savoy096

It is almost cliché to note how easy it can in medical school be to become so focused on detail that you lose sight of the broader picture. As day follows day of lecture, and night follows night of clicking through Powerpoint slides and memorizing biochemical pathways, it is no challenge to forget why you learn what you learn. In fact, it is sometimes said you can get everything you need to know in the first two years of medical school from Wikipedia. As far as the USMLE is concerned, that may be true. Wherever you are in the world, whatever the quality of your education, there is a compendium of basic facts in a clearly delineated range of subjects that you must know by the end of your second year. These are the things you need to know in order to be granted your MD. I wonder though, is this all that we ought to know?             For the past week, British trained Trauma surgeon Dr. Seema Biswas has guided my class through very ful...

A gentle breeze wafts in from the balcony, sliding through my open door and bringing a welcome chill. I step out and rest my hands on the iron banister. In the distance I can make out the hills of Ramot, barely lit by a low, rust colored moon.  My neighborhood, Gimmel, winds out below me. Undulating Hebrew and Arabic beats from nearby apartment complexes mix with the usual classic rock standards from Coca bar up the street.  If it were daytime, you would hear the Ethiopian children across the street playing in the yard of the New Immigrant Absorption Center. But it is almost one in the morning, and they are sleeping now. I should probably be sleeping too. Instead, I’m standing here, breathing in the city. From my balcony I can see Soroka Hospital. A shining invitation to the unwell of the desert night, it is a slice of sleek modernity in the dusty streets. The past month, in that hospital, has been a whirlwind introduction to our new lives as physicians in training. We have me...