Nurse Contributing Writer
Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
Taylor Selby is a third year medical student at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. In her free time, she enjoys tennis, painting, and spending time with her family, friends, and puppies.
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.
Melinda Staub reflects on surgery as a both violence and healing, delving on medicine’s intricate ethical and practical landscape. Through an acrylic painting, she demonstrates her reflections on this topic.
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.
Rachel Lawson describes her challenging experiences during her first year of medical school at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and how her experience was profoundly impacted by a vaccination clinic.
Medical student Saud Rehman has written a collection of poems focusing on the lockdown of March 2020 with artwork to give a visual representation of how he felt. Often times the manifestations of moods unrelated to coursework go overlooked, especially in medicine, and Saud hopes that these provide a representation of the humanity behind students going through difficult times.
Entering the field of medicine can be daunting, especially if you are the first physician in the family. Current intern Dr. Ervin Anies discusses the emotions associated with assimilating into the culture of medicine and how we as providers can use our diversity to foster better relationships between providers and our patients.
Analisa Narro, a third-year medical student, wrestles with the academic uncertainty surrounding a pass/fail Step 1 exam and discovers freedom.
Medical student Alyssa Guo shares excerpts of her diary with reflections of her first times in medicine as an Asian American.
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.
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.
Medical Student Contributor
University of Missouri-Kansas City
MS4 | Aspiring Child Psychiatrist | Social Justice | Mentorship | St. Louis baby
