Contributing Writer Emeritus
Yale School of Medicine
Lorenzo R. Sewanan grew up in Paramaribo, Suriname, and moved to Queens, New York, when he was sixteen. After graduating from Trinity College in physics and in engineering, he enrolled in Yale School of Medicine as an MD/PhD student. As a child he used to invent worlds of imagination, and now, he wants to bring inner worlds, his and others, to papers and words.
Snow and frost sculpted mazes in the streets; I struggled through the wind, fluid freezing in my joints, unpaved sidewalk sliding below my shoes. I was skating on a pond in Transylvania; the desolate snowscape wrapped around the hill crowned with the dark building, speckled but starkly rising. Maybe there were vampires in there, but my hands tingled with warmth as I opened the metal handles. The guard glanced but said nothing. I felt immediately …
How can doctors-in-training bring spiritual perspectives into their approach to medicine? Petra, a second-year medical student in Texas interested in family medicine, shares how living in Buddhist monasteries has influenced her relationships with fellow students and her experiences with the struggles of medical school.
How can doctors-in-training balance self-care, raising a family and getting through the demands of medical school? Hannah, a medical student and mother, describes her daily struggle in the grueling process of medical training. She shares the difficult experiences in childhood that inspired her to become a healer and how her time working as a hyperbaric chamber operator revealed the limitations of Western medicine and inspired her to pursue training in naturopathic medicine and now a Western medical degree.
How can doctors-in-training maintain an appreciation for their patients as people? Jack, a third-year medical student in Chicago intending to become a gastroenterologist, shares his hopes about preserving the humanity in medicine. He also questions the necessity of certain interventions, considers who gets to make pivotal medical decisions, and imagines how integrative practices can be incorporated into conventional medicine.
The art of storytelling and the art of truly listening to stories used to be central to the relationship between patients and doctors. Today those arts are often undervalued in the technological and biomedical approach that dominates both patient treatment and medical education. This loss creates disconnect between patients and their caregivers.
Hippocrates, the famous Greek physician and father of Western medicine, once said, “To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art—if they desire to learn it—without fee and …
Upon entering medical school, we all knew that we would have to deal with some difficult diagnoses, emotional situations and even death. In fact, even the earliest portions of our training were centered around a cold, lifeless cadaver that we cut into to learn the intricate anatomy and beauty of the human body. To a first-year medical student, gross anatomy symbolizes the profound meaning of what it is to embark on the long journey of …
The patient was a woman in her mid-twenties recently diagnosed with lupus. She was clearly anxious about her prognosis and treatment. The rheumatologist I was shadowing that day entered the room, made some casual conversation intermingled with medical questions, and proceeded with the physical exam. She was attentive to the patient’s needs and accommodating with her questions. The rheumatologist’s confidence, compassion and ability to sooth the patient’s worries made a lasting impression on me. During …
The woman sits anxiously in the exam room, fidgeting with her green clay necklace. She was referred because of an incidental finding on a physical exam mandated by her insurance company. Another woman in her 50s, with streaks of gray hair, calmly sits in the room next door with her head held high, preparing herself for the worse. She had felt a lump on her breast while showering. The corner room contains a young Mexican …
I was on my internal medicine clerkship on an inpatient general medicine service at a major academic medical center. It was another long day and our team, from the interns to the attending, was running low on energy. As we entered late afternoon, we received a page for the transfer of a new patient to our service. As the intern read aloud “CMO” — comfort measures only–the team breathed out a sigh of relief and …
While memorizing anatomy and learning how to perform certain medical procedures are vital in training the prospective physician, it is equally, if not more important, to prepare the upcoming physician for humanism in medicine. In 2011, 69, or 52%, of the 133 accredited medical schools in the U.S. required a course in medical humanities. It is through the window of humanity that one learns the art of medicine: the obligation to care for the sick may …
Rebecca Garden, in her article “Disability and narrative: new directions for medicine and the medical humanities” wrote that “rather than coping with or overcoming their impairment, many disabled people see their impairments as integral to their lives.” This message regarding new directions in medicine for working with people with disabilities may sometimes be overlooked despite its importance. I would like to share a personal story that illustrates this point. I’ve been short all my life–but not short enough …
Contributing Writer Emeritus
Albany Medical College
Mae Huo completed her undergraduate education at University of California, Berkeley majoring in neurobiology and minoring in dance performances. She then spent a year and a half working at Children's Hospital in Oakland in Infection Control and Patient Safety. Her next position as a consultant at STAT Revenue was cut short after only a few months due to her acceptance to Albany Medical College as a part of the Class of 2016.
