what was said there. So I’ll simply say this:
American health care has its share of problems. Half of all money flowing into it comes from government and most of the remainder comes from insurance companies. A whole lot...
March 2009
2 posts
Ischuria
I continue to have new and exciting experiences volunteering at the Howard University Emergency Department. Let me tell you about one patient in particular. She was a relatively heavyset African American woman—screaming, sweating, in terrible pain. Per my official duties, I lifted helped her into a wheelchair, wheeled her into the ER, and, with the assistance of a nurse, found her a bed to...
Howard University Emergency Department
…is where I volunteer every Monday and Wednesday night. It has been an immensely valuable experience so far.
It’s one thing to read about the problem of the uninsured, or of health care rationing, or that 3% of the D.C. population has HIV/AIDS, and it’s quite another to experience it firsthand. Almost everyone in the waiting room, where I provide comfort and support to those who...