A Decade In Rewind
The past decade has been a whirlwind. A lot has happened and I thought I would take a moment to write it all out here, so that my 40 year old self has a recollection of all that passed.
1. I graduated from college, in college I started to develop my early prototypes of what I thought my future would look like. That entailed taking a lot more classes that I thought I would. Some classes were probably less beneficial than others, classes on Russian communist literature were less beneficial, but it's always valuable to look at human history to see what mistake can be avoided. I studied architecture in one of the most modern cities in the world, London, which I think will be beneficial when I'm building my practice. I also purchased Royal Albert teacup at on the the street sales and had tea with my friend in Bath. Also, I read a lot of literature books, to be able to have larger and better ideas, I read them from across multiple centuries. I also studied biology and organic chemistry which was vital in helping me to understand how pharmaceutical drugs work, thinking about the molecular processes that compounds work on, thinking how those things work. I studied statistics to better understand how the pharmaceutical companies describe information, and also, I studied biology to understand how the human body works at a molecular level.
2. I thought about the entire planet at large, visited multiple continents, including Europe and Asia. I went to Japan to study how their culture differs from American culture, people there tend to be more friendly, everything more neat in terms of cuisine. I visited multiple cities in India, saw palaces and 5 star hotels on floating lakes. I also wonder what it would be like to stay in one of those hotels, but it's not really my style. I'm not sure what I took from this though to be honest, I think it was more my courtesy to the United States of America to pop my face in different countries. I also got to work with Unite for Sight, which was great - they're doing some amazing work abroad to reduce vision reduction. We take glasses for granted in the United States, but it's amazing how many people need cataract surgeries abroad. I got some support from a lot of people here to do so, and it requires letters, but it was worth it. https://www.uniteforsight.org/
3. I became a citizen of the United States, I worked my whole life to do so. I still remember standing in line in Louisiana waiting for my thumb print when I was 5 years old. I was so nervous at the time, but I managed to pass through to get my green card. I took time off between college and medical school to finish this. During this time, I also read a lot about the current practice of medicine, about surgical operating rooms, I read about how medicine was practiced 100 years ago, how amputations were performed at that time, or how bacteremia was resolved, by spilling out blood manually. We have come far, but have a lot more to go. I still remember that Robin Williams movie about the robot who lived for 200 years, the movie itself was depressing, but the concept of living longer was a good one. I also read about great physicists, Robert Feynman, studying the way that he studied, in order to create better outcomes and how to think about rapid learning aquistion.
4. I graduated from medical school and became a doctor, this was one of my bigger disappointments. I didn't really like it, but I needed a job, and the bonus is that if you take out big loans you can increase your credit score. But the problem is that if you're not using the credit score, it's sort of pointless. Oh well. I got a lot of rejections, from bigger name schools, IUSM hated me for some reason, I remember in college meeting with their advisors like three or four times and they kept telling me that I couldn't go unless I did their masters, which I didn't really want to pay for and I didn't think I would perform very well. Looking back it probably would have been better to do that master's from a financial standpoint, but it is what it is. My state school auto rejected me, I still remember getting that email, and posting about how upset I was on Student Doctor (lol millenial problems), so then I ended up a newer medical school. I felt that in college things were very novel and exciting, whereas in medical school I was just doing work to do work. I spent a lot of time alone in rooms studying and a lot of time in Prometric centers taking multiple choice tests, fingerprinting myself in and out of rooms, drinking juice shakes to keep my energy afloat, swiping across my iPAD, from question to question. It was all nerve wrecking, it probably should have been fun, but it was more stressful than anything else. I learned as much as I could about advancements in medicine, which ended up being a lot less exciting than I imagined. I faced a lot of rejection professionally in medical school as well, Eli Lilly did not want to work with me, Ascension Health did not to train me (I wasn't expecting that), but I kept my head afloat. I continued to study. On a micro scale, I created YouTube channels to even out the rejection I faced professionally, and I received a lot of support, which helped to me to continue going forward. I made partnerships with tutoring companies, including Kaplan and MedBoardTutors for external support. I looked to thought leaders in memory enhancement, I think there more that can be done to increase memory power in humans. I think that there is a lot of potential within the medical industry, but there are advancements that need to be made. Instead of plugging up someone with stents, somebody needs to create an artificial heart, therefore CAD will be less threatening. Instead of allowing people to develop psychiatric illnesses and losing hope in their ability to recover from them, there need to be systems to create full rehabilitation. Physicians need to be more readily accessible, the process needs to be more streamlined, hospitals need to be more like gas stations rather than hotels to promote quicker and more compliant health care. Some designs of hospitals that are more streamlined include Wexner Medical Center associated with Ohio State. This was probably the best hospital that I stepped into. I think that physicians and hospital systems can learn a lot from the car industry and leaders like Elon Musk. There should be more systems for developing mortality. I studied a lot about human nature in my literature classes in college, I understand that people want to feel that they can "fight" the system or life, but a part of it seems futile - all humans are going to die, despite all of the algorithms developed with the current medical system that is in place. I also think that there needs to be systems to develop medication compliance, there are still too many drops in ensuring that people are taking their medications properly. I also feel that doctors should have ways to protect themselves against patients who have short term prognosis. I also spent time reading dead Russian authors, to attempt to make things feel more human, particular Anton Chekhov, which was fun in my spare time. Special shoutout to the mechanics at Honda for getting me through medical school in one piece.
5. I started residency, but I think I was just too sick and tired to finish at the time. I had spent all of these time and mental stamina just getting the job, that by the time I came into the hospital itself, my battery was at 0 %. I feel like that's how Vivek Murthy must have felt before becoming surgeon general. The residency entrance process is completely heinous, but it is what it is. It's also super antiquated, but whatever, like I am applying for college or an actual job? I have no idea why it is so competitive to become a doctor, but for some reason it is. I was in a unique situation in that DO/MDs were merging and that was like another mess that was not under my control. I still want to finish residency though, so thinking about ways to problem solve, I will probably get a Tesla or a nice car to reward myself. It's a long job, 80 + hour weeks, so mentally I need to be ready and have better preparation, knowing the information better and the dosages and being able to diagnose faster. After that, I can work on my bigger dreams of how I see healthcare, and hopefully someone can help to give me some funding to build my own hospital network "Reddy Networks". I want to see if there is a way to replace nursing staff for blood draws, I think hospital rooms need to be reinvented. For example, I think that there should just automatically be a button for pain medication and anti emetics. I know that there are already PCA pumps, but I think that there can be something easier, so that people have more comfort. Also there should be easier ways to access blood and probably less blood draws. Usually patients get blood draws every day in the hospital, but I don't think that it's necesary. I think that if someone is coming in for a repeat problem, it should be more streamlined. EMRs need redesigning so that doctors are happier. Cerner is just too clunky, I feel that doctors lose their sense of self - worth using such systems, the interfaces are not logical or clear, the text is too small, the laboratory data is too challenging to read. The interfact should be more like that of something like Google Docs or Casper. An EMR should be more like a friend to a physician rather than an enemy. I LOVE technology too, and keeping up with things, but EMRs are like the spawn of Satan. I was dying in my residency because the EMR was the most confusing thing I've ever used in my life. I feel like pen and paper is probably better. Also, one of my attendings was giving me points on how to be more charismatic with patients, I was like, uh, this is weird. Anyway, if people want to use EMRs, they should be way easier to use. If a person is coming in for osteomyelitis, there should be an entire interface for osteomyelitis. If a person is coming in for management of CHF, there should be an entire interface for CHF. I'm still not sure why the medical field hasn't kept up with other industries or why such junky code has been in use, but I think it can afford to be updated, at a low cost as well. In addition, the use of EMRs on cell phones is helpful, but the reality is that everything should be able to accomplished on a computer. The first day a patient arrives there should be an automatic button to click on every day labs, if needed. There should also be clear pop ups if someone has developed something serious, like bacteremia, like it should have alarms on the EMR and pop up and be flashy. Otherwise, if there's a list of 10 plus patients are you're tired, how will you be able to keep track of everything. I love how hospital administrations tell people to be pumped up, but like the technology sucks. That would decrease a lot of burden on physicians and increase the quality of patient care. It's not simply enough to highlight in the labs results. Some free EMRs are better than Cerner and Epic, including Practice Fusion. I think that these sorts of tweaks would attract people into a field that is not otherwise very lucrative. I think there a lot of good things about the medical system, like having subspecialists focus on different aspects of the body, but there is more work to be done and that work is to be done in the laboratories. Also, I think for long term illnesses like osteomyelitis, PE - I think that these can be can be resconsidered, thinking of better solutions. I think that there is still a great deal of distrust between pharamceutical companies and people, so there should be some knowledge or courses for patients to understand the drug testing process. Also, I have mostly experience in Indiana health care and I want to see how other states run their hospitals, particularly New York hospitals.
Cerner as it is now. Very "professional" but not engaging.
Ohio State Wexner
Sample EMR - more engaging.
Laying out where patients are in hospitals.
Sample EMR - more engaging.
Sample EMR - there can be different interfaces for different settings, ICU, etc. It can get to the point where doctors will no longer have to communicate with patients directly and all work can be done separately. If families have questions, they can enter them into the computer for a response. That way doctors can have more time to spend solving the medical concerns at hand.
6. I bought a puppy, which was my lifelong dream, in the fifth grade I spent hours researching breeds of puppies using AOL and I decided that I wanted a small Sheppard dog, but my parents never let me get one. Now I have one, she is adorable, I probably won't have kids, so she made me happy.
7. I think looking forward, I want to create something like a No Premed Left Behind, the reality is that, the Indiana health care system is extremely shorthanded in terms of having doctors, and I think it would be benificial to expand residency positions and medical student positions and also rely less on international medical graduates and so that the Carribean schools are not longer needed. Also, creating healthcare initiatives, making sure that that residency programs all provide taxi services for residents on long call, in addition to providing healthy food alternatives for doctors in training, having accessible charging stations for phones, also providing readily available lab work, psychiatric screens to ensure proper mental health, eliminating the use of beepers, ensure that there are appropriate living facilities, access to cleaning aids, all reasonable solutions in producing high quality physicians. I think that all of this in tandem would help to drive the economy forward, rather than backward.
Checking laboratory results regularly... doctors have to take care of themselves in order to take care of patients. :)
Nice apartments...
Taxi services for 24 + hour calls. It's not safe to be on the road without sleep.
No Premed Left Behind.
1. I graduated from college, in college I started to develop my early prototypes of what I thought my future would look like. That entailed taking a lot more classes that I thought I would. Some classes were probably less beneficial than others, classes on Russian communist literature were less beneficial, but it's always valuable to look at human history to see what mistake can be avoided. I studied architecture in one of the most modern cities in the world, London, which I think will be beneficial when I'm building my practice. I also purchased Royal Albert teacup at on the the street sales and had tea with my friend in Bath. Also, I read a lot of literature books, to be able to have larger and better ideas, I read them from across multiple centuries. I also studied biology and organic chemistry which was vital in helping me to understand how pharmaceutical drugs work, thinking about the molecular processes that compounds work on, thinking how those things work. I studied statistics to better understand how the pharmaceutical companies describe information, and also, I studied biology to understand how the human body works at a molecular level.
2. I thought about the entire planet at large, visited multiple continents, including Europe and Asia. I went to Japan to study how their culture differs from American culture, people there tend to be more friendly, everything more neat in terms of cuisine. I visited multiple cities in India, saw palaces and 5 star hotels on floating lakes. I also wonder what it would be like to stay in one of those hotels, but it's not really my style. I'm not sure what I took from this though to be honest, I think it was more my courtesy to the United States of America to pop my face in different countries. I also got to work with Unite for Sight, which was great - they're doing some amazing work abroad to reduce vision reduction. We take glasses for granted in the United States, but it's amazing how many people need cataract surgeries abroad. I got some support from a lot of people here to do so, and it requires letters, but it was worth it. https://www.uniteforsight.org/
3. I became a citizen of the United States, I worked my whole life to do so. I still remember standing in line in Louisiana waiting for my thumb print when I was 5 years old. I was so nervous at the time, but I managed to pass through to get my green card. I took time off between college and medical school to finish this. During this time, I also read a lot about the current practice of medicine, about surgical operating rooms, I read about how medicine was practiced 100 years ago, how amputations were performed at that time, or how bacteremia was resolved, by spilling out blood manually. We have come far, but have a lot more to go. I still remember that Robin Williams movie about the robot who lived for 200 years, the movie itself was depressing, but the concept of living longer was a good one. I also read about great physicists, Robert Feynman, studying the way that he studied, in order to create better outcomes and how to think about rapid learning aquistion.
4. I graduated from medical school and became a doctor, this was one of my bigger disappointments. I didn't really like it, but I needed a job, and the bonus is that if you take out big loans you can increase your credit score. But the problem is that if you're not using the credit score, it's sort of pointless. Oh well. I got a lot of rejections, from bigger name schools, IUSM hated me for some reason, I remember in college meeting with their advisors like three or four times and they kept telling me that I couldn't go unless I did their masters, which I didn't really want to pay for and I didn't think I would perform very well. Looking back it probably would have been better to do that master's from a financial standpoint, but it is what it is. My state school auto rejected me, I still remember getting that email, and posting about how upset I was on Student Doctor (lol millenial problems), so then I ended up a newer medical school. I felt that in college things were very novel and exciting, whereas in medical school I was just doing work to do work. I spent a lot of time alone in rooms studying and a lot of time in Prometric centers taking multiple choice tests, fingerprinting myself in and out of rooms, drinking juice shakes to keep my energy afloat, swiping across my iPAD, from question to question. It was all nerve wrecking, it probably should have been fun, but it was more stressful than anything else. I learned as much as I could about advancements in medicine, which ended up being a lot less exciting than I imagined. I faced a lot of rejection professionally in medical school as well, Eli Lilly did not want to work with me, Ascension Health did not to train me (I wasn't expecting that), but I kept my head afloat. I continued to study. On a micro scale, I created YouTube channels to even out the rejection I faced professionally, and I received a lot of support, which helped to me to continue going forward. I made partnerships with tutoring companies, including Kaplan and MedBoardTutors for external support. I looked to thought leaders in memory enhancement, I think there more that can be done to increase memory power in humans. I think that there is a lot of potential within the medical industry, but there are advancements that need to be made. Instead of plugging up someone with stents, somebody needs to create an artificial heart, therefore CAD will be less threatening. Instead of allowing people to develop psychiatric illnesses and losing hope in their ability to recover from them, there need to be systems to create full rehabilitation. Physicians need to be more readily accessible, the process needs to be more streamlined, hospitals need to be more like gas stations rather than hotels to promote quicker and more compliant health care. Some designs of hospitals that are more streamlined include Wexner Medical Center associated with Ohio State. This was probably the best hospital that I stepped into. I think that physicians and hospital systems can learn a lot from the car industry and leaders like Elon Musk. There should be more systems for developing mortality. I studied a lot about human nature in my literature classes in college, I understand that people want to feel that they can "fight" the system or life, but a part of it seems futile - all humans are going to die, despite all of the algorithms developed with the current medical system that is in place. I also think that there needs to be systems to develop medication compliance, there are still too many drops in ensuring that people are taking their medications properly. I also feel that doctors should have ways to protect themselves against patients who have short term prognosis. I also spent time reading dead Russian authors, to attempt to make things feel more human, particular Anton Chekhov, which was fun in my spare time. Special shoutout to the mechanics at Honda for getting me through medical school in one piece.
5. I started residency, but I think I was just too sick and tired to finish at the time. I had spent all of these time and mental stamina just getting the job, that by the time I came into the hospital itself, my battery was at 0 %. I feel like that's how Vivek Murthy must have felt before becoming surgeon general. The residency entrance process is completely heinous, but it is what it is. It's also super antiquated, but whatever, like I am applying for college or an actual job? I have no idea why it is so competitive to become a doctor, but for some reason it is. I was in a unique situation in that DO/MDs were merging and that was like another mess that was not under my control. I still want to finish residency though, so thinking about ways to problem solve, I will probably get a Tesla or a nice car to reward myself. It's a long job, 80 + hour weeks, so mentally I need to be ready and have better preparation, knowing the information better and the dosages and being able to diagnose faster. After that, I can work on my bigger dreams of how I see healthcare, and hopefully someone can help to give me some funding to build my own hospital network "Reddy Networks". I want to see if there is a way to replace nursing staff for blood draws, I think hospital rooms need to be reinvented. For example, I think that there should just automatically be a button for pain medication and anti emetics. I know that there are already PCA pumps, but I think that there can be something easier, so that people have more comfort. Also there should be easier ways to access blood and probably less blood draws. Usually patients get blood draws every day in the hospital, but I don't think that it's necesary. I think that if someone is coming in for a repeat problem, it should be more streamlined. EMRs need redesigning so that doctors are happier. Cerner is just too clunky, I feel that doctors lose their sense of self - worth using such systems, the interfaces are not logical or clear, the text is too small, the laboratory data is too challenging to read. The interfact should be more like that of something like Google Docs or Casper. An EMR should be more like a friend to a physician rather than an enemy. I LOVE technology too, and keeping up with things, but EMRs are like the spawn of Satan. I was dying in my residency because the EMR was the most confusing thing I've ever used in my life. I feel like pen and paper is probably better. Also, one of my attendings was giving me points on how to be more charismatic with patients, I was like, uh, this is weird. Anyway, if people want to use EMRs, they should be way easier to use. If a person is coming in for osteomyelitis, there should be an entire interface for osteomyelitis. If a person is coming in for management of CHF, there should be an entire interface for CHF. I'm still not sure why the medical field hasn't kept up with other industries or why such junky code has been in use, but I think it can afford to be updated, at a low cost as well. In addition, the use of EMRs on cell phones is helpful, but the reality is that everything should be able to accomplished on a computer. The first day a patient arrives there should be an automatic button to click on every day labs, if needed. There should also be clear pop ups if someone has developed something serious, like bacteremia, like it should have alarms on the EMR and pop up and be flashy. Otherwise, if there's a list of 10 plus patients are you're tired, how will you be able to keep track of everything. I love how hospital administrations tell people to be pumped up, but like the technology sucks. That would decrease a lot of burden on physicians and increase the quality of patient care. It's not simply enough to highlight in the labs results. Some free EMRs are better than Cerner and Epic, including Practice Fusion. I think that these sorts of tweaks would attract people into a field that is not otherwise very lucrative. I think there a lot of good things about the medical system, like having subspecialists focus on different aspects of the body, but there is more work to be done and that work is to be done in the laboratories. Also, I think for long term illnesses like osteomyelitis, PE - I think that these can be can be resconsidered, thinking of better solutions. I think that there is still a great deal of distrust between pharamceutical companies and people, so there should be some knowledge or courses for patients to understand the drug testing process. Also, I have mostly experience in Indiana health care and I want to see how other states run their hospitals, particularly New York hospitals.
Cerner as it is now. Very "professional" but not engaging.
Ohio State Wexner
Sample EMR - more engaging.
Laying out where patients are in hospitals.
Sample EMR - more engaging.
Sample EMR - there can be different interfaces for different settings, ICU, etc. It can get to the point where doctors will no longer have to communicate with patients directly and all work can be done separately. If families have questions, they can enter them into the computer for a response. That way doctors can have more time to spend solving the medical concerns at hand.
6. I bought a puppy, which was my lifelong dream, in the fifth grade I spent hours researching breeds of puppies using AOL and I decided that I wanted a small Sheppard dog, but my parents never let me get one. Now I have one, she is adorable, I probably won't have kids, so she made me happy.
7. I think looking forward, I want to create something like a No Premed Left Behind, the reality is that, the Indiana health care system is extremely shorthanded in terms of having doctors, and I think it would be benificial to expand residency positions and medical student positions and also rely less on international medical graduates and so that the Carribean schools are not longer needed. Also, creating healthcare initiatives, making sure that that residency programs all provide taxi services for residents on long call, in addition to providing healthy food alternatives for doctors in training, having accessible charging stations for phones, also providing readily available lab work, psychiatric screens to ensure proper mental health, eliminating the use of beepers, ensure that there are appropriate living facilities, access to cleaning aids, all reasonable solutions in producing high quality physicians. I think that all of this in tandem would help to drive the economy forward, rather than backward.
Checking laboratory results regularly... doctors have to take care of themselves in order to take care of patients. :)
Nice apartments...
Taxi services for 24 + hour calls. It's not safe to be on the road without sleep.
No Premed Left Behind.