Clinical clerkships years, sometimes called internship years, are a transition phase that every medical student needs to journey after Med-II. In this episode we go through this character building experience, the expectations, reality and some of the pros and cons. 

Disclaimer: The content of this podcast does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for educational purposes only.

In this episode, we're joined by Ghinwa Hayek, a psychoanalyst in training. We talk about the origins of psychoanalysis, Freud's contributions and the history of his famous couch, while trying to gain insight into the non-medical aspects of the mind.

Disclaimer: The content of this podcast does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for educational purposes only.

The USMLE-Step 2-CK (Clinical Knowledge) is a nine-hour-long multiple-choice exam that assesses clinical application of medical knowledge. With USMLE Step 1’s pass/fail status in 2022, USMLE Step 2 CK will be playing a much more pivotal role in residency matching. In this episode, Nassem Bou-Ayash joins us as we review our journeys of preparing for this exam, highlighting the various resources used, the study strategies implemented, and mental/psychological challenges faced in the preparation phase, during the exam day and afterward. 

We apologize for the poor audio quality in advance, since the episode was recorded via ZOOM.

Resources and references:

Uworld STEP 2-CK
https://medical.uworld.com/usmle/usmle-step-2-ck/

OnlineMedEd
https://home.onlinemeded.org/

STEP 2-CK Anki Decks
https://www.reddit.com/r/medicalschoolanki/comments/fqlr22/the_king_of_all_step_2_decks/

Divine intervention podcast
https://divineinterventionpodcasts.com/ 

STEP 1 score predictor
https://www.roundsandroutes.com/step-1-score-predictor

Disclaimer: The content of this podcast does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for educational purposes only.

Medical students are often overwhelmed by the increasing amount of knowledge they have to learn.  In the series, will be going through the most effective, scientifically proven methods, to learn huge chunks of information. In part two we discussed the memory palace technique and its application in medical education, focusing on the most useful available visual mnemonic resources .

Resources links:

Sketchy:
https://www.sketchy.com/

Pixorize:
https://pixorize.com/

Picmonic
https://www.picmonic.com/

Disclaimer: The content of this podcast does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for educational purposes only.

Medical students are often overwhelmed by the increasing amount of knowledge they have to learn.  In the series, will be going through the most effective, scientifically proven methods, to learn huge chunks of information. In part one we discussed spaced repetition with special focus on the app ANKI, highlighting the do’s and don’ts of effective studying.

References:

1- Student-directed retrieval practice is a predictor of medical licensing examination performance.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4673073/

2- How to Learn Effectively in Medical School: Test Yourself, Learn Actively, and Repeat in Intervals.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4031794/

Disclaimer: The content of this podcast does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for educational purposes only.

We're at a weird time with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While some countries have successfully halted spread of the virus, it continues to wreak havoc in others. In this episode, we discuss the COVID-19 virus variants, the current available  vaccines, and try to make sense of where we are at this point in the pandemic. We also (naively) make predictions on how we expect the world to eventually move on with the virus and live with it. 

Euthanasia is one of those ethical dilemmas that most of us have unshakable convictions regarding. The arguments are endless. We explore this topic in the context of Lilian Boyles. Lilian was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and was resilient in treating her illness. After years of responding to treatment, Lilian's condition starts to deteriorate due to complications of her disease to the point that she was suffering from widespread vasculitis, internal bleeding, septicemia, and her organs were becoming gangrenous. One day, Dr. Cox (Lilian's treating physician for many years) walks in to check up on her. Lilian and her 2 sons John and Patrick are begging Dr. Cox to give her a medication to end her life and relieve her suffering. What would you do?

Relevant articles:
1-An Ethical Review of Euthanasia and Physician-assisted Suicide
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5402774/

2-Legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide: the illusion of safeguards and controls
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3070710/

3-Nigel Cox (doctor)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Cox_(doctor)

4-Death on demand: has euthanasia gone too far?
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jan/18/death-on-demand-has-euthanasia-gone-too-far-netherlands-assisted-dying

Disclaimer: The content of this podcast does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for educational purposes only.

The medical profession has the highest rate of suicide of any profession bar none. Today, we discuss the loss of yet another doctor to suicide. Following a lengthy battle with substance abuse during her adolescence, Dr. Sundem turned her life around, beat addiction, and became an excellent doctor and researcher. Her troubled youth came back to haunt her when it was time to apply for jobs and after 3 years of no luck, she unfortunately took her own life.
In the coming weeks, we'll be going into more depth on mental health issues in light of the huge impact COVID-19 has had.

Related articles:

1- Prevalence of Depression in Medical Students at the Lebanese University and Exploring its Correlation With Facebook Relevance: A Questionnaire Study.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4908302/

2-Risk Factors for Relapse in Health Care Professionals With Substance Use Disorders.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/200588

3-List of suicide crisis lines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines

Disclaimer: The content of this podcast does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for educational purposes only.

What if you could take a pill that magically increased your IQ by 20 points and had you firing on all cylinders all day everyday? Does the science agree with that Reddit post or YouTube video you saw that had you asking 'what if'? And are you willing to live with the long laundry list of side effects that comes with taking such a pill? This episode deals with "smart drugs" separating facts from fiction.

Relevant articles:
1- Do college students improve their grades by using prescription stimulants nonmedically?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460316302659?casa_token=8Egs3SPRW5sAAAAA:k8HIV1NDnFC_6T1Muh7-ChfrzCqEs2EFx81MsS9V56Uz9o_AtU-b7kD5-Txup5MOCojD579Cn5g

2- Modafinil for cognitive neuroenhancement in healthy non-sleep-deprived subjects: A systematic review.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924977X15002497?casa_token=DA3WEGCsUlYAAAAA:E2pyducPJJ1954KQ2xe6RBQe-HC0m8V09AzVQC9zz0mUIdzzgyX03IPC339PPw4PDx_Rm3vfv3s

3-The Effects of Modafinil on Convergent and Divergent Thinking of Creativity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jocb.73

3-Illicit Use of Specific Prescription Stimulants Among College Students: Prevalence, Motives, and Routes of Administration.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1794223/

Disclaimer: The content of this podcast does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for educational purposes only.

As COVID-19 wreaks havoc globally we discuss various measures implemented to control the virus, current treatment options and clinical trials, efforts to create a vaccine, an overview on death rate calculation and perspective for the next couple of months.
Recorded on May 11th, 2020.

Relevant articles:
Hydroxychloroquine:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2012410
Remdesivir:
- https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-clinical-trial-shows-remdesivir-accelerates-recovery-advanced-covid-19
- https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31022-9/fulltext
Ivermectin:
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354220302011
Vaccine:
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/why-coronavirus-vaccine-could-take-way-longer-than-a-year/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_vaccine
Death rate:
- https://www.dw.com/en/covid-19-death-rate-sinking-data-reveals-a-complex-reality/a-53365771