by Nonie | Jan 26, 2017
Twice a year, I am amazed by the talent and grace (and silliness) of my classmates in our medical school dance show — Biorhythms.
January 2017 Biorhythms performers. Photocred: M2 Rana Kabeer
This year I participated in the dance “Racy Desi,” which featured Bollywood music. I really looked forward to our Monday night practices for the chance to take a study break, see some wonderful people, and move to fun music. Even if I started practice thinking about the never-ending list of lecture and research tasks, I would always end it smiling (and marveling at the boundless energy of one of our choreographers, Nikki). Biorhythms was also a great chance to get to know classmates and students in other years who we wouldn’t otherwise meet. I’m so grateful for our wonderful directors, Karlie, Chrystina, and Connor, who put their energy into creating such a great show!
“Racy Desi” dance group. Photocred: Rana Kabeer
Schoolwise, we just wrapped up our Hematology sequence, the last one of our pre-clinical education. We are now completing a capstone course prior to starting on the wards. As an M2, it has been rewarding to see the same physiologic principles appear in different organ systems throughout the year. For example, my understanding of immunology has been greatly strengthened by seeing its topics reappear in infectious disease last year, and then in renal, rheumatology, and hematology this year. Every time when we add a new layer of clinical presentation, I find that my comprehension of the basic principles is strengthened. Which is good, because immunology made a lot less sense the first time around last year!
In the next few weeks, I look forward to consolidating some of our basic science knowledge, and then taking a few weeks off to recharge before the next big adventure: M3!
Nonie Arora is a 4th year MD/MBA candidate at the University of Michigan. She is passionate about improving the delivery of healthcare and health policy. She can be followed on Twitter @nonie_arora.
by Nonie | Dec 21, 2016
Another semester of medical school in the books! It’s hard to believe that my class will be on the wards in just over two months! I really felt like I hit a studying groove in M2 year more so than last year, but it will be great to switch over to taking care of patients rather than minding the many tabs of lectures, notes, and pdfs on my computer.
The two weeks we have off now are a wonderful chance for reflection, and I’m here now at Songbird (one of my favorite cafés in Ann Arbor—you have to try the triple grilled cheese) thinking about challenges and accomplishments of the last semester. It’s amazing to have time to just sit and think, truly a luxury that can be hard to squeeze in during busy weeks. Many experiences have been meaningful in the past few months; I’ll focus on a few to share.
Surgery Olympics Team Waljee: Tim, Hannah, Tony, Shaina, Nonie
This past month my team competed in the “Surgery Olympics,” a program established by our surgery student interest group (SCRUBS) leaders. You might wonder what exactly a Surgery Olympics entails. I did too. We worked on surgical skills over the summer, and then competed in teams to see who could perform them most quickly and accurately in a competition. Personally, I found the laparoscopic skills (like the bean drop!) to be far easier than the knot tying and suturing: I have some work to do before my surgery rotation.
In addition to the skills contest, each team presented on a research project they had worked on with their mentor at Surgery Grand Rounds. I had the honor of presenting our team’s work. It was exciting to share our results regarding post-operative opioid prescribing, and especially to hear what all the other teams had worked on, too. Overall, it was awesome to be part of a supportive and collaborative team with the best mentor, Dr. Jennifer Waljee. We took home silver!
The second meaningful experience has been more of a shift in attitude rather than a singular event: medical school has changed my mindset on the division between work and play. Before medical school, I had more of the mindset that if there was a big deadline or exam coming up that I should really focus on that and then find time for relaxation or other projects only after it was completed. But I’ve changed. I’m so glad to now be able to turn the “work” part of my brain off even when there’s more to be done because in medical school (and life in general) there is always more to be doing.
Someone told me at the beginning of M1 that every minute you’re not studying is another minute you’re falling behind, but that’s no way to live! So instead, I’ve rejoiced in the moments I’ve spent at yoga class, or at a coffeeshop with a friend, or salsa dancing, even with an exam coming up! Luckily, Ann Arbor has many places to unwind and relax no matter your style. Flex-time quizzing and our pass-fail grading system have definitely contributed to this change, but I’m hopeful that the mindset shift will stick beyond this phase of training.
Finding time for relaxation at our Doctoring potluck. So grateful for this team (including everyone not pictured)!
There’s so much to look forward to in 2017. Most of all, I can’t wait to be on the wards!
Nonie Arora is a 4th year MD/MBA candidate at the University of Michigan. She is passionate about improving the delivery of healthcare and health policy. She can be followed on Twitter @nonie_arora.
by Nonie | Nov 17, 2016
As you might imagine, attending a health policy conference (AMA Interim Meeting) two days after a Presidential election was quite a whirlwind! The workshop that my committee coordinated on post-election advocacy overflowed with students and physicians ready to learn how the coming changes to our government may impact health care, and access to care for their patients. Though the results of this election have challenged my optimism, I left feeling *slightly* more empowered with a better idea of where our national health policy discussions are headed.
Todd Askew, Director of AMA Congressional Affairs Division addresses students & physicians
At the conference, students, residents, and physicians pushed for and passed a resolution that calls upon the AMA to actively engage the incoming Trump Administration and Congress in discussions on the future direction of health care, with a special focus regarding patient access to care and patient health insurance coverage.
In the student section, another resolution that I helped craft regarding the integration of patient drug costs into electronic medical records also passed! My classmate and leader of this resolution team, Vinay Guduguntla, spoke with confidence and conviction on the merits of this resolution in assembly. Now the hard work of refining our thinking and establishing support in the overall physician membership to the AMA House of Delegates begins.
AMA Research Symposium (Alex Kelsall, Nonie Arora, Hannah Cheriyan)
While at the conference, I really appreciated the opportunity to see friends and colleagues who I’ve been working with remotely on our AMA-MSS national Committee on Legislation and Advocacy. Working with these students from around the country has been a highlight of my second year of medical school.
In addition to the policy portion of the conference, several of us presented research. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my work in newborn quality improvement and for the financial support from UMMS that made this possible.
Thankfully, there was some time for relaxation and even “studying” by the pool.
Nonie Arora is a 4th year MD/MBA candidate at the University of Michigan. She is passionate about improving the delivery of healthcare and health policy. She can be followed on Twitter @nonie_arora.
by Nonie | Jul 14, 2016
In June, I travelled to Nashville, TN with a group of high school students for the HOSA International Leadership Conference. I loved interacting with students who are interested in medical fields, including public health, physical therapy, nursing, clinical medicine, and more!
The students who attended the conference had already qualified from through multiple rounds of competition at their local and state levels. I had the opportunity to attend as a chaperone after learning about the conference from my sister who attended as a competitor. The events that students competed in varied, and included topics that are applied, such as sports medicine. (Side note: I was amazed that one of the other chaperones injured her ankle, one of the high school students knew exactly how to tape it!) Other students also competed in events where they had to create a public service announcement or public health outreach program in their community.
While I was there chaperoning kids from my old high school (Novi), I also had the opportunity to judge the Biomedical Debate event. The debate topic was whether the benefits of genetically modified foods outweigh the harms. This is very relevant topic given the recent legislation proposed (at the time of this event) and passed by the House (now) that requires the labeling of some GMO foods. It was also the perfect event for me to judge given my concentration in Genome Sciences & Policy as an undergrad at Duke. I was very impressed by students’ quality of preparation and research! I knew that they were doing an excellent job because I found myself being swayed to the affirmative or negative side depending on the quality of their arguments in each round.
Finally, I wouldn’t be the proud older sister that I am if I didn’t mention that my sister’s team placed fourth in the category of Community Awareness! So exciting! As a whole, Novi High School had 27 top 10 finalists, one 3rd place finish, and three 2nd place finishes. What an amazing crew.
In addition to all the conference programming, we also had the chance to go line dancing. Now, back in Ann Arbor I am excitedly awaiting the arrival of the new M1s!
Line Dancing in Nashville
Nonie Arora is a 4th year MD/MBA candidate at the University of Michigan. She is passionate about improving the delivery of healthcare and health policy. She can be followed on Twitter @nonie_arora.
by Nonie | Jun 28, 2016
Earlier this month, a group of UMMS students travelled to Chicago, IL for the AMA Annual Meeting as delegates from our school to the medical student section.
In addition to voting on policy issues that affect medical students, physicians, and patients, we also attended educational sessions such as “professional advocacy in an election year” and “outbreaks and the olympics,” which was focused on the Zika virus and other communicable diseases.
One of my favorite parts of the weekend was attending the AMA Healthier Nation Innovation Challenge finals. There, we had the opportunity to hear from innovative startups about how they are solving pressing issues in healthcare.
These remarkable projects ranged from a technology solution that empowers first responders to share real-time patient data with healthcare providers in hospitals (Twiage) to a novel catheter that self-disinfects using phototherapy. Amazing solutions that are widely applicable!
The final day of the conference we attended reference committee meetings for the House of Delegates, which is the full voting body of the AMA. I particularly enjoyed hearing and live tweeting the debate on the End Step 2CS resolution that Andy Zureick (M4 from UMMS) and other students and physicians from across the country had been working hard on. Step 2 Clinical Skills has not been shown to improve patient care or education quality, has an extremely high pass rate, yet costs medical students over a thousand dollars plus travel time and expenses. The proposal to advocate for elimination of this exam in its current form was passed in a form that combined four separate resolutions with the same intent.
We are all grateful to the Washtenaw County Medical Society and the Michigan State Medical Society for providing funding without which we may not have been able to attend! I look forward to continuing to work on AMA projects: Andy and I were elected to leadership roles at the Regional level. He will be serving as our region 5 vice chair and will be serving as our region 5 AMA foundation liasion.
Attending this meeting was incredible opportunity to partipate in policy-making and connect with students and physicians across the country. I left feeling more energized to lend my voice and enthusiasm to organized medicine & health policy!
Nonie Arora is a 4th year MD/MBA candidate at the University of Michigan. She is passionate about improving the delivery of healthcare and health policy. She can be followed on Twitter @nonie_arora.
