Medical
A medical student asks: Are we just cartoon heroes?
The one thing about the coronavirus I keep coming back to is how much SketchyMicro let me down. Out of all the mnemonic cartoons SketchyMicro has produced, their entry for coronavirus is among the most simple: a kingly figure is blowing his nose into tissue paper beneath a blazing sun, his towering castle perched atop…
Read MoreAddressing medical school needs for our frontline responders and health care providers
Coronavirus. Doctors. Nurses. PPE. Social distancing. Sound familiar? Our entire conversation about the COVID-19 pandemic surrounds those words and phrases. We see celebrities, companies, coworkers, family members, and friends donating PPE and money to organizations and local hospitals, trying to do some good. No one wants our front-line health care workers to get sick. If…
Read MoreWhen doctors weren’t needed anymore: a short story
Annie’s brows drew together at the unfamiliar word in her third-grade history lesson. She swiveled from her screen to face her mother. “What are doctors?” “They were people specially trained to care for sick people.” Annie was still perplexed. “What’s sick?” Her mom patted the place next to her on the sofa. “Come here, and…
Read MoreLearning to cope with the pandemic from palliative care patients
I’m a palliative care chaplain who provides spiritual support to patients with serious, life-changing, and for some, life-threatening, illnesses. A common story they tell is an illness, like a storm, blew them off their life’s map. They find themselves lost in the unfamiliar territory of sickness. The future, once certain and promising, is now uncertain…
Read MoreA journey through time with a very modern foe
Come with me on this journey, this very ancient journey. To experience the age-old story of a very modern foe. This foe is invisible; it is neither living nor dead. You cannot smell it, and you cannot taste it. While it is not alive, it can become alive, with a flick of the right kind…
Read MoreIt’s so important to just take another moment with your patients
Medical schools around the country remain closed due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, swapping hands-on learning experience on wards and within the operating room for Zoom lectures and telehealth visits. Ten months ago, this was the furthest thing I imagined as I began my third year of medical school, filled with nervous excitement to move…
Read MorePost-COVID medical education must teach the real reasons for health disparities
Jason Hargrove, a 50-year-old Detroit bus driver, died from COVID-19 after being turned away from care multiple times while visibly cyanotic. Rana Zoe Mungin, a 30-year-old teacher in Brooklyn, was sent home several times until she was ill enough from the disease to require intubation and ventilation. She has since died. While there are many reasons…
Read MorePeople remember stories in your speech. The rest fades away.
An excerpt from A Leader’s Guide to Giving a Memorable Speech: How to Deliver a Message and Captivate an Audience. “The most powerful words in English are ‘tell me a story.’” —Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini “Over the years I have become convinced that we learn best—and change—from hearing stories that…
Read MoreHow a sojourn atop a mountain in Vietnam changed my life forever
As the gentle rumbles of thunder became increasingly sonorous, the sharp crackles of lightning casting out the darkness of night, striking like the angry whips from a scorned martinet, and the torrential rain now cascading down from our awning like loose waterfalls, making heavy splashes around us every few seconds, I could taste the intoxicating…
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