Emily S. Hagen is an internal medicine resident.

From darkness to empathy: How one ICU patient transformed my perspective

Physician
October 24, 2024

My first ICU rotation of intern year was filled with great darkness. It was dark outside as I walked from my car into the hospital each morning before sunrise, and it was again dark when I walked to my car at the end of the day. Less than one hour into my first day in the ICU, a patient’s weak and ineffectual heart stopped beating, and CPR was swiftly initiated. …

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From darkness to empathy: How one ICU patient transformed my perspective

A chance encounter in Chicago: lessons in compassionate medicine

Medical Education
September 10, 2023

It was a frigid January night in Chicago. My whole body felt cold as flurries of snow landed on my clothes, prompting me to quickly enter the restaurant to find my friend.

The dinner began to unfold how I had imagined. My friend, a fellow medical student, and I eagerly chatted about our life updates. I shared stories from my days in the hospital, and she described the progress of her …

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A chance encounter in Chicago: lessons in compassionate medicine

Families come in various forms

Medical Education
October 8, 2022

I was nervous, but I knew what I needed to do. I reminded myself that I would have regrets if I did not initiate the conversation I envisioned in the proceeding days. After a resident with whom I worked closely on my family medicine rotation gave me feedback on my performance, I asked if it would be OK to give him some feedback. He willingly agreed. After telling him how …

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Families come in various forms

Simultaneously being a medical student and patient

Medical Education
April 4, 2022

During my pathology rotation as a third-year medical student, I had the opportunity to examine many patients’ slides under the microscope. This allowed me to study and understand diseases in ways different from how I had often done during my previous rotations. I appreciated the various architectural patterns of cells, blood vessels, and tissues strewn across slides as I directed the microscope into focus. I often thought about how these …

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Simultaneously being a medical student and patient

I challenge you to discuss death

Medical Education
July 30, 2020

My medical school’s secondary application, like that of many other medical schools, asked me to describe a personal or professional challenge or conflict and to explain how I worked to resolve it. However, unlike other medical schools, my school specified that they did not want to hear about the MCAT or another academic challenge.

For this question, I wrote about a challenge that I have been facing for most of my …

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I challenge you to discuss death