Top 12 Articles of 2018 on in-Training
We are proud to share with you our top 12 articles of 2018, and look forward to another year of sharing amazing writing by medical students and many others from across the world.
Featured
Editor-in-Chief
Brown University Alpert Medical School
Nihaal Mehta is a member of the Class of 2020 at Brown University Alpert School of Medicine. Originally from Lexington, MA, he also attended Brown for college, graduating in 2014 with a degree in Health and Human Biology and subfocus in Global Health.
Nihaal’s interests lie in medicine and its intersections: with health systems, policy, and the humanities. In college, he worked as a Writing Fellow, a Teaching Assistant for biology and public health courses, and assisted in the design of a course that examines controversies in medicine. Before returning to Brown for medical school, he spent a year working in consulting on health care business, strategy, and policy. He plans to specialize in Ophthalmology, and has conducted research focused on optical coherence tomography and retinal disease.
Lessons from Anatomy Lab
It was not until our second semester of medical school that we started gross anatomy. Finally, I became that quintessential medical student walking home too tired to change out of my formaldehyde-tinged scrubs.
Penumbra
And now here she was, in the family lounge at a hospital waiting to speak to her father’s neurologist. Her dad, Ricky, had collapsed at work — or so she had been told. This was the most she had heard of her father’s life since she moved out of the house.
E-Cigarettes: Trick or Treat?
During and after this spooky holiday, let us, as current and future health care providers, make a joint effort to prevent our youth from becoming nicotine-addicted zombies by warning them of the tobacco industry’s marketing tricks and encouraging them to stay in e-cigarette-free environments.
My First Experience Performing CPR
Overhead, we hear the monotone hospital announcer’s voice through the intercom system: “CODE BLUE. First floor. Short-term cardiac care unit. Room…”
Shimmering Quotes
Medicine is a sacrifice. I knew this upon admittance into medical school. I did not know the sacrifice would be an erosion of my humanity.
My First Code Blue
“Are you okay, sweetie?” asks the intern as we start to ascend. She is completely unconscious, looking into nothingness. I start to feel the adrenaline. “I don’t think she’s okay,” remarks the intern.
It’s Okay
It’s okay to feel in the cadaver lab. It’s what your first patient wanted for you.
Constraints
Time for empathy. / Time for empathy? / Collect a complete psychiatric history. / Plus, medical history with dates of diagnosis and current medications.
On Clinic Time
In medicine, as in medical training, time is the enemy. There is not enough time to talk to patients or study for board exams. There is not enough time to read the latest literature. At the end of the day, there is not enough time to make plans with friends or develop a gym routine that is anything but sporadic.
A Heart
My heart is not a lacy valentine. / It is an anatomic pump / Engineered evolution / Strong walls of long runs
A Thought Above the Level of Plain Narration
Thomas Jefferson has said his piece and this time I won’t attempt to say anything back. This time I won’t stay silent either. This time, I’ll write.
Writer-in-Training
University if California San Francisco
Shakkaura Kemet, MPH, is a member of the Class of 2021 at University of California San Francisco. She completed her Bachelor’s degree at Harvard University in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology with a minor in African American Studies in 2015. She then went on to complete a Master's of Public Health at Yale University where she focused on social determinants of health, with a particular focus on women's health. She is currently a second year medical student at UCSF School of Medicine where she is co-president of SNMA, teaches a course to first- and second-year medical students about integrating advocacy work into one's medical career, and helps to design and implement quality improvement projects with the OB/Gyn healthcare providers at San Francisco General Hospital targeted at closing health care disparities in maternal care. Her areas of interest for research and practice include women's health, maternal health, health disparities by race and socioeconomic status, and medical education.