Since 2009, the ratio of available residency positions to Canadian medical students has declined steadily from 1.11 to 1.02 positions for every 1 applicant in the first round of the Canadian PGY-1 matching process. This has resulted in an unprecedented number of unmatched students, with 2.4% (68 students) remaining unmatched after the second iteration of CaRMS in 2017.
On February 18th to 19th, 2017, OMSA held a workshop in partnership with LivingWorks for Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)!
Minimize screen time – Computers provide a vast breadth of information and entertainment but provide a constant drive to do more with the entire internet at our fingers. Although an important tool to study and destress, one must be careful to not overstimulate themselves before bedtime. Taking care of computer work earlier in the day and switching to reading hardcopies later can ease strain on the eyes and help prevent sleeplessness.
Being a medical student can be hard sometimes. When you’re digging your car out from under the snow to go to 6 AM rounds and haven’t done your laundry or eaten a well-balanced meal in weeks, it can be hard to take a step back and see the whole picture. It’s super important to spend time doing the things we enjoy, and to practice mindfulness and gratitude in our everyday lives. Here are a few TED talks that I’ve loved, bookmarked, and watch periodically that help keep me well, balanced and grounded:
Spring is coming soon and we have some good news for you: the OMSA Wellness Retreat is less than a month away! This is a unique opportunity to relax, meet your peers from other Ontario medical schools and learn valuable tips and strategies for self-care as a future physician.
Older physicians humor us with war stories of the infamous 48-hour call shifts, burnout as a casual by-product of being a physician, and the unbridled sentiment that our generation values lifestyle above all. In the last decade, there has been a cultural shift promoting the ideology of physician, heal thyself. But where do we as medical students fit into this paradigm?