Interview Preparation
Congratulations! To all medical students applying to family medicine on finishing your residency applications. Now, you are in the midst of constructing your interview schedule … editing calendars, projecting expenses, and polishing dress shoes. As you prepare all the little details, please recognize that the residency interview is a job interview. Program directors invite individuality and expressions of passion. However, your...
2014: Year of the Family Physician (Part XXIV)
Emma Lundberg, CAFP Membership Coordinator, was kind enough to invite me to provide an update on #2014YearFP at the Sacramento-El Dorado County Chapter Spring Awards Dinner on June 23. I paraphrased President Woodrow Wilson in stating that #2014YearFP is an idea, an ideal and a vision. It began as an idea to raise the profile of family physicians during the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. It transitioned to an ideal when...
The Personal Statement as Living Literature
The personal statement within the residency application needs to stand apart. Its format beckons singularity. Much of the application prompts uniformity; lines are filled, boxes checked, and documents downloaded. Letters of recommendation highlight your character, but through the lens of others. When you come to the personal statement section, you are, depending on your vantage, confronted or gifted with a blank page. The blurring...
Preparation for Family Medicine Residency Application
This is the first in a series of blogs directed toward medical students who are interested in a family medicine career. I offer a perspective on the residency application process, including personal statement and interviewing guidelines. Soon, fourth-year medical students will begin their applications to family medicine residencies. Hopefully, most will have started preparing for the process in their third year. There are two specific...
2014: Year of the Family Physician (Part XXIII)
On May 21st, the UC Davis Health System hosted a faculty workshop discussing the role of social media in academic medicine. Dorsey Griffith from public affairs and Vicki Bencken from marketing were kind enough to include me on the panel. Approximately 100 faculty members from nearly all disciplines attended. My panel co-members included a thoracic surgeon, a pathologist, and a urologist. I incorporated a Twitter chat into the workshop...