The Ring On My Hand
This creative piece explores the internal dialogue that a gay patient has with himself when his provider fails to use inclusive language and offers a question that probes disclosure.
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Resident Contributing Writer, Columnist
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Kenneth is beginning his residency at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and recently graduated from the Uniformed Services University. While in medical school he was the architect and original author of a longitudinal, peer-led curriculum aimed to foster conversations about bias, racism, sexism, lgbt discrimination, and inclusion in medicine. His interests include health equity, promoting diversity and inclusion, and health professions education.
Resiliency in Medicine: The Patient Experience
Medical student Micky Akinrodoye reflects on his experiences of being a part of the care team for a complicated patient. With the understanding that every patient has a unique story and life experiences, Micky shares his outlook on the type of physician he would like to become in the future.
You Good?
Read more to find out how three seemingly straightforward words, for medical student Charna Kinard, represented a spectrum of emotions, feelings and connotations in the setting of national news regarding policing and the Black Lives Matter movement and how this has shaped her path towards physicianship.
Smoke
Medical student Jake Bardell poetically epitomizes the art of medicine: navigating the nuances that lie beyond the logical and algorithmic thinking expected of doctors.
Mental Incarceration
Future doctor Chidera Okafor contextualizes her struggles with depression, anxiety and apparent surreality with the world around her, while deftly shining the spotlight again on the often overlooked and unaddressed aspect of a physician’s world: self mental health.
Yellow
Medical student Lindsey Nae Wright discusses the unique and life-altering experience of practicing the physical exam on her dying father. Her experience has turned the happy color yellow into something darker.
Better Than Tomorrow
Medical student Shivani Sundaram underscores the daily struggles and reality faced by those with dementia and memory disorders through a recognizably “normal” conversation.
Hustle and Heart
Medical student Navjot Singh teaches us how to surmount racism with composure, grace, and courage.
A Visceral Experience
Medical student Micaela Mcgregor gives profound advice to other future black doctors who will one day represent only 4% of practicing American physicians.
What Is In a Name?
Medical student Nkiruka Aniagolu explores how understanding someone’s name or title can foster deeper trust with patients and those around us, as our names are ‘pieces of our personal mosaics’ that give glimpses to who we are.
The Difficult Patient
Medical student Allen Betts explores the often underrated effect of psychosocial determinants and the integral part they play in the influencing health and well-being. Read more to find out how he has come to appreciate the soft skills a physician gleans through patient encounters rather than through books.
One Day
Alicia Pugh writes a poem that reflects on how our backgrounds impact the way we view our patients.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
University of Illinois at Chicago
Alicia Pugh is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In her free time, she enjoys creative writing, gardening, and volunteering.