Annotated Bibliography (Polished draft)

Pierre, Stacey. Personal interview. 11 July 2017.

During this interview, Stacey Pierre discussed the challenges she faced and the lessons she learned as a premed student. In the beginning of this interview, she explained what inspired her to become a doctor, as well as her plans for the future. She also describes being a premed major as a unique experience that allowed for the freedom to either focus on one’s studies, or to get involved in the community. She then goes on to say that pursuing a medical education is not easy, nor is it for everyone. It is normal for students to experience burnouts, feelings of overwhelmingness, and incredibly humbling moments. But one needs resilience to be able to keep moving forward. She stresses that it is better to have moments like these while in school rather than in the work field, where mistakes can have serious consequences. This interview relates to the research topic because it depicts the experience of premed majors as they continue to pursue a career in medicine. The path to becoming a physician is not easy. This source informs the reader on life as a premed student and the challenges that comes with it. Although this interview does not provide statistical evidence and is just the view of one student, it also supports the argument of other sources regarding the difficulty of this education, and provides an inside scoop on medical education through a premedical student.

Chen, Pauline W. "Medical Student Burnout and the Challenge to Patient Care." The New York

Times. The New York Times, 30 Oct. 2008. Web. 17 July 2017.

In this article, a physician reminisces about her miserable years as a medical student. She talks about a dinner she had with her former schoolmates, and recounts the challenges she faced while school and her diminished self-esteem. This article also refers to another research article about the burnout and suicidal thoughts among medical students in the U.S. These numbers cause concern within the medical education community and questions are being raised and steps are taken to solve this issue. This article relates to my research topic because it also discusses life and the challenges faced as a medical student. The experience depicted as a medical student is also very similar to those expressed in other sources that talks about life as a student pursuing a medical education. This article provides statistical evidence, as well as provide the prospective of multiple individuals, who were medical students, but are now physicians.

Engel, Mary F. "Achieving “Narrative Flow”: Pre-Medical Education as an Essential Chapter of

a Physician’s Story." Achieving “Narrative Flow”: Pre-Medical Education as an

Essential Chapter of a Physician’s Story (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 17 July 2017.

This article discusses the differences between a premed student’s expectation on their education and the undergraduate education provided. Premed students are focused on getting into medical school, while the undergraduate medical education emphasize the development of more humanistic doctors. This education is grooming students to not only have a strong background in science, but to also have the skills needed to interact with patients. This is unlike the other sources gathered because it is focusing more on the medical education’s emphasis on a more humanist approach to patient care, rather than the difficulties faced by students. Despites its differing content, it also expresses the increasing competitive nature of medical education to ensure that only capable physicians are entering the work field.

De Souza, Brianna. Personal interview. 11 July 2017.

During this interview, Brianna de Souza discussed her experience as a premed student. In the beginning of this interview, she revealed that she was inspired to become a doctor by her love for science, problem solving, and interaction with others, and her plan to own her own medical practice. She expressed her experience in medical school as the time to explore many fields of medicine while being challenged and having the support of a group of physicians, work with world-renowned specialists, and even witness rare medical cases in the country. She stated that the most challenging thing about being a med student is being content in uncertainty. With all the information being thrown at students who are competing with other top students, one may not get the grades they are used to receiving or may no longer be the smartest in the class. Although she was not intimidated by the amount of time she would have to be in school, she, along with many other students, have considered choosing another career path. But her love for medicine gave her the drive to keep pursuing a career in medicine. Knowing that burnouts are common among students in medical education, she stresses the importance of taking care of oneself. Similar to Pierre, she also believes that pursuing a career in medicine is not for everyone, and that it is best to find what fits one’s goals and skill set. Those who are still striving to become doctors will adopt an “I can do this” mentality and preserver. I believe that everything de Souza stated within this interview completely agrees with Stacey Pierre and other sources that discusses the experiences of those who received medical education. Although this source does not provide any evidence or support, it offers the strength of a first-hand experience.

Nirale, Anil. "Challenges to Current Medical Education and Practice." Indian Journal of Plastic

Surgery : Official Publication of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India. Medknow

Publications, 2008. Web. 19 July 2017.

This article discusses the changes that are happening within the medical field and medical education, as well as possible solutions to these issues. These changes are creating challenges to those pursuing medical education and its practices. Patients’ expectations have change because they appear to be wiser due to their access to information on the internet, many doctors are changing their style of practice due to new multispecialty hospital practices, and the current medical education are failing to prepare students for wide ranges of problems they may come in contact with in the medical field. This article also talks about an “outcome-based education” that will produce doctors who are capable and prepared to begin medical practice upon graduation by ingraining the skills to appropriate attitudes, effectively problem-solve, and use information technology. This article then discusses suggestions and possible solutions that will help the medical students adapt to these rapid changes in medical education and the medical field. I do not find a majority of this article useful, except for the section on outcome-based education, because although it talks about the challenges that are being imposed on the medical education in general, it does not really talk about the challenges that premed and med students experience directly. I will be using the outcome-based education for my project 1.

Densen, Peter. "Challenges and Opportunities Facing Medical Education." Transactions of the

American Clinical and Climatological Association. American Clinical and

Climatological Association, 2011. Web. 19 July 2017.

This article discusses the challenges that the undergraduate education faces. The complications discussed ranges from internal complications, such as inpatient versus outpatient education and the focus on disease rather than behavior, to external complications, such as societal changes, exponential growth in knowledge, and technological innovations. Medical schools are redesigning their curriculums and these changes will affect graduating medical students and beyond, beginning in 2020. The inevitable exponential expansion of knowledge is becoming an issue for medical schools because they are struggling to keep up with the new information and teach it to students in a way that will enable to apply it to situations they may face in the medical field. This sources also explains the three general schemes: discipline-based, organ-based, and complaint-based, which are used by US medical schools to organize the curricula, it’s benefits, and how it is used. These external factors may be more difficult to address than internal factors because it requires the development of strategies to adapt to the changes in the medical education. Not everything in this article is useful. However, the changes in the medical curriculum explained in this source can be used as support for the challenges premed and med students face. The strength of this source is that it provides explanations and evidence of changes to the curriculum that results in students either being weeded out or experience burnouts.

Dyrbye, Liselotte N., Matthew R. Thomas, F. Stanford Massie, David V. Power, Anne Eacker,

William Harper, Steven Durning, Christine Moutier, Daniel W. Szydlo, Paul J. Novotny,

Jeff A. Sloan, and Tait D. Shanafelt. "Burnout and Suicidal Ideation among U.S. Medical

Students." Annals of Internal Medicine. American College of Physicians, 02 Sept. 2008. Web. 20 July 2017.

This article is about a study conducted to investigate the relationship between suicidal ideation and burnouts, and assess its frequency among medical students. This cross-sectional and longitudinal cohort study found that half of the 4287 medical students who participated in this study experienced burnout and even 11.2% reported suicidal ideation. Burnout is associated with suicidal ideation, and recovery from burnout is associated with less suicidal ideation. It is suggested that medical schools should implement a system to identify students who are suicidal, establish and advance student support and wellness programs, and improve the learning environment to combat the widespread experience of burnout. This source goes hand in hand with "Medical Student Burnout and the Challenge to Patient Care." by Pauline Chen, which I believe adds to the strength of this article. I plan to incorporate the evidence from this source into my project.