Mental Health Begins With Medical Students

I really believe that a medical student who is comfortable with therapy, becomes a physician who is comfortable with therapy; one who is comfortable with addressing the mental health of their colleagues, and one who can identify when their own mental health is spiralling out of control – and then do something about it.

Interview: Med School as a Mature Student

I pretty much thought that my dreams were over. We lived on a farm outside the city without electricity, so it really was an impossible dream. But the yearning never went away. Whenever I took my son to the doctor it would just come up again and again. I studied some other things, worked a bit, and earned money; but the desire to be a doctor never went away.

A Young Doctor’s Oath

I had the desire to thank a whole lot of people and to impress how many people contributed to my success, and this was the closest I could get.

A Letter to First Year Medical Students

The South African academic year commences in January, and last week thousands of students around the country went to university for the first time. Among them are our future doctors.Welcoming them befalls someone else these days, as my time in student government is long gone. But I couldn’t help writing my annual “letter to the

Day 1: Student Internship

It has teased us from a distance for some time, but the first day of Student Internship finally arrived. We did not have the White Coat Ceremony in first or third year like many other medical schools, but today we had our badge “ceremony”, loosely defined. For two and a half years of clinical rotations

Look how far we’ve come

Just under a year ago, I posted about my friends, then fifth years, who had had their last day of class. Today, it’s our turn. As fate would have it, I am in South Africa for this important celebration. From here on out, we shall have clinical rotations and exams, but no more theory classes

Things my PPD taught me

When I submitted my medical clearance form for SAS awhile ago, I was informed that I needed to provide the results of a recent PPD test. Obviously, on a ship with 600 students, as well as a fair amount of academic personnel and their families, one can’t risk having active TB going around. A PPD

Med School Acceptance: The war before the war

By now, most school-leavers in South Africa have settled their plans for next year – that is to say, the majority of kids who will start their first year of MB.ChB. (Bachelor’s of Medicine and Bachelor’s of Surgery) next year, now know – and I’m sure they are very excited (and congrats to all of

College, Dorms and Culture

It’s that time of the year… I refer to it as the month our campus has its period. Elections and competitions abound, while exams are around the corner (Southern hemisphere, remember). My favourite part of this month – perhaps my favourite of the entire year – is “Sêr”. Sêr comes from “serenade”, and is basically a

Rant: Security in South African Hospitals

So now that it’s reached the media, I can write about an unfortunate incident without the threat of being considered a traitor. One of our students was assaulted in the hospital on Saturday morning. A lot of “”big people” are trying to call it “attempted assault”. I say nonsense.