Anna Delamerced is a medical student.

It’s time we stop saying “black cloud” and “black weekend”

Physician
October 12, 2020

Racism is a pandemic that has long existed before COVID-19.

As a fourth-year medical student, I have been rotating in the hospitals and recently finished my sub-internship. Whether on the wards or in outpatient clinics, a recurring phrase would hover from one provider to the next, depending on how busy their week was: “black cloud” and “white cloud.”

In the medical world, the former has often been used to describe trainees or …

Read more…

It’s time we stop saying “black cloud” and “black weekend”

Medical students in solidarity: Black Lives Matter

Policy
June 2, 2020

Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. George Floyd.

We speak their names out when they no longer can.

As a medical student, I have learned and recognized the many prejudices underlying our healthcare system against persons of color. Racism runs rampant in hospitals and clinics – places that are meant to heal, not to hurt. Black patients, in particular, suffer biases that result in disparities and even Read more…

Medical students in solidarity: Black Lives Matter

The power of poetry during a pandemic

Education
April 27, 2020

I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

These verses flashed on my computer screen, the glare lighting my face as I sat in my bedroom. I paused my usual work and …

Read more…

The power of poetry during a pandemic

In the midst of a global health crisis, USMLE Step 1 needs to be made pass/fail now

Conditions
March 31, 2020

Every aspect of life has been affected by COVID-19, including medical education.

Since March 17, medical schools across the nation have suspended clinical rotations, per guidelines from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The target end date for this temporary pause was set originally to March 31.

The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) followed suit, declaring that Prometric testing centers were closing …

Read more…

In the midst of a global health crisis, USMLE Step 1 needs to be made pass/fail now

Medical students are living life one day at a time during the pandemic

Conditions
March 30, 2020

My friends’ weddings have been postponed, even my own cousin’s.

Step 1 exam dates have been moved, much to the shock of many students I know. My brother’s third-year rotations have also been delayed, and the curriculum has unexpectedly changed from the original schedules he and his classmates had.

My fourth-year friends’ Match Days and trips to celebrate with loved ones have been canceled.

This spring, I was going to visit my grandparents …

Read more…

Medical students are living life one day at a time during the pandemic

Here’s why you should get a chaplain for your patient

Education
February 26, 2020

It was my first week of internal medicine rotation. A newly-minted third-year, I was rotating on the wards back in the spring, when I met a 90-something-year-old gentleman. He had come in for confusion after a fall.

There were no relatives or friends in the waiting room.

I was assigned to follow him. During his stay, his words were few; it was often difficult to engage him in conversation. Whenever I pre-rounded, …

Read more…

Here’s why you should get a chaplain for your patient