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When physicians are prepared for potential issues, they can prevent them altogether.
Becoming a physician is no walk in the park, but knowing the different pitfalls and opportunities you’ll come across can pave the way to a rewarding career, in medical school and beyond. Here are some of the latest hot button issues in medicine:
Avoiding costly mistakes
Even with all the training in the world, physicians are going to misdiagnose their patients on occasion, hopefully without serious repercussions. Two subgroups in particular are at greater risk for error—difficult patients and children.
Difficult patients are nearly twice as likely to be misdiagnosed as neutral tempered patients. Physicians are humans too, so dealing with disruptive behaviors drains the energy that is normally put towards evaluating a patient and finding productive treatment solutions. Technology and cognitive exercises are being used to help counter the effect.
Perhaps a more troublesome issue is misdiagnosing young patients. For one, their less developed bodies aren’t able to fight off an overdose or drug reaction. Also, unlike adults, they are less likely to be able to recognize and communicate when something’s wrong. Here are some tips to help communicate with young patients and minimize these errors.
Dangers of self-medicating
Studies show about one-third of medical students abuse alcohol. That’s two times as much as surgeons. The biggest trigger for alcohol problems is emotional exhaustion, followed by burnout, large debt, and being young and unmarried.
As you can attest, the schedule of a medical student requires optimal mental acuity when it comes to the endless studying, taking exams, and working with patients. Turning to alcohol will not only compromise these things, but can also lead to more serious cries for help.
With rising medical school tuitions and increasing hours in residency, this problem will only continue to worsen if left unattended. Many physicians are encouraging medical schools and residency programs to implement wellness programs that offer healthy means of preventing and coping with stress.
Power of Social Media
When most of us think social media, we think cleaning up our facebook profiles for image purposes with residency admissions officers and patients. In other words, social media is sometimes dismissed in the medical field as a trivial, bothersome thing. But we forget about the incredible power social media can give us as physicians to help thousands of people beyond the limited scope of our hospital rooms.
Is there a topic you’re particularly passionate about? Do you come across issues in your workplace that need to be challenged and reformed? Do you have advice for other medical students based on your own experience? Here are 21 Ways Doctors Can Use Social Media for the common good. Don’t keep all that hard-earned knowledge locked inside your head!
To help you balance the demands of medical school with preparing for the USMLE, we offer live online USMLE courses. Do yourself and your patients a favor by prepping with Kaplan—the world leader in test prep.
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