From the Wards

Nicole Perkes Nicole Perkes (3 Posts)

Contributing Writer Emeritus

University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine

Nicole is a Class of 2015 medical student at the University of British Columbia, Canada, who enjoys the unique perspective her bachelor's of tourism management provides her in medicine.




Reflections of a Long, Long Longitudinal Clerkship

Published by Nicole Perkes

Once upon a time, in a rural hospital far, far away, a med student began her clerkship. At the University of British Columbia, the Integrated Community Clerkship (ICC) provides an opportunity to spend the first clinical year of medical school in a hospital in rural British Columbia rather than a large academic center. The intent is to provide hands-on education and to encourage physicians to one day return to serve a rural community. Applying to the ICC was …

Code Blue: See One, Do One

Published by Erin Baumgartner

I had experienced codes before. Prior to entering medical school, I had worked as an emergency room scribe, charting patient encounters as they unfolded. I considered myself familiar with a code’s whirlwind of action, always one step away from the true pandemonium. After all, I had stood on its borders, plucking shouted orders and silent actions from the maelstrom, weaving them into a coherent, documented clinical picture. Naïve, and all too eager to count at …

Stars, Dollar Bills, and Other Essentials

Published by Morgan Shier, MD

Ms. Miller is a fading star. At first glance, I begin painting an elaborate picture in my head of Ms. Miller in her brilliant shining glory. Young. Stubborn. Beautiful. Loved. I have no way of knowing if these things are true, but in my head I must believe them because it’s just way too sad to accept the truth. Old. Inert. Defeated. Wrinkled. Alone. Ms. Miller was brought to the ER from her nursing home …

The First Twelve Hours

Published by Morgan Shier, MD

It is the end of the day. I know this not because I can see the color of the sky, but because the hands of the clock tell me so. My shins ache. My eyelids droop. From an unknown place above, I watch myself join a whirlpool of patients circling the nurses’ desk. I watch as my last my last drop of energy slips out of my body and down the drain. I wonder, “Is …

Eyes: A Reflection from the First Month of Clerkships

Published by Sanjay Salgado

In 1984, in the midst of fleeing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a young girl agreed to pose for a photo. In her short life, she had survived the carpet bombings that claimed the lives of her parents, trekked through mountains to escape her war-torn home, and struggled to adjust to life amongst a sea of other refugees — but she had never been photographed. Restricted by her religion from smiling at a male photographer, …

No Words

Published by Lindsay Boyers

She had not been home in at least three days. She sat motionless, shoulders slumped, arms draped limply over her lap. I couldn’t tell if she had nodded off. The wrinkles of her clothes seemed to blend into the lines of her face, stuck in a soft, yet permanent frown. The red of her blouse appeared faint against her pallid skin, as if exhaustion had sapped everything it could from her being, and had moved …

The Importance of Family

Published by Manasa Mouli

The wonderfully cheery 66-year-old woman sitting in the conference room with her family listened to us explain her diagnosis – ovarian cancer – the first occurrence. We explained that ovarian cancer tends to appear suddenly with non-specific symptoms preceding it. Its prognosis can be quite good if treated aggressively with surgery and chemotherapy, but recurrence rates are very high. We told her to be positive because her 5-year survival looked quite good. “Oh, I’m a …

How to Find the Strength to Keep Going: Words of Advice from a Third-Year

Published by Jarna Shah

It’s 4 a.m., and I’m sitting in the student call room eating dinner during a particularly busy night. A burrito has never tasted this good. Here’s the truth: medical school isn’t glamorous. More often than not, it involves long hours and late nights. There will be days where you come home and fall asleep before eating dinner. There will be 10-hour surgical cases with no bathroom breaks and mornings where rounds take five hours. You will …

“Are There any Physicians on Board, We Have a Medical Emergency”

Published by Manik Aggarwal

“Dr. Aggarwal, should we divert the plane towards Salt Lake City? Dr. AGGARWAL, Dr. Aggarwal, do you want to land in Salt Lake City?” Until this point, it was always “Manik,” and it was a basic question. If I was right, my intern or resident would be enthused with my knowledge; if I was wrong, they would teach and likely talk me up to regain my confidence. Well, that was last month. This month, it’s …

A Letter to Third-Year Medical Students

Published by Emilee Sandsmark

Dear freshly-crowned MS3s, Congratulations on making it to the best part of medical school! I hope that it has finally sunk in that classes and labs are over, and most importantly, you are on the other side of Step 1. It is finally time to take all of the facts that you learned from a textbook and apply them to a real-life person. It is the moment we all wait for and the reason we …

Match Day Spotlight 2014: Internal Medicine, Take Three

Published by Christopher Deans

Recent fourth-year matcher Ben Monson of University of Nebraska Medical Center graces us with his wise words on finding success and happiness in medical school and beyond. 1. Tell us about yourself: Where are you from? What is your undergraduate degree and where did you receive it? Did you do anything between undergraduate and medical school?  Ben Monson: My name is Ben Monson and I’m from Papillion, Nebraska.  I completed my undergraduate education at Iowa State …

What I Wasn’t Meant To Do in Medical School

Published by Farah Khan

Medical school has been weird. I learned things about myself that I didn’t like and I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by things that I thought I would never like. As a fourth-year student, your focus and energy are consumed with thoughts revolving around future residency: the labor intensive training that follows four long years of medical school. What no one tells you is that you will question your commitment to medicine on more than one …

Farah Khan Farah Khan (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer Emeritus

Ross University School of Medicine

I'm a Class of 2014 medical student at Ross University School of Medicine and matched into a pediatric residency at Inova Children's Hospital in Fairfax, VA. I debated between surgery and pediatrics as a career choice, which sounds really odd to most people, but both choices made the most sense to me. I love reading and cooking -- especially when I get to try new recipes and I'm a huge football fan. Go Skins!