Secrets of a medical student: How future doctors learn from their patients
Medical school means long hours, hard work and a lot of stress -- but third-year medical student Loren Galler Rabinowitz is used to the pressure. Before she enrolled at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, she was a world-class competitive skater, won the Miss Massachusetts pageant, competed for Miss America in 2011 and somehow found the time to graduate from Harvard.
Learning to be a good doctor presents a whole new set of challenges. Rabinowitz sat down recently with CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook to discuss her experiences as a doctor-in-training.
In the video above, they also talk about the role medical students play in patient care at a major teaching hospital. She explains that a med student can spend hours, if needed, talking with a patient about their symptoms to try to figure out what's wrong. Since they lack the knowledge of more experienced doctors, students ask a lot of questions -- and sometimes those questions can uncover important information to help with the diagnosis.
Watch the video to find out more about life as a medical student and how future doctors learn from their patients.