What do you do if you need help with something in medical school, or you have a question about life in Baltimore, and you don't quite feel like asking a faculty member? That's what the Peer Support Network is for. Two almost-fourth-year students, Alanna Stefano and Nicol Tugarinov, share everything you need to know about the Peer Support Network - what it is, how to become involved, how peer support leaders are trained, the kinds of questions they're happy to help with, and so much more.
Resource:
The Peer Support Network from the OSA Academic Handbook
Match Day is coming up soon, and each year, the Match Day celebration at our medical school is sponsored by the Medical Alumni Association. This organization - much like the School of Medicine - has been around since the 1800s. Its office is located in Davidge Hall, the oldest medical education building in the United States in continuous use. And its executive director, Mr. Larry Pitrof, has been leading the organization since 1994 - for 30 years.
In late February, I visited him in Davidge Hall to learn more about his life and what he's seen throughout his decades at our medical school. On the day of our interview, Davidge Hall was filled with activity - renovations, HVAC installation, contractors everywhere. And I felt such powerful nostalgia being in that space. Memories from my first week of med school and from my own Match Day, among so many other important milestones. Larry and I got to talk about the history of Davidge Hall and of the SOM, why he was drawn to our Medical Alumni Association in the first place, how the MAA helps medical students and alumni, and, after 30 years, what comes next for him.
Four years ago, we learned that the USMLE Step 1 exam would become graded on a Pass/Fail basis, rather than each student receiving a 3-digit score. We covered this change in episode 54 of The OSA Insider, featuring an interview with national expert Dr. J. Bryan Carmody. This change went live in January 2022, and we can't help but wonder: where do things stand today? Why did this switch to P/F happen in the first place? Are things better? How are med students feeling about Step 1, anxiety-wise? And how is the UMSOM responding to the current moment? Dr. Nirav Shah and Dr. Devang Patel answer all of these questions and more in their conversation with host Dr. Neda Frayha.
Resources:
UMSOM OME page on USMLE Prep
Think about the last time you made a mistake. Now, imagine this happened at work, with a patient, and that your clinical setting is a punitive place where people are shamed for their mistakes. Would you want to tell anyone about this error?
What if, instead, you worked somewhere that embraced open conversation about errors, and looked without judgment at all the factors that might lead to mistakes?
This is at the heart of Just Culture - a philosophy and process that looks at both the individual and the system in a non-punitive way to figure out where something went wrong, and how we can all learn from it and make changes so it doesn’t happen again.
Our guest for this episode is Dr. Nidhi Goel - UMSOM alum, Med Peds physician, a leader in quality and safety for both the medicine and pediatrics departments at our hospital, and Director of the Medicine Clerkship - for a practical conversation on exactly what Just Culture is and how it impacts our students. Spoiler alert: she shares a real-world example of the Just Culture process that our team will never forget.
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