Holiday Gifts for Medical Students and Residents

Posted on December 4, 2011 by marylbrandt

If you are struggling with what to give the medical student or resident in your life as a holiday present, here’s a list of suggestions that might help.

photo credit

Expensive – but they will be eternally thankful

A maid or housecleaning service once a week. No one in medical school or residency has time to clean (or likes it)! This will be one of the most appreciated gifts you’ve ever given someone.

A smart phone (if they don’t have one). Not only for the usual reasons, but because of the apps available that can help students and residents.

A new computer that really meets their needs.

An iPad. There are a lot of uses for the iPad in the hospital… and even more personal uses! This is a great gift for any medical student or resident.

A Kindle Fire. Not as many apps for medical uses as the iPad, but a wonderful gift if they are an avid reader.

Membership to a gym for a year.

A new bicycle to ride to class or the hospital.

An iPod nano or other mp3 player to listen to music while studying Electronic speakers for their computer will also help provide music while studying.

A good (large) computer screen for studying. Even better – two screens (or add a second screen to their system if they already have a good screen)

Not expensive – but very appreciated

A year’s subscription to EverNote premium (to allow them to store notes on a cloud server)

A really good alarm clock. This could also be an exceptional practical joke gift if you choose something like the world’s most diabolical alarm clock or the carpet alarm clock

A gift certificate for yoga classes, spin classes or other exercise that they like.

Exercise bands. There are a lot of companies, but many people think Bodylastics are the best buy.

A subscription to Pandora One to create and listen to internet radio stations without commercials.

A gift certificate to Whole Foods (or any grocery store that makes take out food), or a healthy prepared food service. In Houston, we have My Fit Foods, Snap Kitchen, Diet Gourmet, Real Meals 365 and several other services. These types of businesses exist in almost every major city and can be easily found with an internet search.

A gift card from Starbucks. Along the same idea (if they drink coffee), they might like a personal coffee maker like the Black and Decker brew and go coffee maker, or the “k-cup” brewers like Keurig or Tassimo.

How Doctors Think, by Jerome Groopman. This is a great read for anyone in medicine, but especially for students and residents.

Any (or all) of Atul Gawande’s books

Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese

A Crock pot (slow cooker)

A rice maker that also steams food

iTunes gift card

A gift certificate for cooking classes

A gift certificate for a masseuse or a day at a spa (even the guys will like this if you pick the right one)

Variably expensive and not too serious…

Plush anatomy dolls? Plush microbe dolls?

Serotonin earrings?

Stethoscope cufflinks?

Silly mugs, t-shirts, etc like this one

Happy Holidays to everyone!!!

Photo credit

Pressure Cookers

Posted on May 4, 2010 by marylbrandt

You may have read the title and thought this might be about work and stress… but, no, it’s not about the pressure cooker at work, it’s about cooking!

If you are trying to save time cooking (which is an essential part of cooking as a student or resident) you should really think about buying a pressure cooker. This is a foreign cooking appliance to most people, but it is an incredible time saver. Do not listen to your mother/grandmother/aunt who says they blow up… they don’t! I use mine more or less weekly to make garbanzo beans. Buy dry garbanzo beans (which are really cheap), soak them for 4-8 hours and cook them with a little spice (or not) for 12 minutes on the second ring. (You can skip the soaking and cook for about 15 minutes instead) They make a great snack (instead of peanuts) right out of the refrigerator. Another really good use for pressure cookers is to make stock. When you peel carrots, cut the ends off onions, etc just throw the pieces into a bag in the freezer. Ditto for leftover bones and bits from fish, chicken, beef (if you want a meat stock). When the bag is full, put the frozen bits in the pressure cooker with water and cook for 20-25 minutes. This saves a lot of money and tastes tons better than store bought stock/broth.

Here’s a list of other things you can cook in a pressure cooker

A whole chicken in 15 minutes
Beans (from dried) in 5-10 minutes
Artichokes in 10 minutes
Potatoes in 5-10 minutes

Although the classic pressure cooker is still an amazing and wonderful kitchen tool, it has been a little eclipsed recently by the Instant-Pot. This is now top of my list for gifts for medical students and residents. It is a combination pressure cooker, rice cooker, slow cooker….and more.

Photo credit

Top Gifts for Medical School Graduates

Posted on April 11, 2010 by marylbrandt

This may be open for (a lot of) discussion… but here’s my list. Feel free to send it to parents, significant others, etc. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know – I’ll keep adding to the list!

1. A weekly maid service for period of time (a year if you can)

2. A gym membership for a period of time (a year if you can). Probably better to make this a certificate of some kind for “after you get settled” – if they are moving to another city for their internship, they will want to join the gym that their friends use.

2. A new (top of the line) smart phone

3. A Kindle or other electronic reader (plus a gift certificate for non-medical books, if you can)

4. “Homemade” meals certificates (if you don’t live somewhere close and can’t do this yourself, find a “ready prepared” food service. I googled for “premade healthy meals” in Houston, for example, and found at least 8 different businesses that do this. )

5. Gift certificates to Whole Foods market or other healthy grocery stores.

6. A new laptop with video (if they don’t have one that lets them use Skype or other video services)

7. A week of vacation before they start their internship.

8. A nice pen will be appreciated… and might be used… if it’s not immediately lost when you are on call…

9. If you are thinking about a watch (which is nice) remember where it is going to live and that it will be taken on and off all day. It should have practical things like an alarm and a stopwatch/second hand. It’s fine to get a fancy watch, but it will be worn on vacation or trips home (and not in the hospital).

10. A letter with all the things you think are wonderful about them, why you are proud of them and why you think they are going to be a fabulous doctor.

11. A wok. It turns out that cheaper (carbon steel) is better than expensive when it comes to woks. Do a little research on the subject, but I recommend the classic, round bottom cheap wok.

12. Kitchen supplies to cook for themselves. There are several options in this category: a good set of knives, a set of pots and pans, baking supplies, or a gift certificate to a cooking store.

13. A gift certificate to Penzey’s spices (www.penzeys.com) if they are already a cook (or you think it will encourage them to cook)

What NOT to buy —-

1. Any medical equipment (unless you are a practicing physician yourself and it’s specific to the graduate’s chosen specialty).

2. A black bag. This is a little debatable because these are very sentimental… but no one I know has ever used their black bag.

3. Anything for an office (won’t happen until after residency, so save this for when they finish their residency)