So You Want To Make Your Mother Happy? Become a Doctor
A look at the process in the U.S., which has more than 120 medical colleges. Transcript of radio broadcast:
01 June 2009
VOICE ONE:
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Faith Lapidus. On our program this week, we look at how people become medical doctors in the United States.
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VOICE ONE:
It is not easy to become a doctor in the United States. The first step is getting into a medical college. More than one hundred twenty American schools offer study programs for people wanting to be doctors.
People can get advice about medical schools from many resources. One of these is the Princeton Review. The publication provides information about colleges, study programs and jobs.
The Princeton Review says competition to enter medical schools is strong. American medical schools have only about sixteen thousand openings for students. But more than two times this many seek entry. Many of those seeking to be admitted are women.
VOICE TWO:
Most people seeking admission contact more than one medical school. Some applicants contact many. An important part of the application usually is the Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT. The Association of American Medical Colleges provides the test by computer. It is offered in the United States and in other countries.
The applicant is rated on reasoning, physical and biological sciences and an example of writing. Applicants for medical school need to do well on the MCAT. They also need a good record in their college studies.
VOICE ONE:
People who want to become doctors often study a lot of biology, chemistry or other science. Some students work for a year or two in a medical or research job before they attempt to enter medical school.
A direct meeting, or interview, also is usually required for entrance to medical schools. This means talking with a school representative. The interviewer wants to know if the person understands the demands of life as a medical student and doctor in training. The interviewer wants to know about the person’s goals for a life in medicine.
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VOICE TWO:
A medical education can cost a lot. One year at a private medical college can cost forty thousand dollars or more. The average cost at a public medical school is more than fifteen thousand dollars. Most students need loans to pay for medical school. Many finish their education heavily in debt.
Some Americans become doctors by joining the United States Army, Navy, Air Force or Public Health Service. They attend the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. These students attend without having to pay. In return, they spend seven years in government service.
Doctors are among the highest paid people in the United States. Big-city doctors who work in specialties like eye care usually earn the most money. But some other doctors earn far less. That is especially true in poor communities.
VOICE ONE:
Most medical students spend their first two years mainly in classroom study. They learn about the body and all its systems. They also begin studying how to recognize and treat disease.
By the third year, students begin working with patients in hospitals. Experienced doctors who have treated many patients guide them as they work. As the students learn, they think about the kind of medical skills they will need to work as doctors.
During the fourth year, students begin contacting hospital programs for the additional training they will need after medical school. Competition to work at a top hospital can be fierce.
VOICE TWO:
Doctors-in-training in hospitals are known as interns or residents. They are usually called interns during their first year. After that, the name of the job is resident. The trainees treat patients guided by medical professors and other experts.
All fifty states require at least one year of hospital work for doctors-in-training educated at medical schools in the United States. Graduates of study programs at most foreign medical schools may have to complete two or three years of residency, although there are exceptions.
VOICE ONE:
To be accepted for a residency, a person must meet the requirements of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. This process involves several tests before a person can receive a visa to stay in the United States for the training period.
Those completing study programs at foreign medical schools may be required to return to their own country for at least two years after their training ends. But because of doctor shortages or other needs, some have been able to get visas without the required two-year stay in their home country.
Doctors-in-training receive experience in different kinds of care. Interns, for example, may work with children for one month. The next month, they may be assisting at births. How long a residency lasts depends on the chosen area of medicine.
VOICE TWO:
There are many medical specialties. Some people become cardiologists and care for the heart. Others become oncologists and treat cancer patients. Still others become pediatricians and take care of children. And some doctors go into medical research, either at a university or with a private company.
But whatever they choose, they first need experience. Some doctors work a long time in hospitals before they are fully trained in a specialty. Some spend six years or more as residents before beginning private practice.
A doctor in Illinois remembers that before his internship, he wanted to work in crisis medicine in the emergency room. But later he chose surgery, because it lets him have more time to decide how to help his patients.
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VOICE ONE:
In nineteen ninety-nine, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, the I.O.M., released a report on mistakes in American hospitals. The report said preventable mistakes resulted in at least forty-four thousand deaths each year.
Five years ago, the New England Journal of Medicine published two government-financed studies of serious mistakes. The studies found that the mistake rate in two intensive-care areas decreased when interns worked fewer hours.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education supervises medical education. In two thousand three, the Council reduced the hours that residents may work. It limited residents to no more than thirty hours of continuous duty. A hospital was not supposed to require more than eighty hours of duty in a week. Some residents were spending more than one hundred hours a week at their hospitals.
VOICE TWO:
Last year, the United States Congress ordered the I.O.M. to study the situation again. The I.O.M. reported that the shorter work week did not help residents. It said they were getting far less sleep than they should.
The report said the residents were attempting to do as much work in the shorter time as they had done while working more hours. So the I.O.M. proposed that residents be required to get five continuous hours of rest for every sixteen hours on duty. It also asked that residents be given fewer duties and more supervision.
VOICE ONE:
Yet some American researchers have questioned the value of the I.O.M. proposals. They say the proposed changes could cost American hospitals about one billion six hundred million dollars a year.
The researchers work for the RAND Corporation and the University of California at Los Angeles. Their report was published last month in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The report also said few medical mistakes cause injury. And, it said changing work rules could cause other kinds of mistakes. If resident doctors work shorter hours, for example, mistakes could happen when one resident takes over a patient’s care from another.
VOICE TWO:
The New England Journal of Medicine published an editorial with the report. The writers expressed concern that the proposed changes would place too much importance on the number of hours worked. They said residents would face ethical questions about making others responsible for sick patients just because their working hours were ending. The editorial questioned whether reduced work hours could give the residents the education they will need as doctors.
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VOICE ONE:
This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Bob Doughty.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Faith Lapidus. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Listen again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.
Action, Drama, Terror and Comedy at Theaters This Summer Film Season
Some of the movies coming out in the days ahead. Plus, music by Koko Taylor who died last week. Transcript of radio broadcast:
11 June 2009
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
(MUSIC)
I’m Mario Ritter. This week we play music by blues great Koko Taylor, who died last week at the age of eighty.
But first, we take a look at cars that walk and talk … visit a land down under where dinosaurs roam … watch a madman seize a subway train … and fear for the family of a very frightening little girl. Welcome to summer in American movie theaters!
Summer Movies
HOST:
Summertime is big business in the movie theaters. And so far this summer, Hollywood is doing well, even in a recession. Last week, we talked about the movie “Star Trek.” It is still the top moneymaker so far this season. As of last weekend, the movie had earned more than three hundred thirty-four million dollars in ticket sales.
But there are still lots more movies to come. Movie lovers have adventure, comedy, animated and horror films to look forward to this summer.
Denzel Washington in
Denzel Washington in “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″
Opening today is a remake of an exciting movie from the nineteen seventies about a hijacking of a New York City underground train. It stars John Travolta as the leader of the hijackers and Denzel Washington as the transportation employee who negotiates with him.
“Now you tell me. What is the going rate for a New York City hostage today? What do you think, a million a piece is too high?”
“Maybe I’m not the guy you should be talking to. I’m a civil service employee.”
“What time do you got on your watch?”
“2:13.”
“In fifty-nine minutes I’m gonna’ start killing passengers.”
“You don’t want innocent people dying, do you?”
“You tell me.”
“The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″ was based on a book by John Godey. The latest version is getting mixed reviews. One movie critic noted that the earlier film was darkly funny to the very end. She writes that she misses that humor in the most recent version.
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Later this month, older children are expected to flood the theaters for “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” It opens June twenty-fourth. Shia LeBoeuf again plays Sam Witwicky in this second “Transformers” film. Like the toys, Transformers are robots that can change into vehicles such as cars and earth-moving equipment. Some Transformers are good, like the autobot Optimus Prime. Some are bad, like the decepticon Megatron. The two sides battle to control Earth. Sam, his friends and the United States Army are caught in the middle.
“Most babies are accidents. Not me. I was engineered. Born to save my sister’s life.”
Cameron Diaz and Alec Baldwin in
Cameron Diaz and Alec Baldwin in “My Sister’s Keeper”
Family drama is another subject of movies this summer. “My Sister’s Keeper” stars Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric as parents of a little girl who has cancer. Her only hope is a baby sister who was genetically engineered to help save the older girl’s life. Abigail Breslin plays Anna, the younger sister. She experiences years of operations to treat her sister’s cancer. Anna decides to take legal action against her parents so she can start making medical decisions herself. Alec Baldwin plays her lawyer.
“My sister has been in renal failure for months now.”
“You’re supposed to give her a kidney?”
“I want to sue my parents for the rights to my own body.”
“Would you repeat that please?”
Jody Picoult wrote the book, “My Sister’s Keeper.” She says the movie ends differently from the novel. But she says book fans will like the film version, too.
Now, Bob Doughty tells us about some other movies opening this summer.
BOB DOUGHTY:
“Nobody move a muscle …”
“Ahh!”
Sid from
Sid from “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”
July may be hot but another cool hit may be coming with the movie “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.” This is the third in the “Ice Age” animated series. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Dennis Leary return as the voices of the three main animal characters. Manny is a wooly mammoth, Sid is a ground sloth and Diego is a smilodon or saber-toothed cat.
Manny and his love, Ellie, voiced by Queen Latifah, are waiting for their first baby mammoth to arrive. And if that is not exciting enough, the friends discover an underground land of dinosaurs.
For children and adults, another Harry Potter movie opens later in July. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” will be shown in normal theaters as well as on the huge screens of IMAX theaters. The young wizard is in his sixth year at Hogwarts School. He and Professor Dumbledore must visit the past because of the dangers now facing them and the world.
“What you are looking at are memories. In this case, pertaining to one individual. This is perhaps the most important memory I’ve collected. I’d like you to see it.”
For fans of horror movies, “Orphan” opens July twenty-fourth. After the loss of a baby, a husband and wife adopt an older child. The parents are played by Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga. They already have a little boy and girl when they bring home Esther, played by Isabelle Fuhrman. Her behavior seems only a little strange at first. Then it becomes dark, dangerous and decidedly evil.
“My name is Dr. Varava. I’m calling from the Sarn Institute.”
“I don’t understand. How can they have no record of her being there.”
“There has to be some explanation.”
“The orphanage has never heard of her.”
“Mom!”
“I don’t think Mommy likes me very much.”
Two-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep can be seen in August playing the famous cook and cookbook writer Julia Child. The movie “Julie and Julia” also stars Amy Adams as Julie. She is a young woman struggling in her career until she gets an idea. She decides to make every recipe in Child’s best known cookbook in one year and write her own book about the experience. The movie is based on Julie Powell’s book, although Nora Ephron wrote the screenplay.
“I’m Julia Child. Bon appetit.
“Before she changed the world, Julia Child was just an American living in France …”
“Shouldn’t I find something to do?”
“What is it that you really like to do?”
“Eat!”
“And we are so good at it.”
“I am good at it!”
“Look at you! Now, how good you are!”
“Growing in front of you!”
And, finally, movie director Quentin Tarantino has a new film to be released in August. “Inglorious Basterds” stars Brad Pitt and Eli Roth. They play Jewish American soldiers during World War Two. Their military operation is to seek and kill Nazi Germans. The especially vicious nature of the killings is supposed to spread fear among the Nazis. The special soldiers are called the Basterds.
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Koko Taylor
Koko Taylor
Koko Taylor
HOST:
Today we celebrate the life and music of famous blues singer Koko Taylor. The award winning singer died last week. She was eighty years old. Shirley Griffith has more.
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SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:
That was Koko Taylor with her nineteen sixty-three song “Honky Tonk.” It was her first official recording. Koko Taylor was born Cora Walton in nineteen twenty-eight. Her love for chocolate earned her the name Koko. Years later her love for the blues would earn her the title “Queen of the Blues.” Koko Taylor began singing gospel and blues music as a child in Memphis, Tennessee.
In the early nineteen fifties she moved to Chicago, Illinois. Soon she began singing with some of the city’s top blues musicians. They included Muddy Waters, Junior Wells and Little Walter. She quickly gained widespread recognition. In nineteen sixty-five she released “Wang Dang Doodle.”
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“Wang Dang Doodle” was a huge success. It sold more than one million copies and reached the top five on the music charts. Over the years Koko Taylor won many awards. They included two Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award and the National Heritage Fellowship Award. In the weeks before her death she won her twenty-ninth Blues Music Award, the most for any artist ever. We leave you with Koko Taylor’s “I’m A Woman.”
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HOST:
I’m Mario Ritter. I hope you enjoyed our program today.
It was written by June Simms and Caty Weaver, who was also the producer. Please join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
Scientists Discover New Gorilla Population in Republic of Congo
VOICE ONE:
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Shirley Griffith. This week, we tell about a discovery of gorillas in the Republic of Congo and the loss of Bengal tigers in Nepal. We also tell about a famous heart surgeon and what you need to know about your heart.
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VOICE ONE:
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| A female western lowland gorilla at Washington’s National Zoo |
Deep in the forests in the northern part of the Republic of Congo, scientists have made a surprising discovery. Researchers discovered more than one hundred twenty-five thousand critically endangered western lowland gorillas.
In the nineteen eighties, scientists estimated that the total population of western lowland gorillas in Central Africa was fewer than one hundred thousand. Since then however, the scientists believed this number had been reduced by at least half. They thought the animals were being killed off by hunters and disease, especially the deadly Ebola virus.
VOICE TWO:
The new population count was the result of intensive work by the Wildlife Conservation Society, based in New York City, and scientists of the Republic of Congo. They searched rainforests and swamps, looking for gorilla nests.
Gorillas build beds, or nests, for sleeping each night. They use leaves and other parts of trees. The researchers use the number of nests they find to help estimate the local gorilla population. They found some forests had population densities that were among the highest ever recorded. The researchers studied an area of forty-seven thousand square kilometers. They announced the results of their population count at a meeting of the International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland.
VOICE ONE:
The scientists say the higher number of gorillas is the result of efforts by the Republic of Congo to take care of its protected areas. The gorillas have also done well because they live in areas far away from people. And they have plenty to eat. Wildlife Conservation Society President Steven Sanderson said the success of the gorillas is proof that humans can help protect animal species in danger of disappearing.
Western lowland gorillas are one of four recognized gorilla subspecies. Other subspecies include mountain gorillas, eastern lowland gorillas, and Cross River gorillas. The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers all of the subspecies to be critically endangered, except for the eastern lowland gorillas. That subspecies is considered endangered.
Researchers at the meeting in Scotland warned about the dangers that continue to threaten gorillas. They say almost fifty percent of the world’s species of primates are in danger of disappearing, especially in Asia. This is because the areas in which they live are being destroyed. And many animals are illegally hunted as food.
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VOICE TWO:
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| Bengal tiger cub |
That was some good news about gorillas. But we have some bad news about tigers. Three years ago, between twenty and fifty Bengal tigers lived in the Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve in Nepal. But this year, researchers reported evidence of only six to fourteen tigers. The Nepalese government announced the decrease of the tiger population last month. The wildlife reserve measures about thirty thousand hectares. It is the world’s third largest living area for the big cats.
VOICE ONE:
Nepalese national parks and conservation officials called the situation very serious. They said illegal hunting is the major cause of tigers disappearing from this protected area.
The World Wildlife Fund did most of the study about the tigers. The findings were based on pictures taken by camera traps from January to April. The camera traps contain devices that take a picture when they sense movement in the forest. Researchers used two cameras to take pictures of the tigers from both sides. But the cameras also photographed the hunters who killed the tigers and removed their remains.
VOICE TWO:
The Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve is on the border with India. World Wildlife Fund officials say this makes it easy to illegally transport protected wildlife. Very little of the tigers’ remains are found because all of the animal’s parts are valuable in the illegal wildlife trade.
Jon Miceler heads the World Wildlife Fund’s Eastern Himalayas Program. Mister Miceler said that in May, two tiger skins were seized from the Nepalese border town of Dhangadi. So were thirty-two kilograms of tiger bones.
VOICE ONE:
Mister Miceler says the loss of tigers is linked to a powerful international criminal group that controls the illegal wildlife trade. Only about two thousand to four thousand Bengal tigers survive in the wild.
Most live in forests in central and south India, Bhutan, and the Himalayan foothills of India and Nepal. Bengal tigers also live in China, Bangladesh and Burma. The World Wildlife Fund says populations of all kinds of tigers have decreased by ninety-five percent over the past one hundred years. And three kinds of tigers have disappeared.
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VOICE TWO:
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| President Bush talks with Michael DeBakey in April during a ceremony honoring him with the Congressional Gold Medal |
Famous American heart surgeon Michael DeBakey died last month. He was ninety-nine years old. He performed more than sixty thousand operations during his long career. As a medical student in nineteen thirty-one, he invented the roller pump. Years later doctors used it for blood transfusions during heart operations. The roller pump became a major part of the heart-lung machine. The machine pumps oxygen-rich blood to the brain and other organs so doctors can operate on the heart.
Michael DeBakey was a pioneer of open-heart surgery. The name means that doctors open the chest and perform surgery on the heart. Doctors may or may not open the heart as well.
VOICE ONE:
Doctor DeBakey developed a way to replace or repair blood vessels with Dacron, a stretchy manmade material. He continued to improve on the process. Today the DeBakey artificial graft is used around the world. He was also a pioneer in artificial hearts, heart transplants and recording surgeries on film. During World War Two in the nineteen forties, he helped develop the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or MASH.
Michael DeBakey saved many lives during his long career as a heart surgeon. One life he helped save was his own. Two years ago he had a damaged aorta, which carries blood from the heart to the body. Surgeons repaired it with an operation he developed long ago.
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VOICE TWO:
Speaking of hearts, here is some information about that complex organ and how to keep it healthy. The heart has four parts. As the heart beats, it pumps blood through these chambers and the blood vessels in the body. The body is estimated to have at least ninety-six thousand kilometers of blood vessels. That is about the same as two and a half times around the Earth. But blood goes the distance in about twenty seconds on its way back to the heart. Each day the heart pumps about eight thousand liters of blood.
The blood feeds the brain and other organs with oxygen and nutrients. It also carries away carbon dioxide and other waste. The heart pumps by expanding and contracting of muscle. In a healthy adult, the heart beats an average of seventy-two times a minute — about one hundred thousand times a day.
VOICE ONE:
Rates of heart disease started growing sharply in the second half of the twentieth century. As machines did more and more work, people did less and less. Not only did physical activity decrease, but people started eating more processed foods.
Experts say a diet low in fats and high in fruits, vegetables, proteins and whole grains may help reduce the risk of heart disease. At least thirty minutes a day of physical activity, enough to work up a sweat, can also help. A good night’s sleep is also important for good health.
Cardiovascular disease is caused by disorders of the heart and blood vessels. It includes heart attacks, strokes and high blood pressure. The World Health Organization says there are three major causes of cardiovascular disease: tobacco use, physical inactivity and an unhealthy diet. The W.H.O. says cardiovascular disease is the world’s leading cause of death.
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VOICE TWO:
This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Jerilyn Watson, Caty Weaver and Brianna Blake, who also was our producer. I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Bob Doughty. You can read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us next week for more news about science in VOA Special English.
