Blog Archives

Emergency Medicine Should Not be your Back Up

I’ve recently heard from several residency applicants who are considering emergency medicine as a back up specialty for the coming Match. These candidates are interested in applying in their field of primary interest and using emergency medicine as a safety specialty. I would not recommend this strategy! Emergency medicine’s popularity has waxed and waned over the years, but currently it is pretty hot. It’s far from a back up.

For more information about emergency medicine candidacies and careers, take a look at my piece “Why Are Emergency Physicians Burning Out” on KevinMD.

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Cutting for Stone

It’s a stressful time right now for pre-meds, so I thought I would try to cut the anxiety by recommending a medically-related novel called “Cutting for Stone” by Dr. Abraham Verghese, Professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford University Medical School and Senior Associate Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. The book follows twin brothers born to a nun and a surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. The story is wonderful.

Try to kick back and enjoy this masterpiece.

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Emergency Medicine: Can a Sizzling Hot Specialty Burn You to a Crisp?

Please take a look at my recent guest entry on the KevinMD blog exploring the disconnect between emergency medicine’s immense popularity in the Match and an Archives of Internal Medicine study documenting severe burnout among emergency physicians. (According to the research, emergency physicians experience burnout at a rate of more than three times that of the average doctor and more than anyone else inside or outside of the medical field.) Pre-meds and medical students will find useful information in my guest blog entry, as they consider their future fields and lifestyles.

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Doctorectomy

One of my former emergency medicine residents Christine Tsien Silvers wrote this provocative piece, “Doctorectomy: Why One EP Stopped Practicing Medicine.” The article is charming and insightful, and it provides useful perspective on how your current career choices might clash with your future priorities.

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Every Emergency Medicine Spot Filled in the 2012 Match

In the 2012 NRMP Match, all 1668 of the available Match positions in Emergency Medicine were filled. The fierce competition likely stems from a variety of factors – popularity of the field and the fact that currently, medical students apply to more residency spots than they had in years past.  Either way medical students need to understand that matching into EM is not easy. Having an early strategy, submitting optimal written materials, and interviewing well are critical.

Here‘s is an article in the Annals of Emergency Medicine regarding last year’s Emergency match.

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About Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more

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Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the White Coat Investor podcast:

Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the FeminEm podcast: