Potential Challenges to Medical Students/Physicians with Epilepsy?
Started by Kameha01
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The ADA requires schools to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities and conditions like epilepsy. Your doctor can help you determine what accommodations are necessary/helpful for you and your specific situation, but it really depends on your personal needs. Examples of accommodations might include ability to make up missed class time due to illness or a medical appt, extended test time for someone with ADHD, scheduled break time to take meds, use restroom, etc. Your doctor will need to write a letter outlining the recommended accommodations (but not necessarily the condition they are for) to your student disability services office and these will be provided to your professors and clerkship directors.
I presume your undergraduate programs did accommodate your disability. Can you describe what you received? If so, you should be able to share that documentation with any school.
www.kevinmd.com
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
A physician's life with epilepsy
My experiences taught me what makes an exceptional physician.
www.kevinmd.com
Treatment of physicians with epilepsy - PubMed
This study highlights the diverse ways that epilepsy can affect physician-patients and the challenges that arise in treating this unique patient population.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Seeing Epilepsy From the Patient's Point of View
Dr. Brien J. Smith, new chairman of the Epilepsy Foundation, knows firsthand about the disease: He learned as a teenager that he had epilepsy.
archive.nytimes.com
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Actually I managed to control them pretty well in college for like three years, but they did get worse and I had some lifestyle/med adjustments, so I don't really know what they would've done, sorry. One of my triggers, however, is sleep deprivation. Can medical schools somehow accomodate this lolI presume your undergraduate programs did accommodate your disability. Can you describe what you received? If so, you should be able to share that documentation with any school.
A physician's life with epilepsy
My experiences taught me what makes an exceptional physician.
Treatment of physicians with epilepsy - PubMed
This study highlights the diverse ways that epilepsy can affect physician-patients and the challenges that arise in treating this unique patient population.
Seeing Epilepsy From the Patient's Point of View
Dr. Brien J. Smith, new chairman of the Epilepsy Foundation, knows firsthand about the disease: He learned as a teenager that he had epilepsy.archive.nytimes.com
It will vary from school to school, and depend a great deal on the particularities of your condition. MD education programs are not uniform in the demands they place on students, especially in clinical settings. They also do not have equal access to resources to provide accommodations. What is reasonable at one institution may be unreasonable at another.
I will say that if your epilepsy significantly impacts your ability to function while sleep deprived, your specialty choices are going to be somewhat limited.
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deleted1139416
Communication is key!! Make sure that disability services, admin, test proctors, and preceptors are aware of your situation when it is appropriate to make them aware. Email your preceptors before each clinical rotation. I cannot tell you how many times situations regarding med students disability and accommodations don't turn out well simply because of poor communication. I would also recommend filing accommodation paperwork with a younger (<40) doctor who still remembers what med school is like so that they can be more in tune with what you might need.
lol that's alright. I'm not interested in some super intense specialty anyway. I'm more of a PM/R, family medicine or hospice/palliative care type of person. Would those be impacted at all by functioning while sleep deprived?
All of those are pretty amenable to a "normal" work schedule as an attending, but during medical school and residency you will almost certainly be expected to work 12, 24, or more hour shifts, take overnight calls, work night shifts, etc. Some schools and programs may be able to accommodate schedule adjustments to minimize flipping back and forth between nights and days, allow you to work two 12s instead of a 24, etc. but this would not be without difficulty or some inconvenience to your coresidents.
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