Contributing Writer Emeritus
University of Texas Medical Branch
Amara Uzoma-Uzo is a Class of 2015 medical student at the University of Texas Medical Branch. She is a Nigerian-American and is proud and privileged to call both Nigeria and the United States home. She enjoys poetry, spoken word, reading, writing, fashion, dancing, singing, tutoring kids and spending time with family and friends. She is happy to be a member of the in-Training community.
“This can be a depressing specialty at times; we laugh to stay sane,” my attending explained as I stared in dismay at the cackling residents and faculty after one of them made a rude comment about their patient. This was the first day of my rotation on this service and I was very disappointed. Still brimming with the ideals of professionalism taught in the first two years of medical school, the scenario I witnessed seemed …
Doing a sub-internship in the ICU is, well, intense. On the first day, I was completely overwhelmed by seeing so many sick patients, most of whom were sedated, ventilated, and on at least one pressor. In just a few weeks, this came to seem perfectly normal. However, what continued to stir me were the extreme emotions I saw patients and their families experiencing. I couldn’t help but feel those emotions myself. The most difficult day—thankfully …
Of all the sounds I expected to hear as I pushed open the thick door of Examination Room 3, the anguished sobs stopped me in my tracks. Wide-eyed and mouth agape, I stared. Agonizingly long seconds passed. “Hello, my name is Jimmy…” My mouth instinctively prattled the standard script I had practiced for the last two years. The woman looked up. Behind a mess of straw-colored hair, her red swollen eyes met mine. Dark streaks …
How can doctors-in-training bring mindfulness into medical practice? Morgan, who is currently exploring healing around the world while applying for family medicine residencies, shares how her experiences at a Zen meditation center inspired her desire to be more present with her patients.
How can doctors-in-training face the fears and failures they may experience in medical school? Nicole, a medical student taking time off after a difficult first year, candidly describes how the roadblocks she confronted were “blessings in disguise.”
Sunday, 8 p.m. What started as valiant efforts of creating new recipes turned out to be embarrassing failures in judgment and common sense. Initially, I thought mixing tofu, some greens and pasta would turn out to be an Asian delicacy, maybe something that I could proudly share with friends and family. But, after adding one spice to another, topping sauce over sauce, I realized that it was over. It was time to call it an …
May – Bright-eyed and fresh from the books, I start my first rotation on internal medicine. I stay at the hospital until 11 p.m. to get a good history of my first patient. It is three pages long. I come in on weekends to practice writing notes. I find out that a patient is witness to child abuse and file a mandatory report. I pat myself on the back. My intern pats me on the …
I met a resident who advocated that all medical students should become patients and have the same procedures that they order for their patients performed on them à la the movie “The Doctor.” While I agree that being a patient offers perspective, I don’t agree that I need to have tertiary syphilis to understand how to interact with a patient facing the illness. We act as health care providers and now view the world in …
This past weekend I had the pleasure of talking about Obamacare (or the ACA, the death, the uplifting of America, depending on your stance) with a stranger at a local brewery. He, like many I’ve heard before him, feels that he shouldn’t have to pay for other people’s care (which he already is, in a different way). Not their blood pressure meds for self-induced diabetes, not for oxygen for a 35 pack-year smoker, and not …
How can doctors-in-training explore the relationship between being a medical practitioner and a healer? John Andrew, a fourth-year medical student from New York City, reflects on how witnessing his family’s loving care for his ailing grandmother illuminated what healing really entails. And at the end of the podcast, he summons listeners to a challenge!
How can the ways doctors-in-training evolve as individuals during medical school impact their patients? Samar, a fourth-year medical student and health coach with a passion for patient education and preventive medicine, realized that her personal self-care practices—healthy eating, yoga, exercise and gratitude—not only help her get through school but also contribute to what she can offer her patients on their healing journeys.
Into the room I hear him come. Above me, his head appears. Then, with blue plastic hands and a dangling toy, he starts poking at me. He lays his hands on my head, then wipes the goop from my face. He shines a light in my eyes and then in my mouth. He prods my neck, then holds the dangling toy against my chest—first here, then there, and listens. He squishes my belly, flips me on …
Contributing Writer Emeritus
University of California Irvine School of Medicine
Eric Ballon-Landa is a medical student at UC Irvine and MPH candidate at UCLA. His undergraduate education was at Williams College, where he double-majored in art history and biology; he has attempted to maintain this multidisciplinarity ever since.
