A Day in the Life

Jyoti Bhattarai

Émigré Physician Program

Hello, my name is Jyoti Bhattarai, and I am a D.O. student at NYITCOM. I emigrated to the US in 2012. I am in the EPP (Émigré Physician Program) here at the school. I graduated from my overseas medical school in 2006/07. After that I was working in Nepal in the ICU as a medical officer for the Pulmonary - Critical Care department. My love for medicine and the magnetism of the subspecialty is never ending and I am hopeful that I will pursue the same after the graduation in 2025. The things that I like to do beside studying is to play guitar. Playing and learning guitar has helped me to concentrate in my studies, and it also helps me navigate through bad days. I am also passionate about is my podcast. I produce and run my own podcast called Medschool2.0

Apart from the illustrious history and background of the school; one of the major attractions for me was EPP program. NYITCOM is the only school in the U.S. which offers such a program. The other thing that really attracted me is the school really looks at not only the physical but mental health of the student with its Center for Behavioral Health unit.

6:30 am: This is the usual time I wake up. I head straight to the gym and workout for about an hour or so. After I come back and get fresh, I start the day with coffee and study materials.

10-12 am: This is my lab day (one of two). I arrive at school at or around 10am, head to the OMM (Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine) lab. There I receive the new techniques of the day depending on what system we are working on in the syllabus. I also review old material and discuss aspects of history taking and oral presentation of the case with my peers. I, together with my pod members, get reviewed by our pod leader and receive feedback on how I performed or how it should be perfected.

12-2 pm: Different students have different ways of studying. For me, after the lab, if there are no other involvements for the day, I come back home.

If I have some engagements like research, this is the time I go to the research lab. I finish my part and come back home. If I don’t have to be at the lab that day I usually record/interview for my podcast.

After I come back home, I have lunch and start studying materials from the school of the week. The school has done a wonderful job on giving us asynchronous lectures which I can do wherever and whenever. I stick to the plan and try to finish as many lectures as possible I can during that time frame. Around 2pm, I have another snack and head back to school. I live 15 minutes away from campus, and the 15-minute drive feels therapeutic at times.

2-4 pm: Depending on the week, (usually the 3rd week) of the course we have PI (Peer Instructions), a session where we get case-based questions form the lectures which are prepared by the professors. This is an interactive session between students and professors where we can ask questions to the lecture providers and discuss the questions.

4-8 pm: After coming home and having a snack, I get back to studying. I divide my days into school material studding and Boards Prep studying. So, this time frame for me is boards prep. I start doing UW (U World) questions bank and side by side I annotate the things I am not confident on my First Aid book. I also read some other board prep resources.

8-9pm: I have dinner and then I try to wind down by playing some tunes on my guitar. Somedays, I write some songs as well. If I have some editing to be done for my podcast episode I do them during this time.

9-10 pm: Around this time, I only study the annotated parts from the questions bank. If I am done early, I try to envision the next episode for the podcast and have a small idea written down on what and how I would like it to be done. If any emails need to be replied this is when I do them.

10-10:30 pm: This is the end of the day. I talk to my family; talk to my kids and we share the thing we did in the day.

Second chances don’t come easily. This is my second chance I know I must make most of it. I joined NYITCOM in 2020. I started doing podcast in 2022 and I am also involved in a research project here at the school. My passion has always to be a critical care physician. I like chaos in medicine and that’s how I have been since I stared medical school back in 2001. I hope in the future I get to continue in this path and use my skills in a safe and positive way and provide utmost service to the mankind.

The school has a diverse and unique sets of organizations. I am the President of SOIMA (Student Osteopathic Internal Medicine Association) and the House Leader for the Student Advising and Mentoring (SAM) program. My house’s name is House Sanguinis. I am also a Student Ambassador and part of Note-O-Chords here at the school, an organization of students who sing and play at various functions. I am also student committee member for NY ACP Chapter (American College of Physicians). I also work in the library here at the school as a Library Aid.

---

View All >