The Unwanted Visitor
Medical student Kayla Schmittau reflects on her experience with a patient with substance use disorder and the importance of patient advocacy.
Words from the Wards
This category contains reflections on student clinical experience.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
Rush Medical College
Kayla Schmittau is a third-year medical student at Rush Medical College in Chicago and is interested in pursuing a career in pediatric oncology! She is from Staten Island, NY and received her Bachelor's degree at Georgetown University. In her free time, she loves consuming and producing art and uses writing as a method by which she processes the various experiences of life and medicine.
The Human Touch
Medical student Rooshi Parikh writes about the power of human connection through a small ritual performed between a physician and a patient.
First Times in Medicine as an Asian American
Medical student Alyssa Guo shares excerpts of her diary with reflections of her first times in medicine as an Asian American.
Mrs. D’s Breathing
Medical student Micky Akinrodoye reflects on the importance of advocating for patients by taking into consideration of a myriad of factors influencing their care.
Prayer in Practice
Medical student Jackson Dean challenges readers to think critically about the variety of forms that prayers come in and the roles they pray at work and in our every day lives.
The Hidden Tools in Medicine
Medical student Lekha Reddy discovers the “hidden tools” that physicians use beyond the scope of lab tests, drugs and consults. She marvels at the power of a new hidden tool — reassurance — during a pediatric emergency room visit.
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.
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.
The Pause
Katherine Panushka asks readers to reflect and acknowledge that our patients’ stories extend beyond their final moments in her poem, “The Pause.”
My Hero
Showing love in times of loss, being a beacon of hope, taking time to spend with family and regaining our humanity are just some of the values medical student writer Karl Heward emphasizes should be reflected in our practice of medicine while demonstrating how personal tragedy courageously inspired him to adopt this mindset.
The I Do’s … and Don’ts of Medicine
Our task in donning roles of professionalism as health care providers comes hand-in-hand with all the aspects of our identity and the tolls that come with it. This is especially significant as the younger generation, consisting of more and more intersectional identities, becomes more commonplace not only in society at large but also in the health care world. However, when this ideal of professionalism is compounded by someone like me — a minority woman colored by a recurrent, pervasive backdrop of objectification for pleasure by Caucasian cultures; a female person of color who feels the need to tread carefully to succeed in a field historically dominated by men — where does it leave us?
Managing Editor
Emory University School of Medicine
Jen is a fourth-year medical student at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2016, she graduated from Emory with a Bachelor of Arts in English concentrated in multi-ethnic contemporary American literature and a minor in Music. Jen is passionate about addressing healthcare disparities, highlighting intersectionality and patient-centered care, narrative medicine, and mentorship/education. Aside from medicine, she also enjoys poetry, piano, tennis, indie concerts, Asian-American media, and spending too much time in coffeeshops. After graduation, she aspires to pursue a career in Internal Medicine.