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.
Tag: student perspective
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.
PSA: Tokenism is not Diversity
In this piece, Afua Ofori-Darko discusses how medical education has focused on tokenism on a way to achieve diversity. Specifically, Afua discusses her journey as the token Black girl and how tokenism harms URiM students and the institutions they belong to.
Fight for Freedom
Having been born and raised in Iran, Negin Khosravi has experienced horrors that are untold. As ongoing protests happen in Iran and as an aspiring physician leader, Negin hopes to shed some light on what is happening and advocate for people. It is time for racism, discrimination and lack of freedom to end.
The Medical Student Behind the Mask
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.
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.
Changes
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.
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.
The Blue Collar Underneath
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.
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.
Ama
Medical student Atisa Paudel reflects on the impact of her immigrant background on her medical education.
The Unwanted Visitor
Medical student Kayla Schmittau reflects on her experience with a patient with substance use disorder and the importance of patient advocacy.
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.