This April marks the 10-year anniversary of the founding of in-Training, and we invited all members of the in-Training family to contribute articles and other artistic works to celebrate our first decade as the premier online peer-reviewed publication by and for the medical student community.

Ruchica Chandnani, Class of 2024 at the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine, contributes this poem as an in-Training writer and current managing editor of the publication since 2021.

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She barely made it to rounds today. “Why couldn’t the patient have committed suicide later?  It’s too early for me to be here,” she muttered.

It’s commonplace

In a world dictated by hard science and fact,

With medicine at the forefront,

To disparage the humanities:

Mock the liberal tenacity of women’s studies,

Glaze over the teachings of history,

Dismiss religion and philosophy.

My classmate was sick in the ER once. After asking for Tylenol again, she overheard the nurses. They thought she was a drug addict. That changed when she said she was in med school. Her temperature was 106F after waiting six hours.

I suppose that derision comes easy

With the reality of health care

At the worst of its burnout.

After all,

Psychology only matters

When you know what drugs to charge for.

Sociology is only relevant

When you know which group to judge.

(Sometimes not-so-silently).

We had seven ICU beds open across the state. I saw COVID patients dying left and right. Bit my nails down to the nub. …So I’m getting out of critical care.

It’s still a travesty though

When a field so privileged,

Centered on the human condition

Forgets its true nature

Beyond exams, rounds,

And Dragon dictations.

Its true potential diminished

Through the passage of time,

Or the agony of circumstance.

Dr. So-and-So isn’t around anymore due to repeated Title IX violations.

The irony:

Having a surplus of drugs,

Lab tests,

Imaging,

Gadgets, 

Therapies.

Yet scarcity 

In the one thing that’s actually healing.

Today we mourn the passing of Dr. Such-and-Such, who committed suicide via gunshot wound at the age of 68. He will be missed. A vigil will be held at the end of this week.

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With medicine,

Labor et scientia

Is nothing without

Fides,

Misericordia,

Unitas,

Et Communitas.

For that entails the worth of the humanities.

For that entails the core of genus humanum.