The Forgotten Patient
Elise Kao MS3 encounters a struggling addiction patient in the Emergency Department who reinforces their determination to pursue psychiatry and advocate for forgotten patients.
Mental Health and Wellness
This category contains reflections on how students maintain their mental health in school and deal with the stress of burnout.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville
Elise is a fourth-year medical student at the University of South Carolina Greenville. She enjoys her many house plants and dog Lily. In her spare time, she loves to read fantasy fiction, practice hot yoga, and go on outdoor adventures.
The Blessing, The Grocery Store
Medical student Sabrina Lazar discovers a local MENA-owned grocery store that offers not only essential ingredients but also a sense of community.
Another Chronic Painer
Dr. Ervin Anies introduces a reverse poem to help delve into the multifactorial and complicated picture that is treating chronic pain. His poem reflects the struggles and triumphs a provider can encounter while dealing with chronic pain patients.
Transitions
Dr. Ervin Anies reflects on the highs and lows of the transitional intern year with a series of poignant cinquains.
The American Muslim Medical Student Association: Intersecting Faith and Medicine to Build Spirituality, Community and Representation
Medical student leaders reflect on the intersectionality of faith and medicine.
I Am Here and Alive
Dr. Ervin Anies explores the struggles and emotional turmoil of medical training, ultimately finding acceptance and self-worth.
Orders, Consults, Notes
Intern Ervin Anies assesses the expectation versus the reality of the responsibilities medical students and residents are expected to manage.
Do Not Strike Out: A Patient’s Story About Accessing Mental Health Care
Third-year medical student Thomas Gagliardi reflects on the socioeconomic barriers to accessing health care, cultural competency and mental health.
Yearning for Yesterday
Shivani Sundaram, a third-year medical student, explores the need for humanity and patience in the face of algorithms and checkboxes.
The Medical Student Behind the Mask
Rachel Lawson describes her challenging experiences during her first year of medical school at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and how her experience was profoundly impacted by a vaccination clinic.
One Act Can Impact a Lifetime
Medical student Ta’Nae Harrod reflects on working with a young patient regarding her dietary and mental wellness needs.
The Ward as Medicine
The Ward as Medicine is about how one’s fellow patients on the psychiatry ward can act as mirrors, teachers and inspirations to a patient. Specifically, it is about a mom who, hospitalized for suicidality stemming from her guilt and anger over how she has mothered her children, gets reconnected with the identity of motherhood while interacting with others on the unit.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
David Geffen SOM at UCLA
Nicole is a fourth-year medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering. She is applying to psychiatry with the intention of pursuing a child and adolescent fellowship. In her free time, she enjoys playing tricks on her cat.