An Unanticipated Learning Issue
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.
Words from the Wards
This category contains reflections on student clinical experience.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
McGovern Medical School
Emma is a third-year medical student at McGovern Medical School in Houston, TX who is passionate about exploring the inherent intersection between the humanities and medicine, and is excited to apply these principles to her future career as an ophthalmologist. Other interests of hers include distance running, piano, live music, any and all activities involving the outdoors, and quality time spent with loved ones.
The Short White Coat: A Doorway into Another’s Vulnerability
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
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.
An Understanding
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.
Learning Confidence
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.
Feeling
Max Hawkins, a second-year resident, reflects on his medical education journey, the process of consent and the importance of trusting that “gut feeling.”
The Year of COVID-19 in a Body Bag
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.
Sacred in the Everyday
Tim Niyogusaba, a third-year medical student, meditates on his fulfilling yet fatiguing experiences during clinical rotations.
I am the Face of Medicine—Representation of Color: A Narrative Reflection
Dr. Erin Saner reflects on the importance of underrepresented minorities and representation in clinical care and education.
From Provider to Patient: My Journey as a Medical Student with a Chronic Health Condition
Medical student Tom McNally reflects on the patient-provider relationship based on his experience managing his own chronic illness.
With Words, A Playlist: Finding a Way Back
Ana Jimenez, a fourth-year medical student, describes her encounter with Micah, a coffee-making, DJ-ing, emergency medicine resident.
The Blues of Code Blue
“Code blue!” They teach it as an algorithm and a protocol. But what you are not taught are the emotions attached to a code. I had just finished a cholecystectomy case on my surgery rotation and was walking by the medical intensive care unit when I heard “rapid response team, coronary care unit (CCU).” Since the CCU was not far and I am interested in emergency and critical care medicine, I decided to go to …
Resident Physician Contributing Writer
Cleveland Clinic Akron General Medical Center
Negin is an emergency medicine resident physician currently training at Cleveland Clinic Akron General Medical Center. In 2017, she graduated from the University of San Francisco with a Bachelor of Science in biology. She then graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Master of Science in biotechnology. Negin completed her Doctor of Medicine degree from Northeast Ohio Medical University in 2023. She enjoys playing with her dog and two cats, traveling, playing music, and reading in her free time. After finishing her residency, Negin would like to pursue a fellowship. Her interests are currently prehospital, wilderness, and global health medicine.