champagne tap
she is curled on her side like a child / eyes closed, back exposed.
Tag: medical education
Contributing Writer
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Julia is a third year medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated from Georgetown University in 2020 with a major in Health Care Policy. She loves curating oddly specific Spotify playlists, going to concerts, and keeping up her NYT crossword puzzle streak. Julia hopes to pursue a career in surgery.
Lost and Found in Medical Training
Many people told me that my third year of medical school would be both the most rewarding and the most difficult. That I would choose my future specialty and discover my specific path in medicine — a task which, as I began the year, seemed both exciting and daunting. Little did I know that during my third year of medical school, I would learn just as much about myself as I would about patient care and the practice of medicine.
Outside In (2022)
This is a reimagination of anatomy from the outside in.
Until You Make It
When my family saw me painstakingly hand-placing individual sprinkles on the apices of buttercream rosettes at age 15, I justified this obsessive behavior by telling them, “I’m just practicing precision for the day when I get to inject into people’s faces.”
Pathologies of Immigration: Resignation Syndrome
Uppgivenhetssyndrom, also termed resignation syndrome, is a distressing ailment in which patients — often young children — completely withdraw from the activities of daily life. With no underlying neurological or physical disease, these patients lose the will to live, essentially becoming apathetic.
Rethinking and Retooling the Average Diagnostic Radiology Rotation
Unlike other specialties, radiology is often an elective rotation that focuses on diagnostics and image interpretation. Such tasks are mainly done by the specialty’s residents with little care for medical students to be involved with.
The Value of a Mentor Who is Invested in Your Growth
In medical school, it is said time and time again by upperclassmen that having a mentor is integral to success as a medical student. Mentors are valuable because they can connect you with opportunities, give advice on career planning and also provide reassurance when you need it.
Thomas Browne, Jorge Luis Borges and Cultural Fluency
‘Write Rx’ is a narrative medicine column offering ‘prescriptions’ for narrative medicine exercises. Each column entry begins with an introduction to the theme of the entry, offers literary excerpts to expand on that theme and concludes with questions that invite students to explore a corresponding narrative medicine topic. The goal is to offer space for reflection for busy medical students, as well as foster medical students’ communication toolkit in the increasingly complex space of patient care. Topics include cultural fluency, illness cognitions and more.
Empty Your Mind
My decision to return to school to pursue a doctorate degree in medicine came as a shock to many.
On Staying Grounded
I was not happy when I was accepted to medical school, not like I thought I would be. In the hours and days that followed that fateful email, feelings of shock, sadness and nervousness jostled for dominance in my mind as I processed the information.
Borborygmi
Borborygmi: Rumbling or gurgling noises made by the movement of fluid and gas in the intestines.
The Teres Major Phenomenon
As I took my shirt off this morning to shower, I noticed my teres major muscle in the mirror — or more precisely, I identified it for the first time.
Contributing Writer
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Alec is a fourth year medical student at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, TN class of 2023. In 2017, he graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Science in symbolic systems and Master of Science in comparative medicine. He enjoys scuba diving, training in Taekwondo, reading/writing poetry, and exploring the outdoors in his free time. After graduating medical school, Alec would like to pursue a career in Neuroradiology.