This category contains reflections on how students maintain their mental health in school and deal with the stress of burnout.
Jake Taylor is a fourth-year medical student at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah pursuing a career in general surgery. His clinical and scholarly interests include rural and global surgery, trauma care, health equity, and medical education. Through poetry and medical humanities, he explores vulnerability, stigma, and the role of compassion in caring for patients experiencing serious illness.
In clinic halls where silence drapes the walls, She wanders close, a breath both light and frail. With child she walks, though scarce she eats at all, And hunger’s specter shades her skin so pale. The charts recount her weary, whispered fears, Of weight, of size, the mirrors’ harsh replies; Her hollow eyes reflect the haunted years Where famine looms and reason slowly dies. Once, madness wore a coarser robe of shame, Labeled …
Because medicine reflects the commonality of human struggles, healthcare workers can see parallels between their patients’ lives and their own. This piece speaks to the impact that witnessing tough patient encounters can have on healthcare workers.
Taylor Selby wrote this poem while trying to manage her time between studying for boards and her grandmas birthday party. To her, it means prioritizing her relationships and mental health while still working towards the goal to be an intelligent and caring doctor.
Elise Kao MS3 encounters a struggling addiction patient in the Emergency Department who reinforces their determination to pursue psychiatry and advocate for forgotten patients.
Medical student Sabrina Lazar discovers a local MENA-owned grocery store that offers not only essential ingredients but also a sense of community.
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.
Dr. Ervin Anies reflects on the highs and lows of the transitional intern year with a series of poignant cinquains.
Medical student leaders reflect on the intersectionality of faith and medicine.
Dr. Ervin Anies explores the struggles and emotional turmoil of medical training, ultimately finding acceptance and self-worth.
Intern Ervin Anies assesses the expectation versus the reality of the responsibilities medical students and residents are expected to manage.
Third-year medical student Thomas Gagliardi reflects on the socioeconomic barriers to accessing health care, cultural competency and mental health.
Shivani Sundaram, a third-year medical student, explores the need for humanity and patience in the face of algorithms and checkboxes.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California
Shivani a first year medical student at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. Because she is indisputably passionate about literature and music, she is currently considering Neurology as a specialty. She believes the brain provides a tangible link between the humanities and medicine, and hopes that studying its complexities will enable her to teach people the interlinks between the environment and the self.
