Imagine
As a child, I viewed healthcare as a utopia. All who entered the career sought only to help others; providers were always compassionate and prioritized the patient above all else. As with most...
View ArticleDoctor/Patient Patel
“Unlock, press down on the green button and wait 10 seconds.” I read the instructions for the subcutaneous injection over and over again for what seemed like hours. With clammy hands, I finally took a...
View ArticleA Moment to Reflect
The first thing I notice are his boots. He’s still in his street clothes, having just been admitted. He looks thin, emaciated — his clothes hang off him, shirt collar drooping down from his neck like...
View ArticleMedicalizing My Grief
A classmate of mine committed suicide a few weeks ago. Though I’ve heard the harrowing statistics about physician and trainee suicide rates, to be honest, I never expected to personally encounter such...
View ArticleExquisitely Tender
A 5-year-old African American boy presents to the emergency department with left leg pain. His leg is exquisitely tender to palpation…. If I read this vignette in the first year of medical school, I...
View ArticlePrescriptive Autonomy
An anxious, 36-year-old Hispanic female* lays on the exam table, her feet in stirrups. A sleeved arm juts out between her tented legs as she stares resolutely at the ceiling. I wonder if she is afraid...
View ArticleSilence
“I’m sorry that you have to see me this way,” said Ms. A as we exited the examining room. Twenty minutes earlier, Ms. A had been laughing and cracking jokes while my attending physician and I obtained...
View ArticleSmile
Mr. T did not smile at me. No, I didn’t think it was because he was mean or anything; in fact, he was polite and had quite a calming voice. But honestly, it was hard to read someone’s facial...
View ArticleThe Interview as an Invitation
Freud supposedly understood himself as a surgeon of the mind, dissecting his patients’ mental anatomy through the process of psychoanalysis. I found this comparison appealing, so when I started the...
View ArticleOn Everyone Doing Their Best
The 24-hour urine collection was nearing its 18th hour when the nurse on the floor approached me with a sheepish expression. I’ve gotten used to being the person with the least amount of authority and...
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