During an Advanced Placement class in Histology, Jessica Terry from Sammamish, WA found a granuloma in an intestinal biopsy. The amazing part is that she had borrowed her own slides from her pathologist. According to CNN who picked up the story yesterday, June 11, there were no answers. However, in the video excerpt she describes being told she had colitis. Teen diagnoses her own disease in science class When evaluating an "intestinal" biopsy for a young person with chronic abdominal pain, you would be looking for signs of colitis such as active inflammation (such as cryptitis or crypt abscesses), chronic architectural changes, and granulomas. These can come in the form of "microscopic colitis" which is basically their way of saying they didnt see anything on the colonoscopy. You also have to keep your eye out for dysplasia, of course. I feel sorry for the pathologist in this story, because it is all our worst nightmare, to be smeared in the media without being give...
So I ranked this program and they ranked me. Neither of us matched (NRMP mistake?). By some "twist of fate" as some put it (I prefer - "Act of God"), I was able to get in contact with the program director and get one of two unmatched spaces before they even knew what hit them. If I had to do it all over again, I would have been more prepared. I was thrilled when my top choice program had openings. I interviewed there, I spent a month long visiting rotation there, so as long as they still liked me, I should have no problem getting in - if, of course I can get past the voicemail... Then I had the bright idea to find the number and call the program director directly. BINGO. I have matched on Scramble day in less than an hour. I was going to write tips and such, but I found a phenomenal wealth of information just by googling "residency scramble 2007" (should have done this yesterday... duh) What I did learn and would do different if this was all a dream ...
This afternoon was interesting to me. Block 2 really gets us learning about different cultures and diversity in general. A more subtle point is that of assumptions. We saw that in a patient earlier in the block whose skin was 'black' but whose ancestry was equally Scottish and Carribbean. His point was well taken - the medical field is very focused on numbers and statistics (if you hadn't noticed) - however there needs to be a proper balance of integrating that information and applying it to our patients. When you get a patient in your exam room, no matter what they look like, you need to get an idea of who they are and what they value. Is culture even important to them at all? Some 'white' people are very into their Norweigian culture, there are European professors on campus who are white but have very different cultures because they are not American. Alternatively, there are some people who claim their Native American roots, but know nothing about their cu...
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