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Jason Ryan
@jasonryanmd
Creator of Boards and Beyond. Cardiologist and teacher of medical students around the world. Die-hard fan of New England Patriots and Boston Celtics.
Joined September 2008
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  • Pinned
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    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    Apr 17, 2025
    When Boards and Beyond was new and relatively unknown, someone posted online that the videos were trash. This was back when the library was small, and I was still adding to it. I was spending a lot of my own money to run the site, and I didn’t know if it would ever be profitable.
    158K
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    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    May 7, 2025
    Carotid sinus massage to break a tachycardia is the closest thing to magic we get to do in cardiology. The idea that you can rub on someone’s neck and cure their heart problem is surreal. What are some other quick cures in other specialities that are like this?
    409K
  • user avatar
    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    Dec 6, 2022
    I sold my company to McGraw Hill today. It’s been a wild ride the past eight years. Never thought I’d start a company, run one, or sell one. Life takes you to strange and interesting places.
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    McGraw Hill
    @MHEducation
    Dec 6, 2022
    Today, McGraw Hill announced that it has acquired @boardsandbeyond, an on-demand video platform for medical students. The acquisition expands our position as a leading provider of trusted medical learning resources to students and professionals. Read more: mhed.us/3VCxPYG
  • user avatar
    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    May 9, 2025
    When I was a 3rd year resident already matched into cardiology we had an EKG conference. I was asked to interpret an EKG that was classic for pericarditis but I didn’t recognize any of the findings. I just hadn’t seen much pericarditis in training. I was embarrassed to miss this
    186K
  • user avatar
    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    May 4, 2021
    Med school now is much different from med school when I graduated in 2001. More competitive. More assessments. More work required just to be average. Do all you can in training to take care of yourself. Cut yourself slack and remember that you earned your way in and you belong.
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    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    Nov 16, 2022
    If Trump were presenting on rounds: “This patient was sick, sicker than you’ve ever seen, some say sicker than anyone in the history of this hospital. A lot of people are saying that. I’ve heard it many times. You wouldn’t believe how sick this patient was. But I saved him.”
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    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    May 16, 2022
    When I took Step 1 (1999), it was a very hard test. Since then 1000s of new drugs/mechanisms have been discovered. All have been added to the test, nothing removed. First Aid for the Boards is now 848 pages up from about 200! When does it stop? No one can know all this stuff.
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    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    Aug 19, 2022
    USMLE scores have very little to do with being a good doctor. Get the exams behind you then focus on taking great care of your patients. Outstanding patient care defines a great doctor, not board scores.
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    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    Oct 13, 2024
    Shout out to the two University of Maryland medical students who spent an hour or so in my dad’s hospital room chatting with him yesterday. He broke his hip and is getting better, but it’s depressing sitting in bed away from home. He can’t stop talking about the visit from these
    123K
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    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    May 30, 2023
    I was bad at anatomy. Also bad with microbes and neuroscience. I was often outperformed by my peers. Still made it through medical training. So can you.
    179K
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    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    Mar 2, 2023
    So many students/residents with research publications actually hate research. They’ve done research because it’s obligatory for matching into competitive training programs. We are turning off a generation of trainees to scientific inquiry. Time to stop the insanity.
    211K
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    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    Sep 23, 2025
    Here’s a nice analysis of 2.5M children about Tylenol and autism. The study found a small association between tylenol use in pregnancy and autism, but the association went away in sibling analysis. In sibling analysis you compare children born to the same mother where one child
    Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Children’s Risk of Autism, ADHD, and Intellectual Disability
    From jamanetwork.com
    155K
  • user avatar
    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    May 28, 2023
    That med students have to memorize these antibodies is a great illustration of the silliness of medical training. These can be looked up in seconds. Zero reason to have them committed to memory.
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    Josh McGough, MD
    @joshmcgoo
    May 27, 2023
    ANTIBODIES! dsDNA -> SLE, sensitive centromere -> CREST mitochondrial -> PBC smith -> SLE, specific RO/SSA -> Sjogren's
    600K
  • user avatar
    Jason Ryan
    @jasonryanmd
    Nov 8, 2023
    When I took Step 1 the treatment for heart failure was beta blocker and ACEi. Now it’s BB-ACEi-ARB-ARNI-SGLT2-Ivabradine-ICD-BiV pacer. Students today have to MEMORIZE it all for the test plus the outdated stuff like digoxin. And that’s just one disease. Result=burnout.
    450K