SNMA Regional Conference in Baltimore- 12/4/16
Just coming back from the regional Medical Education Conference hosted by UMD's chapter of the Student National Medical Association. Med school conferences are great because they offer tons of useful workshops and sessions on any topic related to medicine that you can think of from hands on suturing workshops to sessions on choosing a medical specialty. I always leave these conferences semi rejuvenated and encouraged because they broaden my view of medicine while giving me a reprieve (vocab game brazy!) from studying. Not to mention, it's always fun visiting a new city. Here's how my weekend went:
Friday December 2:
-Awesome keynote address from Dr. Ihuoma Emenuga about engaging with and learning from the community you work in to better meet their needs and promote equity. She specifically touched on how she approached treating violence in Baltimore, MD as apublic health concern after the Freddie Gray protests.
-Dessert "reception" aka the real reason I came to the first night of the conference
- Slight turn up at Moby's bar w/ a couple of HU's trillest future docs #MedStudentsHaveFunToo
Saturday December 3:
-Preventing Burnout in Medicine session- speaker addressed risk factors and stress management for physicians. He revealed to us that one doctor a day is lost to suicide, and that now more than ever medical professionals should take their own mental health seriously and take care of themselves whether it be through vacations, family time, working out, or sleeping more.
-GI Endoscopy workshop- exposed us to the practice of endoscopy and what the digestive system looks like through the lense of an endoscope. I'll be honest, I was running on 4 hours of sleep (shoutout to Moby's) and they ran out of coffee before I could get some, so I studied the back of my eyelids for most of the session. I tried to fight off the sleep as long as I could, but it just wasn't happening.
-Rock the Match session-informational panel discussion on what different residency programs look for in applicants and what factors on average tend to be pretty important (e.g. Step 1 scores, letters of rec, etc). One of the docs was from my hometown, so I definitely made a point to introduce myself. During her introduction she told us about all of the other leadership roles she has besides being a physician, and the list was endless. On top of that she had THE cutest toddler sitting in her lap the entire panel. She was clearly some sort of #BlackGirlMagic sorcerer.
-Networking Lunch-I sat at the table with one of the leading pediatricians at UMD. He dropped tons of gems and advice and answered any questions we had.