Tag Archive | Medical School
USMLE 2013 and IMGs: All That Glitters is NOT Gold
I have pretty much been declared the official (Indian) USMLE rumor-monger by one of the most famous USMLE coaching institutes that held introductory classes to tell the masses what USMLE was all about. Thank you sir, you made my day. Now, again, another disclaimer. The last time I wrote about the USMLE match (this one: […]
The USA Dream for IMGs: Coming to an end? Analysing the 2012 Match
My attention was drawn to an article in the JAMA today (1) by one of my friends who is actively pursuing the USMLE route. And after reading this, I guess I have to admit that one now has to make haste in order to prevent waste. Now I have long been wanting to write about […]
Talking to the Streets for Health: Street Theater as a Public Health Tool
Prior to coming to Delhi, I did not have much exposure to the power of the theater as a mode of dissemination of public health messages. It does sound strange when I put it that way because Kolkata, where I hail from, is a city with a vibrant theater culture. However, I just never got […]
eThesis: A Continuous Narrative Experience
Our thesis protocols were submitted today and most of us had a bit of running around in circles to do before the closing bells chimed at 1 PM. I was especially peeved at the amount of paper that goes into the making of such a protocol. And given the fact that we had to submit […]
Protocol Writing Workshop 2012 and Falling in Love… with UCMS!
As residents, one of the most important things that we have to do is complete a dissertation, or thesis in course of our training. This is one of the credits we need to have obtained in order to be eligible to sit for the final MD exams. The basic aim of doing a thesis is […]
Despatch from Narela: Another Rural Posting Experience
It has been quite a long hiatus since I last wrote here, and a plethora of changes have affected my life since then. I hope to write about them sometime, and start writing here on a more regular basis, as before. Tonight’s post comes from a sleepy place called Narela, situated at the Delhi-Haryana border, […]
On Being A Gadfly
Although this is the age of Evidence Based Medicine, in large parts of our country, the “E” in EBM does not stand for Evidence, and more often than not, means “Eminence”. Medicine, for a long time, was resistant to the influx of new ideas. While reading the Gawande article on the History of Surgery in […]
Indo-Pak Medical Students Romance the Border: A JPMS Initiative
From the press release of the Journal of Pakistan Medical Students, an endeavor worth the accolades: A Peace Initiative: A Group of Young Researchers And Doctors of India and Pakistan bridges the Divide KARACHI: The idea of publishing a medical research journal had been sparkling in the minds of many young researchers from India […]
And the AIPG Fiasco Continues
The 5300-odd rankers in the AIPG were breathing a sigh of relief when the notification for counseling for Post Graduation seats was declared, along with dates and ranks and the rank cards were uploaded on the site. It seemed that the concept of online counseling which seemed innocuous on the surface but was fraught with […]
Another AIPG Controversy
Rumors and hearsay have been a dime a dozen since the bombshell of an AIPG dropped on us and since the results were postponed, there seems to have been an explosion of sorts in the kinds of news just flying around. And like all other med students and PG perspirants, even I have been monitoring […]
MAHE: A Fantastic Test Experience of an Unfair Evaluation System
I took the Manipal MD/MS PG Entrance examination today (aka MAHE) and as it was the first ever online test I was going to sit for, I was naturally a little excited and tensed about it. I managed to work it up to a bit of a useless frenzy last night. But I must say […]
Landmark Order: JIPMER Asked to Reveal Test Paper and Keys
One of the biggest bones that the Indian post graduate entrance examinees had to pick with the system was the (?apparent) lack of transparency in the examination system, One of the things that could have easily ensured a transparent and clean exam would be if the students were handed the question papers and answer keys […]
Remembering Tinsley Harrison, the Oslerphile Physician
The past few weeks have been very demanding on me and I have not had the best of times, either on the personal or on the professional front. So, today, I took a break from the usual drudgery of life and decided to take a step back and remind myself of the bigger picture of […]
The (Alleged) Rajasthan PG Entrance Fiasco
I was thinking of writing about the postponement of the All India Post Graduate Entrance Exam in order to make time for an online counseling system to be put in place, but I just came across another bit of news that has left me wondering what the heck is wrong with the system. Now obviously, […]
Is MBBS Becoming a Vestigial Degree?
“There are, in truth, no specialties in medicine, since to know fully many of the most important diseases a man must be familiar with their manifestations in many organs.” —William Osler, The Army Surgeon, Medical News, Philadelphia, 64:318, 1894. The focus of the modern day medical student has shifted from the broad to the specific. […]
The Map of the Cat Conundrum: Richard Feynman and AIIMS November 2011
Well, that sounds like an odd assortment of topics to group under the same heading, does it not? Well, today I had the misfortune of experiencing first hand what Feynman had described ages ago in Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman? As my blog readers might know, I had an examination today, and before you ask […]
Menage-a-Trois: Download, Print, Keep, Share
I have received several requests for a printable version of my previous post. Since I did not realize that it would become so popular (relatively speaking), I did not upload the original PDF document that I printed out for myself. I have been told that the “Print” option on wordpress produces a rather ungainly result […]
Menage-a-Trois
Ah! Got you there, didn’t I? They say when trouble comes, it comes in threes. For example, this month, I have three soul crushing, morale destroying, confidence pulverizing examinations lined up one after the other. (That might explain this post!) Anyways, so I was reading a lot of clinical buzzwords and stuff and I realized […]
Negative Marking: Proposing An Alternative System
I had written this quite some time ago and I decided to publish this now for obvious reasons. I have an exam this Sunday! The AIPGMEE is a very dicey exam. My personal brush with it has not been very pleasant, so I have obvious conflicts of interest in proposing changes in it and hoping […]
Charles Beevor: The Sign of a “Bloody” Jerk
Forgive the hyperbolic title. Do not take offense and read on before hating on me. Please note the post script for added justification for this inflammatory title, if you so feel. Thanks. Now on with the main show! Not the best known of neurologists, history has not been very kind to this amicable gentleman, who […]
Google+ for Google Apps, Open Lab and Exam Musings
So this is a bit of a mishmash of a post. Google Plus is finally being opened up to the Google Apps users! Phew. That settles the hash of using my old Gmail address solely for the purpose of sticking stuff in the Google Plus panel! Anyways. With over 40 million users in a few […]
OAW 2011: So You Hit A Paywall?
This is in celebration of the Open Access Week, which is celebrated all across the globe between October 24 – 30 every year. This year, since I am no longer in medical school, I will not be able to organize an event on the grounds but will try my best to see if I can […]
What Flies in KVPY: A Sample Project
I have been getting a deluge of requests to post some examples of the type of projects that have been selected. While it is a bit of a chore to track down the folks who got through and ask them for their project abstracts (most people are not so open minded about handing out unpublished […]
Gender Bias + Ignorance = DANGEROUS Patients?
Oh well, just read this post, and had to come write about it before sitting down to study for the night. The issue the author raises on the blog is a VERY important one, but dilutes it with her abject ignorance. The basic premise of the post is the right to choose physicians of a […]
MediQuiz: Inquizzitive–Mixed Bag
This is the last and final round from the MediQuiz that me and Tamoghna hosted at KPC Medical College on the occasion of Researching – The Foundation Workshop. This was meant to be like a closing round for the quiz, and most of the questions were culled from an earlier quiz conducted at Medical College […]
MediQuiz: Inquizzitive–Occam’s Razor
Occam’s Razor is the law of parsimony or, in Latin, Lex Parsimoniae, which dictates that when faced with competing hypotheses, that are equal in all other respects, the better bet is to go with the one that makes the fewest new assumptions. In simple words, the simple hypothesis is the one to go with. In […]
Medical Student Research: The First Year Quandary
The problem with the Indian Medical Curriculum is that it is too intense, as it should be, no complaints there, but it offers no leeway to people who want to test out the waters in the fields like medical student research or public health or other associated streams not directly fed by the MBBS course […]
Embryology Mnemonic #Fail
Anatomy and Embryology have remained some of the most volatile subjects that I learnt in my medical course. Little has remained in my memory thanks to the attrition over the years, except for the clinical bits that were needed in the day to day life of a medical intern, which was not much, to say […]
