Routine Office Visit
“I have good news for you,” my resident exclaimed as she walked into the exam room. She was holding the patient’s most recent vitals handed to her by a nurse practitioner.
Tag: doctor-patient relationship
Contributing Writer
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Bo is a third-year medical student at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Hanover, NH. In 2018, Bo graduated from Dartmouth with a Bachelor's degree in psychology, then pursued a Master's in global health at UCSF. Bo enjoys reading, running, and hiking in her free time. In the future, Bo would like to pursue primary care and advocate for health and well-being of the geriatric population.
A Case of Alzheimer’s: A Reflection on Cognition, Will and Self-Improvement
My first patient with Alzheimer’s, Sheryll, led me on a journey of questions and self-growth which I had never expected. Until meeting her, I hadn’t thought extensively about how our biology may dictate cognition and free will. While my thoughts on the matter continue to develop as I broaden my clinical experience, these considerations continue to frame my understanding of my patients, myself and the world around me.
Not Your Average Orange Soda: A Sip of Compassion
It was obvious that something was off. His mood was not what I would expect from a patient who had received a transplant, which for many patients represents a second chance at normalcy and freedom from the restrictions of dialysis. As we started our trek out of the SICU, my attending continued to tell me Mr. W’s story.
From Child Interpreter to Student Physician
I learned English out of necessity — not only for myself but also for my family. I grew up in Mexico and moved to a small Northern California town at the age of eight. When we moved to the United States, I was placed in an English-speaking classroom with no one who spoke Spanish. Necessity forced me to learn English quickly and, as a result, I became my family’s unofficial interpreter, including at their medical appointments. It was the necessity that forced me to learn how to fill out official paperwork in English, how to navigate social services after my sister was diagnosed with autism and how to speak with physicians and nurses.
Medical (Student) Metamorphosis
Before starting medical school, buried in a list of to-do tasks, I was asked to submit my Meyers-Briggs personality inventory. I was no stranger to this string of four letters, as I had performed the assessment many times in my life. I didn’t need to take the test again to know what I would get: INFJ.
Humanism and Living at the Edge of Wonder with Dr. Wes Ely
Dr. Ely’s research has focused on improving the care and outcomes of critically ill patients with ICU-acquired brain disease. His team developed the primary tool by which delirium is measured in ICU-based trials and clinically at the bedside in ICUs worldwide.
The Silent Tears
In the Pediatric ICU, a call was received from another hospital to give sign out for a patient already en route. The child being transferred had experienced a traumatic brain injury. The child was intubated after receiving every sort of therapeutic management imaginable in a desperate attempt to salvage any remaining brain function, but the prognosis was dire.
Patient Advocate
“Abuse is of use.” / That is what we tell ourselves. / That it makes us stronger.
OBGYN Introductions
I heard about the blood / that you described as a flood, / and the terrible stomach pain
Self-Reflection: Defining Resilience in the Elderly
With a growing interest in geriatrics, I began to wonder what resilience looks like for elderly patients, who unlike children, present their life trajectories to physicians much later. This is perhaps challenging and even uncomfortable to discuss for those who perceive resilience as a long-term goal — overcoming significant barriers in order to improve over time. Resilience may not seem as relevant for elderly patients who may be nearing the end of their lives.
The Interview as an Invitation
Freud supposedly understood himself as a surgeon of the mind, dissecting his patients’ mental anatomy through the process of psychoanalysis. I found this comparison appealing, so when I started the psychiatry clerkship in my third year of medical school, I approached the interview in psychiatry as analogous to a surgical procedure — efficient, scripted, precise.
To My First Patient Who Passed
Yours is the name I carry on / You were the first I mourned when gone
Contributing Writer
Stanford University School of Medicine
Brian Smith is a first-year medical student at the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California, a member of the starting class of 2021. In 2019 he graduated from Stanford with a Bachelor of Science in biology and a minor in English, and in 2020 he graduated from Stanford with a Master of Science in biology. He enjoys writing poetry and narrative medicine, as well as running and reading in his free time. In the future, Brian would like to pursue a career in anesthesiology or oncology.