This category contains reflections on student clinical experience.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
Albany Medical College
Medha has a deep-rooted passion for aiding the underserved, especially the migrant and refugee community. As a future physician, she hopes to use her skills to provide equitable healthcare to those in need.
Medha Palnati describes an encounter she had with a patient who she met at the Backstretch Clinic – a clinic that serves the undocumented workers that care for the horses at the Race Track – as he was having a myocardial infarction. This encounter highlights the conversation Medha had with this patient while waiting for the ambulance to transport him to the hospital, and the solace that they found in each other in that moment.
Medical student Varesh Gorabi is reminded of the importance of empathy during a seemingly routine clinic visit.
Intern Ervin Anies assesses the expectation versus the reality of the responsibilities medical students and residents are expected to manage.
Emma Stenz’s first time witnessing a patient’s death helped her realize the role of a physician in maintaining emotional composure and acting with nonmaleficence towards the patient, both in life and in death.
Medical student Analisa Narro pounders on the power and responsibility she has to patients when she dons on her white coat.
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 MacKenzie Adams reflects on her experience with a patient who received news that he was dying via an interpreter. She addresses the importance of improving care for non-English speakers.
Dr. Max Hawkins reflects on the expectation of medical students on the wards and the racial bias implicit in the operations tested on certain patients.
Max Hawkins, a second-year resident, reflects on his medical education journey, the process of consent and the importance of trusting that “gut feeling.”
An ICU nurse turned medical student reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic’s severe and lasting impact on health care workers and the acute shift to the new normal of expectations in the inpatient setting.
Tim Niyogusaba, a third-year medical student, meditates on his fulfilling yet fatiguing experiences during clinical rotations.
Dr. Erin Saner reflects on the importance of underrepresented minorities and representation in clinical care and education.
Physician Contributing Writer
Faculty Physician of Family & Community Medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine
Dr. Saner completed undergraduate, medical school, residency and fellowship training through Wake Forest University and School of Medicine. Her primary focus is Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Education with special interests in DEI, obesity medicine, and complementary and integrative medicine.
