How many of our conflicts could be handled better or averted if we had the opportunity to spend some time in the shoes of the person on “the other side”? When we experience a situation through another’s eyes, and when we understand their work and world, true empathy, understanding and trust can emerge.
This is certainly true in our hospitals, where the frenzy of patient care activities involves multiple roles — …
Recently, my friend “Tim” told me that he no longer wished to become a doctor. He had already taken the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) and all his premedical course requirements. But a summer shadowing physicians whom he described as “always unhappy” convinced him to cut his losses.
“I worked hard the last three years,” he explained to me. “But I don’t want to be miserable forever.”
“I don’t need meds,” the young psychology major told me confidently. “Or therapy really. Maybe I’ll just touch base with you every once in a while. I should be able to handle this on my own.” The young woman’s physician had been concerned enough in a recent visit about this patient’s panic attacks and passive suicidal ideation to refer her to meet with me for a primary care psychology consultation. …
We all go through it. We all have regrets in life. They simply become painful, unescapable daydreams of “what could have been” if only I had only … I often remind young college freshmen who have finally gotten a taste of freedom stepping out of their parent’s home, that what they choose to do in the next 4 years just may dictate the rest of their lives.
When I first applied for medical school, I beamed about exploring not just the science of medicine, but also the art. But what is that art? Some would say it’s clinical experience, combined with being cultured and compassionate and communicating with clarity/conviction. But how would one teach that art?
Journal Watch’s Dr. Allan Brett recently reviewed a multicenter U.S. study following ~300 metastatic cancer patients who had failed initial chemotherapy. The study showed …
I’m supposed to speak at the body donor memorial in September. I told the organizers my speech was written. “Don’t worry,” I assured them. “I have it all in my head, just need to get it down on paper. I’m a writer; it’s my process.” But the truth is that I am struggling with what to say. I’ve tried to write it, but I just end up drinking a pot …
My idealism has been stolen. No other way to express how I feel just days past my third anniversary from graduating from fellowship. Post college, I spent thirteen additional years in training to become the specialist physician I am. I am reminded now of my Facebook post stating I was about to start my first “real job” with a picture of the beautifully lit signs at night of the university …
I collapsed onto the rickety cot in the hospital on-call room. It was 3 a.m. Over the last twenty hours, fueled only by coffee and occasional bites to eat, I had done morning rounds on my patients, assisted with appendix and gall bladder surgeries, inserted and pulled tubes into and out of bodies, cut open a large intestine filled with feces, took patient histories in clinic, attended afternoon teaching, and …
For two years, I served as a representative to my medical school’s student affairs committee. My job was to convey medical student concerns and problems. As part of that role, I had a lot of time to think about how and why many medical students experience depression and stress. Two recent articles have led me to write about the issue now: “10 simple solutions to stop medical student suicide,” …
From every direction, the practice of medicine in the U.S. is under attack. If one were to believe the headlines, the American health care system is populated by insensitive, selfie-shooting, Medicare/Medicaid-cheating, inefficient, and ineffective physicians grappling with an over-regulating government, predatory insurance companies more concerned about profits than the health of their customers, and a legal system that more often confuses a bad medical outcome with actual malpractice. Morale in …
As a medical student having completed my undergraduate major in the humanities, I often receive the question, “Why did you choose to do that?” The underlying thought behind asking why I would choose a major in the humanities while holding the intention to later attend medical school is that medicine is especially distinct from the humanities (and specifically African-American studies in my case). The sciences are just a whole other …
Medical school graduation: Time to celebrate our brand new doctors!
Except for the families who can’t celebrate their child’s graduation. Or their child’s marriage. Or their child’s birthday — ever again.
Like Michele and John Dietl.
They lost their son, Kevin (pictured above), just weeks before graduation. Now they cling to online condolences and family photos. And to the never-ending question: Why?
“Sometimes a simple, almost insignificant gesture on the part of a teacher can have a profound formative effect on the life of a student.”
– Paulo Freire
Think back to a moment when a teacher or “authority” figure gave you a compliment. We all have them, from kindergarten to high school to college and sometimes graduate school and work. The reason why many of you can recall such moments is that unlike …
As my third year of clinical rotations comes to an end, I’ve been reflecting on the ways in which I use my training as an anthropologist on the wards. One patient comes to mind, a recent immigrant from South Asia who came into the hospital after an accident where he was bicycling and got hit by a car. He was scanned from …
The number of African-American physicians in academic medicine is dismal, and this leads to an abundance of problems. Academic hospitals (teaching hospitals associated with universities) generally do not have a proportionate representation of underrepresented minority faculty as compared to the surrounding population. According to a U.S. News & World Report article, the number of African-American faculty increased by 0.2 percent in ten …
As a multi-racial and ethnically ambiguous American, 90 percent of the time I walk into a patient’s room or show up to help run a clinic I’m asked if I’m a nurse or a translator. Most of my patients simply do not perceive someone who looks like me to be a doctor. This may be because the majority of doctors at …
We must be “brave, brave, brave,” as we exhaust and challenge ourselves to reconcile the disparities that exist in our country. These words, delivered by keynote speaker Bryan Stevenson at the 2013 Teaching and Leadership Development Summit, inspire me as I continue on my mission to help break down barriers that give rise to health challenges in our nation. Towards this end, I strongly believe we need to build a …
Your First Patient: The opportunity to dissect a human body is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The cadaver that you will use for dissection was donated by a person who wished to make a contribution to your education as a physician. It is not possible to put into words the emotions experienced by that individual as he or she made …
Over the years, applicants whom I’ve interviewed for positions in the first-year medical student class at Georgetown have often asked how our school’s mission statement influences the educational experiences and clinical services we provide:
Guided by the Jesuit tradition of Cura Personalis, care of the whole person, Georgetown University School of Medicine will educate a diverse student body, in an integrated way, to become knowledgeable, ethical, skillful, and compassionate physicians and …
