MD/DO

Are you thinking about switching specialties during residency? If so, you’re not alone. Choosing a specialty in medical school isn’t easy. You’re required to make a career-long decision from a series of brief rotations, each spanning a couple of weeks to months and then hope you made the right choice. Most of the time, this read more…

Physicians have long debated the value of Maintenance of Certification (MOC) exams. Are they just another hoop to jump through? Or do they actually help us become better clinicians?  A recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine adds new weight to the importance of ongoing assessment and lifelong learning: physicians who performed better on the ABIM read more…

Physician job interview questions make all of us a bit nervous! Don’t feel bad if even now as a specialist you dread being asked, “Tell me about yourself,” or “What’s your biggest weakness?” for the 100th time. Trust me, you’re not the only one. If you’re wondering about which physician job interview questions you might read more…

Feedback isn’t always easy to get, especially when it’s not glowing. While we often hope for praise and encouragement, the reality is that feedback can be mixed, and sometimes it’s critical or unexpected. Regardless, it’s important to be open to it. Though it’s not always what you want to hear, it’s often what’ll help you read more…

The transition from residency to your first attending job is a significant milestone—and often one of the most daunting. After years of structured training and evaluation, suddenly you’re expected to navigate contracts, benefits, and long-term career choices. You may have learned how to manage DKA and AKIs in residency, but they didn’t tell you how read more…

I remember my first day of residency, ten years ago. Naturally, excitement and nervousness had me waking up earlier than I intended, so I decided to drive to the hospital early, and hang out in my car until it was an appropriate time to arrive. I journaled to pass the time, and can still remember read more…

Your intern year, regardless of specialty, is a whirlwind of new responsibilities, steep learning curves, and constant growth. Every day brings fresh challenges, like admitting complex patients, coordinating care on complex cases, writing notes and orders under time pressure, and presenting on rounds. It’s difficult for sure, and it’s normal to feel a bit overwhelmed read more…

Fellowship is an exciting next step in your training after residency. Not everyone needs to do a fellowship (and many people don’t), but the advantage of further subspecialty training is the additional expertise that will set you apart from your colleagues. In this article, we’ll explain the different types of fellowships, how to apply to read more…

So, you did it. You took your boards. The culmination of years of training, anxiety, and borderline monastic discipline. And now…nothing. No more Qbanks. No more 5 a.m. flashcards. No more waking up in a cold sweat trying to remember which cranial nerve innervates the superior oblique (it’s IV, by the way). And yet, here read more…

You spend countless hours working through your Qbank to prep for your next big exam. As you read through questions, perhaps you’ve wondered how they were created. Who writes the content? How do they come up with the topics and scenarios? How do we ensure that information is up to date with the most current read more…

If you’re headed into your OB/GYN intern year, it’s common to feel nervous or overwhelmed with the transition to residency. Here are some words of advice that I wish I knew before starting my own OB/GYN intern year, and some tips to help set you up for success! I vividly recall the night before my read more…

Even though it might feel like you just took your CREOG exam, you’ll have to start thinking about studying again before you know it. In the months after I took my first CREOG during the COVID-19 pandemic, I had a lot of free time to reflect on best studying practices (thanks to stay-at-home orders and read more…

If you failed Step 3, you’re probably a bit stunned. How on earth did this happen? After so many years of studying and so many exams passed, you cannot fathom how this is the exam that became the biggest obstacle. Well let me assure you, you’re not alone. Many people before you have failed Step 3, especially after read more…

Intern year of residency is a period of adjustment, to say the least. There’s a lot to learn about not just the specialty you’ve chosen, but where you’ll be working, the people you’ll be working with, and how to maintain a work-life balance. It’s no wonder many doctors about to begin residency are excited, but read more…

When it comes to finding a job you love, there’s no straightforward path to happiness. As a mentor once said to me, “My path to my current role was nonlinear, but ultimately, I was able to create a life for myself as a physician that I love.” I felt that this statement nicely summarized what read more…

This article is going to show two very easy ways to help increase your ABFM Certification score by 100 points. We already know that pass rates for the ABFM exam hover around 90% for all test-takers. And we know that superior test-taking skills alone are not sufficient to pass the exam. While there is no magic pill or wand to achieve this, these two techniques are the most useful, easy to implement and only requires a little of your time. This means anyone can take advantage of them. The first tactic is to use a system over a couple of months to identify what you don’t know. Sounds easy, right? The key is to go through a curriculum and identify what you don’t know – not what you are weak at – but what you don’t know. The second strategy is to take advantage of human error. Tests are written by humans, of course, and humans make errors. This article will show you 5 very easy techniques to narrow down an answer choice to either the correct answer or to a 50/50 probability – even without knowing anything about the topic. By combining these two strategies, you’ll be able to increase your ABFM certification score by 100 points – which could be the difference between passing or failing. Let’s get started.

There are so many tactics you can use when preparing to take a standardized exam such as an In-Training Exam (ITE) or Certification Exam. But there is one I found to be the most useful.

Each year during your pediatrics residency, you’ll take the pediatric in-training exam (ITE). This gauges your preparedness to take the pediatric board exam. The pediatric ITE allows you to see how you’re doing compared to national peer groups, so it can be an invaluable tool to tailor and guide your studying as a resident. Furthermore, read more…

Time flies, it seems, and you’ve made it to the last year of your family medicine residency! With less than a year before your graduation, this is your chance to learn as much as you can under supervision before entering the world as an attending physician. Take advantage of these tips to ensure a successful read more…

In medicine, the pursuit of knowledge does not end once you graduate from residency or fellowship. After all, in order to provide optimized patient care, physicians must be lifelong learners! In this post, we will answer the top questions about continuing medical education (CME) and requirements for family medicine physicians.  1. What is CME and read more…