S just started his 3rd year of med school and recently had a birthday.
Along with the things he asked for, we got him a couple of surprise gifts that were big hits.
S recently upgraded his phone to one of the latest Samsung Galaxy phones, so we got him the Samsung Gear S watch that syncs with it. He is over the moon about it. While the watch does have its own phone number, it also syncs with his Samsung phone so all his calls, texts, and emails show up on his watch. He can answer calls, texts, and emails from his watch, and can also make calls, texts, and emails from his watch. he can also get any other notifications that he wants to receive.
We also got him a very nice professional-looking messenger bag (bought for a good price on that Amazon Prime day). He was also happy with that.
Others can chime in with gifts that their med students have enjoyed.
(PS…lol…I also got myself one of those watches…I LOVE IT!)
A broselow tape - great for peds emergencies!
Bluetooth iPad keyboard case. (Keyboard makes typing faster & easier.)
Amazon gift cards so they can buy books, books and more books.
Comfy shoes for wards.
iPhone apps for med students/physicians. (D1 had me find her a specialty-specific news aggregator since she has soooo much reading to do just to keep current.) Or an iTunes gift card so she can buy the apps she needs.
Cases of local salsa and green chile. (You just can’t get good salsa in New England so I auto-ship D1 a case every other month so she can have her chile fix.)
Another idea: The pocket pharmacopoeia is one of the most useful books for a med student/intern/resident:
http://www.amazon.com/Tarascon-Pocket-Pharmacopoeia-Classic-Edition/dp/1284058662
Two weeks of frozen dinners.
We’ve just spend a whole day shopping for d and w had spend a whole night cooking for her.
Money for mobile apps. Access to these apps can make life so much easier.
An engraved 3M Littman 3100 stethoscope and an Iphone 6 plus. Smartphones contain practically all of the reference guides a medical student or physician would use.
A portable ophthalmoscope and otoscope are good to have too if the student doesn’t already have one. Truthfully, though, I almost never carried these around in my jacket.
Caution on the stethoscope, ophthalmoscope and otoscope–at Ds’ med school, each student receives a stethoscope as a gift from the alumni association as a gift on White Coat Day. The price of a ophthalmoscope and otoscope set are included in the “books” costs. (Besides both Ds said there’s always a ophthalmoscope and otoscope in each patient exam rooms during clinic.)
But back to gifts---
Maid service/Mini-maids--On days off the last thing a student wants to do is clean house, esp during clinical years.
A really really great (but expensive) gift would be a subscription to uptodate.com.
I use this constantly, but it is possible some medical schools subscribe to this for their faculty/staff/residents, so I would check first.
That database almost eliminates the need to buy textbooks!
I had never heard of uptodate.com and mentioned it to D (2nd year resident) when we spoke last night. She said that she uses it every day as well.
Regular stream of money with all expanses being paid by us was greatly appreciated.
Pay for an extracurricular that might not be in student’s budget but will provide stress relief. In my daughters case, it is dance classes.
Hmm. Broselowe Tape…interesting thought - they’re surprisingly expensive. I’m not sure how much use students would get out of them though.
A personal subscription to uptodate is nice, but check with your student as they usually already have free access through their school.
I’d suggest paying dry cleaning bills and/or shopping trips for wardrobe upgrades. Rising fourth year students need new suits for interviews.
A keurig would be nice, starbucks giftcards too.
Money to attend conferences in their chosen field would be a great surprise.
Taking them with you on vacation is a nice offer too…but don’t be like my mom and suggest an August trip in June when I’ve already had my schedule request in place for 3 months. Medical students and residents/fellows have to make the most ridiculous decisions about schedules ever, in which schedule requests are asked for in February for the entirety of the following academic year, but not finalized until about May (ie, requests go in during Feb 2015 for a schedule that spans June 2015 to June 2016). I remember having to asking friends who were engaged but yet to set a date if they were thinking an early summer vs late summer wedding 15 months in advance because it totally affected my ability to schedule a vacation to attend their nuptials. It’s awkward because it’ll be Memorial Day and you’ll not know what happens in 4 weeks, but once the schedule comes out, the entire year is mapped out…
I know about the differences between the caduceus vs staff of asklepios. Like the fight against literally to mean figuratively and peruse to mean skim I have accepted the fact that it is something which has simply taken on a new meaning and is now synonymous with a different thing.
And I don’t like fountain pens. (Or should I say nib pens since technically speaking most normal pens are fountain pens too)
“Taking them with you on vacation is a nice offer too…”- or offering to stay for free in your own condo on the ocean…
Schedule is known by now. Mine has bought the ticket for her vacation in February of 2016. They were already a bit more expansive than couple weeks ago…but we are not paying for the tickets any more
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