Samer Bou Karroum is a pediatric resident.

Stopping the cycle of bullying: How empathy and inclusion can change lives

Conditions
May 12, 2023

The most vivid memory of my childhood is of me, a six or seven-year-old boy, crying in the playground corner every day for months. It is so intense that I wonder if that is a product of imagination. However, the same scene, with the blue bench, in the dark right corner of the playground, keeps on playing in my head when I think about those early days of my childhood.

It …

Read more…

Stopping the cycle of bullying: How empathy and inclusion can change lives

We need to accept our failure as doctors

Physician
November 16, 2017

Why do we want to become doctors? What was our main motivation that we have written in our motivation letters and repeated in our interviews? Regardless of the specific incident or the general motivation, it can be all summarized in one sentence: We are here to save lives. After all, this is what the physicians do, isn’t it?

Preventing deaths is actually hinted to by the original Hippocratic Oath, written between …

Read more…

We need to accept our failure as doctors

A medical student struggles to fight negative thoughts

Education
May 12, 2017

As I turn off my laptop after taking notes for two consecutive hours on microcytic anemia and pack my pens and papers, millions of thoughts come to my mind.

Only yesterday, we finished our microbiology exam. Bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi mnemonics are still in my mind, many of which I forgot what they refer to. The microbiology exam finished, and another challenge is on the way.

Everyone faces challenges and bumps …

Read more…

A medical student struggles to fight negative thoughts

A commemoration for the cadavers

Education
January 18, 2017

At the start of the first week of the medical school at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, students get introduced to the anatomy lab, and by the end of the week, the first dissection occurs. Students study muscles, blood vessels, nerves, and other structures on dead bodies they dissect under the instruction of Dr. Abdo Jurjus, the anatomy course coordinator and instructor.

First-year medical students spend around 3 hours a …

Read more…

A commemoration for the cadavers