Student Updates - July 30, 2022 | Medical Parents & Families | Medical School

MD’22: Now that Match Day has passed, fourth-year students have been wrapping up graduation requirements, finishing electives and many have also taken some much-needed time off prior to graduation and the start of their residences. Many are planning their moves to new cities for residency, finalizing their next housing situations, and quickly finding new friends in their respective programs. Students are also spending their last weeks at Brown making long-lasting memories with faculty, staff, and each other through a myriad of activities before embarking on this exciting new phase of their medical journey. They excitedly await Commencement on May 29, when they will take their Physician's Oath and begin the next step of their medical careers.
MD’23: Students have completed the long and rigorous clerkship year experience. Spending the past year embedded in and observing many of the disciplines in the medical field has helped students identify their passions and future careers. After a two-week vacation, many students are about to enter their final year of medical school during which they complete a sub-internship at Brown where they are given similar responsibilities as a first-year resident. Depending on the specialty, some students are also required to complete away rotations at other institutions. However, there is a large part of MD’23 who will take time away from Brown before beginning fourth year. Traditionally, approximately 30 percent of each rising fourth-year class takes time away for various reasons -- including to complete research projects in their desired specialty to become more competitive candidates, while others are pursuing additional degrees such as an MPH or MBA.
MD’24: The majority of second-year students have finished taking USMLE STEP 1 and have returned back to Providence to begin the transition into the clinical environment via the clinical skills clerkship (CSC) course. Students are so thankful for the curriculum being structured in this way to transition into clinical training. Hearing advice and expertise from fourth-years who have recently gone through this process makes all the anxiety and uneasiness about what’s to come, that much more digestible for all of us. The fourth years have been really great about preparing us with procedural skill practice like suturing, intubating, IV placement, and lumbar puncture, as well as walking us through the EPIC charting software, how to structure H&P notes, progress notes, and how to participate in a morning report. For most, it has been very surreal to finally be where we are in our training. Our preclinical years have flown by and we are all eager to put our knowledge to the test on the wards and really interact and engage with patients in a meaningful and impactful way. Studying for STEP 1 was definitely a unique experience for our class in that we were the first to experience a “pass/fail” version of this exam. While there have been pros and cons to this decision, most in the class would express extreme gratitude over this decision after having gone through our dedicated studying period and seeing how we could “relax” a bit more than before knowing that our careers in medicine and our residency positions wouldn’t be as defined by our scores as they have traditionally been. Following STEP 1, many members of MD’24 took the opportunity to travel to see family, friends, and the world. Some of us got married, got engaged, went to South America, Europe, to the Caribbean, our National Parks, and more! The energy is back and we are rested and restored to tackle all the new and exciting challenges that third year will bring.
MD’25: The first years are about to finish their first infectious disease block and only have a month left after that! They are wrapping up the Doctoring curriculum in the next few weeks in preparation for our summer recess. Many are staying in Providence this summer for research opportunities, while others travel for internships and visiting home! We enjoyed participating in the 50 Years of Medicine at Brown celebration this week and were excited for our third-year counterparts to get their official white coat ceremony!
PLME: The Whole Patient Committee recently presented their final event of the year for PLME freshmen, featuring Dr. Joseph Pianka discussing his practice of gastroenterology and management of chronic illness. Also, the Whole Physician Committee hosted a virtual event with Drs. Zobeida Diaz, Christopher Dodson, Nisha Mehta, Annie Wu and Connie Wu pertaining to physicians and their "side gigs" apart from practicing medicine. As the end of the semester approaches, students are preparing for finals and the PLME Senate is holding officer elections to prepare for the 2022-2023 academic year.