Hello,

Just wanted to let everyone know that our Personal Statement Library is now 2x as big! We’ve got TONS of personal statement examples from all different residency fields, including internal medicine, neurology, pathology, and more! All this and still just 3 grams of net carbs! Enjoy!

So, the Fool was out at Home Depot yesterday, doing some home improvement shopping, when confronted by a patient in the Checkout line! First time this has happened… “Hey doctor! My rash is getting worse”, he says. So, I took a second to give some free advice, and we’ll see. Just goes to show you that you can never be too sure where your patients are going to find you, so stay on your best behavior and watch out! -Fool

According to the latest issue of the AMA News there has been an overall downtrend of primary care match applicants and filled spots. Family medicine has been hit especially hard. US seniors matching in family medicine declined from 2340 in 1997 to only 1117 in 2005. (Other spots went to international graduates) This makes up just 41% of the family medicine slots. Total filled FM positions declined from 2905 to 2275 over the same period. Family medicine filled just 82.4% of available slots. Over the past 5 years, the number of US seniors is down in primary care, but internal medicine, ob-gyn, and pediatrics saw small net gains when international graduates were included. More students are heading to subspecialties, and dermatology, emergency medicine, general surgery, orthopedic surgery, and plastic surgery were among the most competitive specialties. See the full data set at the NRMP site here. This may be a disturbing trend in US healthcare in general, especially with an aging population in need of well trained primary care docs. And it may signal to international graduates that this may be the best window of opportunity to gain admission to US residencies. Perhaps in 10 years there will be a majority of international graduates outnumbering US grads in primary care, and the opposite for specialty care.

-Fool

Thanks to a few generous folks, there have been a few additions to the Medfools Downloads page, including a new super detailed medicine scutsheet we like to call “Heavy Duty”, and one quickie sheet for those busy Labor and Delivery call nights. Thanks to those who shared =) If anyone else has more you’d like to share with the world, don’t forget to Contact Us! Soon we’ll be doubling the size of the personal statement library. Stay Tuned! - Fool