Preclinical

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.




Barriers to Mindfulness in Med School

Published by Nicole Perkes

The life of a medical student is a rapid succession of lectures, small group sessions, exams, clinical experiences, workshops, meetings, eat, sleep, rinse and repeat. As such, there has never been a more perfect time to stop and smell the roses. Seriously. As described in the blossoming literature, mindfulness techniques quite literally offer the opportunity to stop, breath, and take in the present moment -– roses, exams and all. Mindfulness is the nonjudgmental observation and …

More Than a Number: The Patient’s Story

Published by Peter Wingfield

Though I am currently a second year student at University of Vermont, I actually started medical school back in the ’80s in an ancient and venerable school in England, granted the royal seal by Henry VIII. Even just twenty-five or so years ago, the nurses still wore uniforms not significantly different from that worn by Florence Nightingale herself, and they kept their heads bowed and eyes demurely averted on ward rounds. I remember that there …

Medical Cameos: Looper

Published by Patrick McCabe

Author’s note: Mild spoilers ensue. “Call the doc.” Jeff Daniels, as a crime boss named Abe, utters the only explicit reference to a health care professional in director Rian Johnson’s film Looper, in which medicine plays a tiny but indelibly disgusting role. For the central conceit, criminal organizations in the future send captives back in time where hitmen called “loopers” shoot and kill them. The loopers live in a time period where there is no …

Defining Mindfulness in Med School

Published by Nicole Perkes

Listen carefully and you may hear the whispers that mindfulness is becoming yet another buzzword in medicine, following in the steps of “cultural competency,” “narrative medicine,” and the like. It is trendy among its niche and it is being compelled into the curriculum of med schools across Canada and the United States in the hopes of creating a generation of physicians who haven’t burnt out by their ten-year reunions. Yeah, I’ve heard of mindfulness, but what is it, really? …

Does My ASIS Look Big in This White Coat?

Published by Kevin Fairbairn

Over the course of our Nutrition, Growth & Development block, I thought it might be a good idea to start looking into what I’ve been putting into my body on a daily basis during medical school. As a result, I settled on using the My Fitness Pal app as a diet tracker (this is by no means a product endorsement — I have not received funding nor do I have any conflicts of interests, aside from the …

Secrets

Published by Bianca Maria Benitez

Author’s note: This is a fictional account based on true facts.  Ten years ago D. came to New York from war-torn Congo. I know nothing about how she navigated the international bureaucracy to get asylum and how she then moved here, alone and sick and not knowing much English. I know that in her past she was “a businesswoman” and traveled all over Africa buying and selling things. She even went to South Africa, she …

Diversity, and Rhinos

Published by Bianca Maria Benitez

“Últimamente me he sentido muy cansado,” starts explaining Genaro. He has been feeling tired, but also weak, and unable to concentrate on things. Since he arrived in Providence a couple of years ago from the highlands of Guatemala, he has been doing hard work — manual labor like construction and carpeting, working long hours for little pay. “Se me olvidan las cosas,” he continues. He has been forgetful, and has had trouble holding on to …

A Personal Oath

Published by Rachel Pian

What a surreal feeling it was, to slip my hands — the same hands that pulled me across the floor as a baby, plucked worms from the ground as a mud-covered kid, collected E. coli-infested water samples throughout high school, flipped through MCAT study guides for an infinitesimal amount of time during college — into the sleeves of my white coat. They were the same hands, yes, but as they slid through those starchy sleeves, …

A Place to Call Home

Published by Katie Rodenbeck

Those who consider the nomadic way of life abandoned centuries in the past have not had the experience so frequently endured by the current generation of college students, recent graduates, and graduate school prospectives.  The months prior to the first day of the M1 curriculum are a unique period of stress and anticipation, but adding fury to this already volatile mixture of emotions is the packing, unpacking, and re-organizing of multiple college apartments and the …

Katie Rodenbeck Katie Rodenbeck (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer Emeritus

Georgetown University School of Medicine

Katie Rodenbeck is a recent graduate from the School of Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. During her undergraduate career, she was an active member of the American Medical Student Association, a volunteer at Carle Foundation Hospital, and coordinator of the peer advising program in the School of Integrative Biology. Taking advantage of travel opportunities as an undergrad, Katie has visited countries including South Africa, France, and Turkey. As a participant in Global Medical Brigades, she has visited Honduras on two occasions, working with fellow students and volunteer physicians to set up free medical and dental clinics, serving those who otherwise have little to no access to health care. Her plans now include attending medical school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she is excited to become involved with health care justice and advocacy for the underserved population.