The OSA Insider

It is that time of year again: 4th year scheduling season is here for our MS3s. Dr. Beth Lamos clarifies, demystifies, and reassures us about Advance Phase Scheduling - essentially everything that comes after Step 1, with a focus on the individual experiences that come after clerkships. She shares clear, practical information and concrete strategies to make the best of 4th year. 

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During the course of our medical careers, we see a lot of hard things. We're in the room when patients die. We see the effects of enormous physical, emotional, and psychological trauma. We watch our peers and colleagues go through really hard times. We often compartmentalize this pain in the moment because we have to move forward and see the next patient. But we don't always make an effort to DE-compartmentalize afterw...

Situational awareness and judgment are two of the most important ingredients to success in life and definitely medical school, especially the clinical years. Even if you don't know what you're doing on day 1 of a new rotation, or even where the bathrooms are, situational awareness will allow you to clue in to the dynamics around you, avoid mistakes and gaffes, and help you shine through fluid, seamless interactions with others. Dr....

Sometimes, patients may exhibit agitated or even violent behavior in the clinical setting. It is so important to understand background and context, try to preserve the therapeutic relationship, and also ensure our and our patient's physical safety in these challenging circumstances. Dr. Marissa Flaherty from the OSA and the Department of Psychiatry is a wealth of information on this topic. In this episode, she offers tons of practi...

Does your brain ever jump to worst-case scenarios, no matter the situation? Many of us in medicine can relate to this phenomenon. It’s called catastrophic thinking, and in this episode, Dr. Beth Lamos helps us understand what it is, why we do it, why it may be adaptive, all the ways it can be harmful, and concrete tools and strategies to de-catastrophize our way of thinking. 

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The UMSLE Step 1 exam going pass/fail in 2022 has been a huge change in medical education. In this episode, the OSA's Dr. John Allen talks through how the change has impacted our students at the UMSOM, the OSA's approach to residency and career advising, Step 2 CK prep, and the residency application process in general. This conversation is filled with wisdom to help students survive and thrive throughout med school and the transiti...

Nearly ten million Americans are currently incarcerated, on parole or probation. This population has specific health care needs, especially those who were formerly incarcerated. Today, we bring you a very special conversation featuring two UMSOM alums, Dr. Michael Baca-Atlas and Dr. Matt Zeitler, as they interview their UNC Family Medicine mentor, Dr. Evan Ashkin, about how we can best care for our formerly incarcerated patients. 

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Graduating Pediatrics resident Dr. Caroline Knoop had an innovative idea for her scholarly project in residency: create a podcast about social justice issues in Baltimore for Pediatrics residents, by a Pediatrics resident. And so, Charm City Checkup was born. Listen in as Dr. Knoop shares how she got the brand new podcast off the ground, the lessons she's learned along the way, and how she studied the impact of her podcast for her ...

There are a lot of myths floating around when it comes to the Office of Medical Education (OME) and the Office of Student Affairs (OSA). Myths like, if a student visits these offices, it will show up in their residency application, or visiting the student counseling center will make its way back to the med school deans. False and false! In this episode, Dr. Joe Martinez, Associate Dean for Medical Education and Student Experience, ...

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 o...

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 organizati...

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 b...

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? 

As we close out 2023, we get to become acquainted with Dr. Bruce Jarrell, transplant surgeon and President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He taught our host Dr. Neda Frayha when she was a medical student, so this reunion conversation felt very special. We learn about his decision to pursue surgery as a career, his approach to leadership, his path to the presidency of UMB, how he thinks of UMB and its role in the surround...