AMSA was disheartened to learn that the leadership of the Virginia General Assembly concluded their special session on gun violence without considering a single bill this week. As a community of medical trainees passionate about protecting and improving the health of all Americans, AMSA was appalled at the complete lack of interest in dialogue around…

By: Megan Hunt, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Keanan McGonigle, AMSA Education and Advocacy Fellow, 2019—2020   In our high-risk pregnancy clinic, I was introduced to a young woman in the eighth month of her second pregnancy. The woman had a number of mental health disorders which complicated care due to her cocktail of…

Senator Bernie Sanders opened his announcement of the Medicare for All Act of 2019, “Let me be as clear as I can be. Health care is a human right. Not a privilege.” The American Medical Student Association has outlined support for this idea in its governing documents as early as 1994. For over two decades,…

Figure 1 Quiz of the Week A 16-year-old male is brought to the emergency department by his father following a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. He has had these seizures regularly since early childhood, though their frequency has increased over the past two months. As an infant, he had regular episodes of apnea, which resolved at the…

Figure 1 Quiz of the Week A 58-year-old male presents to the emergency department with dyspnea, and severe chest pain that radiates to his shoulder. He has a history of alcoholism and has just finished a 4-day drinking binge. On examination, crepitus is heard on palpation of the chest wall, and his pain worsens as…

Health professionals encounter patients everyday who are unable to afford their medications. It can lead to a feeling of helplessness, for both the health provider and patient involved. But, you can take steps to put patients over profits through advocacy! Justin Mendoza, State Partnerships Manager at Families USA, shares that he was looking up a…