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This guest post was written by Dr. Mark Swartz, M.D. Please see the author bio below for more information. The Importance of the USMLE Step 2 Clinical Skills Examination “Do you smoke, drink coffee or consume alcohol? If you answered yes—how often?” As a patient, you may feel overwhelmed having to answer each question as […]
March 25, 2013
**If you would like another chance to read the challenge before seeing the answer, click here. Scroll down for the answer. ** ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————— The correct answer is D) Nephrolithiasis. Some of you chose the correct condition, but on the wrong side of the body. Remember that the patient had pain on the left, and that […]
March 23, 2013
Case: A 43 year old female presents to the emergency department complaining of sudden-onset, sharp, left-sided abdominal pain that radiates to the groin, followed by nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Based on the images and history provided above, what is the most likely diagnosis? A) Appendicitis B) Diverticulitis C) Hernia D) Nephrolithiasis (kidney stone) E) Ruptured […]
December 27, 2012
During my family medicine rotation, I noticed the physicians I worked with focused more time on weight management than in any other outpatient clinic I had worked in. Recently, while on a less demanding elective, I decided to conduct my own observational study. How often, and with what prompting, do physicians address their patients’ weight? […]
August 21, 2012
**If you would like another chance to read the challenge before seeing the answer, click here. Scroll down for the answer. ** ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————– Let me begin by saying this was a difficult case (I know a case is tricky when the ratio of views to answers is >400:1), and kudos to those who tried – […]
August 19, 2012
You are the GI fellow consulted to see a 17 year old white male with a chief complaint of diarrhea & bright red blood per rectum (BRBPR). The patient was in his usual state of health until he experienced sudden-onset diffuse, crampy abdominal pain and diarrhea roughly 36 hours ago. He experienced 3-5 episodes of […]
August 8, 2012
It’s easy to get caught up in the tests and scutwork that dominate the third and fourth years of medical school. Students are eager to get out of the classroom and into the hospital full-time, but that enthusiasm often fades with each fax, copy, or phone call that must be placed, and can turn to […]
April 27, 2012
As a medical student who just completed this third year of training, I took special interest in Dr. Pauline Chen’s recent article about Harvard Medical School’s “Integrated Clerkship” – a program that eliminates traditional block-style clerkships and asks students to follow a panel of “up to 100 patients” longitudinally over the course of a year […]
January 11, 2012
**If you would like another chance to read the challenge before seeing the answer, click here. Scroll down for the answer. ** ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————– The correct answer is B) Stricture. “Common things are common” – the gentleman does not give a history consistent with foreign body ingestion, and the remaining choices, though plausible, are rare. This […]
November 28, 2011
For most third year medical students, the internal medicine clerkship is make-or-break — it’s where we get to flex our diagnostic muscles and probably where we get our first real taste of autonomy in patient care. Our performance here will be scrutinized by residency directors as they evaluate our fitness for their program. The clerkship […]
March 29, 2013
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