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What is PGY-3 like?

 It has been a while.  If you are here today, then you probably are a medical resident or student who wants to know what the last year of Internal Medicine Residency is like. Flashback to the first day of third year - July 1, 2023: I just finished PGY-2 year yesterday during the day in the ICU, and returned back to the hospital in the ICU to cover ICU nights on Saturday night 24 hours later... crazy, how just yesterday I was in my second year and in a flash, I am one of the most senior residents in our program.  Third year was definitely the best year for me. I discussed PGY-1 and PGY-2 in previous posts. Combining them together, PGY-3 was a year that I was able to apply the knowledge I attained and create the efficiency I mastered which allowed me to spread wisdom during my last year.  I would say I was able to manage my professional and personal life better. Of course, in any workplace, there are improvements that could happen whether at the individual level or at the system level. T
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What is PGY-2 like?

The second year residency could be quite challenging. Although in first year, you’re trying to understand how the hospital workflow is, as well as how the electronic medical record system works, you also learn how to manage patients at the level of an intern. This basically means you are admitting patients getting the most information you can, so you can interpret it with your attending and senior resident. However when you’re a senior, you’re not responsible for interpreting objective data, and ensuring that patient care is optimized. And the beginning, it is a learning curve to ensure that everything gets done. As time goes on, you become more independent to be able to make clinical decisions. Second year can be challenging, because not only are you learning how to be a senior resident to an intern, you’re also learning how to lead and teach while making clinical decisions.  
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Who is Doctor PDG?

 Hi, everyone.  I wanted to make this post, so you get to see the real side of me... Just as some thoughts from me to you -- Even before I started medical school, I feared that I would never get this far. Being a pre-med student was not easy. My personal life at the time impacted my professional and academic life. Although, I personally do not mix the two, the stresses took a mental toll on me and prevented me to make my own choices. Without getting into many details, socially I felt isolated and looking back in retrospect, I feel that I was dealing with sub-clinical depression. Now, this could have been because of my personal issues at the time or a result of my Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, which I was diagnosed after I graduated. However, once I was able to gain control of my personal life, I was able to create a better foundation for my professional life. I tried to have many experiences: volunteering and work in order to grow my C.V. and completely understand whether I wanted to be a p
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What is PGY-1?

 First year of residency, which is post-graduate training for Medical Doctors, is called Post-Graduate Year 1 (PGY-1), also known as, intern year. Each residency program have varying post-graduate years. Internal Medicine, the speciality I have chosen, is 3 years long. After internal medicine, you could choose to pursue fellowship. Intern year, as its name, is the year you learn how hospital systems work and how you can clinical treat patient. You learn how to come up with differential diagnoses and how to determine treatment plans for patients. You are supervised by a senior resident (either a resident in there PGY-2 or PGY-3 year). My personal experience as a PGY-1 was a mediocre experience. I say this, because having a good senior is vital in order to have a good experience. No matter how good of a resident you are, you will always be criticized. I learned to not take it personally anymore, but the first 6 months emotionally were tough for me. I highly recommend that you continue wo
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Getting into Residency? Here are some of my tips on how to successfully match!

Residency Statistics: Residency is very difficult and stressful time for all applicants and candidates. The book that was VERY helpful to me was the: The Successful Match 2017 by Anjana Katta, MD and Samir P Desai, MD.  To give you my  background  story: I  applied  to Internal Medicine PGY-1 (stands for Post-Graduate Year 1) which is intern year. I applied to categorical programs, since I want to specialize in Internal Medicine. Internal Medicine residency is 3 years. As the years pass, each of the number behind PGY change. Starting second year, I will be called a "resident"... junior resident in PGY-2 year and senior in PGY-3 year.  Just to give you a run-down of the number of programs I applied and the response: Applied: 147  Withdrew: 1  Rejected: 23  Invited: 20 (Scheduled: 20, Waitlisted: 1 - but ended up scheduling eventually, Declined: 0)  This is a usual run-down for an average applicant (average scores and average CV). I applied to programs which had a pre-match pos
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NBME Link

 Hello, my lovelies! I was browsing through my old resources, I also came across this link to help with the United States Medical Licensing Exam (U.S.M.L.E.) steps. This is the link for National Board of Medical Examiners (N.B.M.E.) that might be useful while you are studying.  If you have any questions, feel free to reach out!
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Pre-Med, Gap Years, and MCAT

I enjoyed medicine since the 10th grade when I took Biology Honors. However, I did not decide I wanted to be a doctor until later on. Although, this idea was in the back of my mind, as I wanted to fulfill my mother's dream of her becoming a doctor (but was unsuccessful due to personal reasons) and fulfill my Dadaji's (paternal grandfather's) dream of me becoming a doctor. After enrolling into Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, I decided to double major in Biochemistry and Acting. After my first year, I realized that if I want to truly pursue the dream of becoming a doctor, I cannot put my feet in two different areas. Plus, in order to be a Bollywood Actress, I do not need to major in Acting, but I can do various workshops later. Thus, I changed my major to a double major in 1) Exercise Science and Sports Studies and 2) Nutritional Sciences, and a minor in Biological Sciences, while completing a certificate in Women's Leadership. The point of this part of this
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