Medical Students

The stethoscope may be an icon of the medical profession to most patients. But it's more of a relic to many doctors. The device used to listen to the heart, lungs and other body parts — invented nearly 200 years ago — has been overtaken by newer, more sophisticated imaging equipment and other changes in healthcare. And some adherents to the old ways say a significant number of physicians who wear a stethoscope around their necks no longer know how to use it properly. Some medical schools including Johns Hopkins, however, are bringing back the lost art of cardiac auscultation, or listening, as a means to sharpen their students' diagnostic skills and cut costs from excessive high-tech imaging.

Vernissia Tam gulped down half a glass of champagne at noon Friday and prepared to scream. She was about to find out what kind of doctor she would become, and where she would train. "No peeking," a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine official told the Class of 2013. "The diplomas aren't printed yet. " After a countdown from 10 that took all of three seconds, Tam and her classmates broke the seals on letters revealing their fates, jumping into one another's arms for an embrace and congratulations.

Vernissia Tam gulped down half a glass of champagne at noon Friday and prepared to scream. She was about to find out what kind of doctor she would become, and where she would train. "No peeking," a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine official told the Class of 2013. "The diplomas aren't printed yet. " After a countdown from 10 that took all of three seconds, Tam and her classmates broke the seals on letters revealing their fates, jumping into one another's arms for an embrace and congratulations.

Dr. Ellen G. McDaniel, whose distinguished career in psychiatry spanned more than 40 years and influenced patients, medical students and even juries, died of lung cancer Thursday at her home in Highland. She was 71. The former Ellen Garb was raised in Cleveland and went off to college with thoughts of becoming a nurse. But her father encouraged her to train as a doctor, and she did — graduating from the University of Michigan Medical School as one of only seven women in the class of 1966, said her husband, John P. McDaniel.

Twins William and Raphael "Rafi" Karkowsky have always shared life's best moments. That was true again Friday when the brothers and best friends learned where they would begin their careers as doctors. They were among nearly 16,000 medical students nationwide who opened Match Day letters and learned where they would conduct postgraduate study. More than 95 percent of students were matched with residency positions, the highest rate in 30 years, according to the National Resident Match Program.

Anthony Clark hadn't even gotten a plate of food and already he was overcome with emotion, just seeing friends, having a medical student check his blood pressure and knowing hundreds of people had given their time to make sure those needier had a taste of Thanksgiving. "Without them, a lot of people wouldn't have no meal," said the 53-year-old from Glen Burnie, tears rolling down his cheeks. "This is really a beautiful place to come. " Clark meets his adopted holiday family every year at Project Feast, in what's become a tradition organized by University of Maryland School of Medicine students.

Nikki Alworth stared at the envelope, then stared again, her eyes scanning the words over and over. She wasn't imagining things. The University of Maryland medical student would remain at the university to begin her career as a doctor in emergency medicine. No need to sell the house in Rodgers Forge. No need for her husband to find a new job and to hunt for new day care for their 18-month old daughter Finley. And no need to fret any longer -- she got her first choice. In an annual ritual steeped in tradition, suspense and plenty of drama, Alworth was among the 15,000 medical students at 130 medical schools across the nation who simultaneously ripped opened "Match Day" letters Thursday, notifying them where they'll spend their post-graduate medical training.

There in front of you on this TV screen a hand is holding a human heart, pumping it, keeping its owner alive. The patient had been in the midst of a bypass operation when his cholesterol-clogged heart stopped beating.Narrating all this is a third-year medical student who has been in the operating room observing. You've been following this student's progress through med school for more than an hour of this special two-hour season-opener of PBS' science series "Nova." "So You Want to be a Doctor?"

The fact that deoxyribonucleic acid replicates only once per cell cycle titillates the thinking process for Ramona F. Swaby."Isn't it exciting?" says the 24-year-old Seton Hill resident, a second-year student at the University of Maryland Medical School."

Ryan Circh's heart is drawn to family medicine, but his head - fixated on his daunting student loans and the uncertainties of health care reform - is leading him toward emergency or sports medicine. The 24-year-old studying medicine at the University of Maryland is probably another potential primary care physician lost. In the school's most recent graduating medical school class, more than a third pursued internal and family medicine. That reflects a nationwide trend, according to the National Resident Matching Program, whose figures show about a third of graduating students are going into primary care, a number that's been dropping fairly steadily over the last generation.

Anthony Clark hadn't even gotten a plate of food and already he was overcome with emotion, just seeing friends, having a medical student check his blood pressure and knowing hundreds of people had given their time to make sure those needier had a taste of Thanksgiving. "Without them, a lot of people wouldn't have no meal," said the 53-year-old from Glen Burnie, tears rolling down his cheeks. "This is really a beautiful place to come. " Clark meets his adopted holiday family every year at Project Feast, in what's become a tradition organized by University of Maryland School of Medicine students.

The device looks comically simple, almost like a toy: Royal blue handles curve into a bright white clamp, part pliers, part hole punch. But FastStitch, a new surgical tool designed by a team of Hopkins students and graduates, has serious ambitions - to quickly and cost-effectively close abdominal incisions after surgeries. Developed over the course of last year as part of a required project at the Johns Hopkins Center for Bioengineering Innovation & Design, FastStitch has received more than $90,000 in grants and prizes.

Dr. Robert E. "Bob" Mason, a Baltimore internist and cardiologist who developed the standard stress test that has saved countless lives worldwide, died Wednesday of pneumonia at the Brightwood retirement community in Lutherville. He was 95. "He was always wonderfully good-natured, upbeat, mild, self-retiring and there was never any braggadocio about him. He was intellectual beyond compare," said Dr. E. Hunter Wilson, a retired internist who lives in Cross Keys. "He developed the stress test in the early 1960s, and was known for diagnosing and treating unusual cardiac problems," said Dr. Wilson.

It's ironic that the year we, both new medical students, moved across the street from the nation's best hospital and began learning how to manage the health of others is the same year we stopped taking care of our own. It was a year of ups and downs. As our physical activity and healthy food intake went down, our body-fat percentages and stress levels went up. In turn, so did our risk for developing chronic diseases and conditions like obesity, hypertension, diabetes and even certain types of cancer.

The Supreme Court's ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, expected in June, will determine the future for countless Americans. Health care reform debates have elevated the plight of millions of uninsured Americans to the national consciousness. However, the physician workforce that would be needed to care for millions of newly insured people deserves equal attention. There is a growing shortage of primary care physicians in the U.S., and it has been forecasted for decades.

Twins William and Raphael "Rafi" Karkowsky have always shared life's best moments. That was true again Friday when the brothers and best friends learned where they would begin their careers as doctors. They were among nearly 16,000 medical students nationwide who opened Match Day letters and learned where they would conduct postgraduate study. More than 95 percent of students were matched with residency positions, the highest rate in 30 years, according to the National Resident Match Program.

Martin Williams, the 17-year-old captain of his high school basketball team, is sitting in the doctor's office complaining of a constant headache. In reality, the "patient" is Matt Saunders, 25, an actor and set designer. The doctor, though, is real: Shahram Sani works at Abington Memorial Hospital near Philadelphia. This little exercise is designed to test his bedside manner. Technically, the "clinical skills assessment" measures the ability to gather information, perform physical examinations and effectively communicate with patients.

There is a world of difference in the lives of 13-year-old Terence Miales of East Baltimore and Amir Ghaferi, 21, a first-year student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. But they're both participants in a tutoring program that is trying to bridge a gap between Hopkins and its impoverished neighbors. "When I came to this city, it was a shock," Ghaferi, who is from California, said of the disparate conditions of the gleaming medical institutions and some of the dilapidated nearby East Baltimore communities.

The stethoscope may be an icon of the medical profession to most patients. But it's more of a relic to many doctors. The device used to listen to the heart, lungs and other body parts — invented nearly 200 years ago — has been overtaken by newer, more sophisticated imaging equipment and other changes in healthcare. And some adherents to the old ways say a significant number of physicians who wear a stethoscope around their necks no longer know how to use it properly. Some medical schools including Johns Hopkins, however, are bringing back the lost art of cardiac auscultation, or listening, as a means to sharpen their students' diagnostic skills and cut costs from excessive high-tech imaging.

David Liu had it made at age 26. With a degree from Stanford, a fun job designing software for Amazon.com and a big raise on the way, he lived an enviable life. A question nagged at him, however. Could he really feel he'd done something significant after a day spent perfecting the experience of online shopping? "What I really care about is helping people," he said this week, seven years after deciding that the answer to his question was no. "It sounds trite, but it's that feeling of coming home at the end of the day and knowing that you've done something important.