“What does it mean when there are two pink lines?”
Her voice is hesitant, eyes searching to find mine across the counter. She knows what it means. I know what it means. I turn to the test to confirm and slowly put on a mask.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, my brother-in-law took to calling her “Miracle” because, despite none of us having any particular tie to organized religion, that’s …
The story of keeping my daughter safe
Several months into the pandemic, I received a call from a troubled resident. She had been pulled from her inpatient rotations and was working remotely from home with her husband and one-year-old child. Shortly into our conversation, she confessed the guilt she was feeling at not enjoying the enhanced alone time she now had with her baby. She was instead mostly anxious about the learning experiences she was missing, and …
It is time to acknowledge the caretaking abilities of men
I feet truly honored to have been asked to speak at your graduation and to have a chance to share on this day with all of you. We are experiencing a truly singular moment, and I imagine you are hoping that I might say something that would be comforting or inspiring, and I really can’t think what that could possibly be.
For the last half of your third year of residency, …
A graduation speech to a residency class
The narrative that paints health care workers as “heroes” makes me uncomfortable. I may not have a right to an opinion as I am third-string back up not currently working in an overwhelmed ER or ICU. I also feel uneasy about the sea of gratitude and cheers of support, though I know they are uplifting to the people on the receiving end.
Yet, while watching these stories of appreciation, resilience, and …
Stop calling health care workers heroes and do something to help them
About 15 years ago, I spent a few weeks at a small community hospital in Zambia, helping to staff the primary care clinic and attend some of the rounds on the small inpatient units there. The inpatient pediatrics unit was full of young children suffering from malaria or measles, often both. One particularly stark evening, a young couple walked in with an infant wrapped in a scarf carried softly on …
Words of courage for medical students and residents
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