Technology
Once upon a time, in distant land, / we’d write down patient information with a pen in our hand.
Clinical
Resident Physician Contributing Writer
Indiana University School of Medicine
Dustin is a PGY-3 emergency medicine resident at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
A Touch of Delirium and a Silver Badge: Challenges of Integrating Security and Healing in Hospitals
I work at one of several hospitals in the country whose security force is staffed by law enforcement personnel. It’s also one of the 52 percent of hospitals nationwide whose security guards are armed with handguns.
Lessons
A graphic medicine comic on wellness and lessons learned in the first year of family medicine residency.
Killing Medicaid Expansion Kills Patients
The House-approved American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA) and the proposed Senate Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) would approve cuts to Medicaid that hurt Iowans.
What Brings You in Today?
Good afternoon, ma’am. Wow, what a contagious smile you have. I hear that you are here because of a stuffy nose? They said that you tried Claritin and that did not help. You feel congested, and it’s hard to blow anything out? And no fevers, no cough, no difficulty breathing or any wheezing?
Seeking Strength in Residency: Find Your Baby to Feed
“What part of what I just said did you not understand?” The fellow patronizingly chastised me in front of the entire medical team. Her tone and body language felt demeaning, almost as if she was more intent on embarrassing me than caring for the patient.
24 Weeks
Back in that operating room, I am dutifully holding onto the basin just beyond and under the table edge. What I see is what the mother would never wish to see; being a part of her care, we accept that burden for her, and in a much different way that she ever could from her intimate connection with it. It is our service to her, to alleviate that pain, to be an open support to her health and well-being. It is an acceptable cost, but a cost all the same.
Light Upon the Waves
The waves beat; / a cold, relentless torrent. / You stand against them / taking the impact
Physician Burnout: Moving From Solutions to the Problem
The unexpected suicide of a graduate of our surgical residency program — nearly seven years ago — still reverberates off the walls of Stanford Hospital. While he didn’t end his life on the premises (that happened during fellowship in another city), the effects of his tragic death subdue the residency to this day
Humor
Humor… / it’s what saves me / keeps me from dying inside
Year One
“Goddamn doctors,” says a voice down the hall, slightly muffled through the curtain of the exam room where I lay. “What now?” comes another voice and they both grow louder, batting back and forth gripes. “They make the worst damn patients, know exactly what’s wrong with them and exactly what to do and you’re not doing it quick enough.”
“Isn’t that just for psychiatrists?”: An FAQ for Addiction Medicine
Several months ago, I was asked by an attending about my future plans. “So I can pimp you,” he said. I told him that I am pursuing further training in addiction medicine. “Isn’t that just for psychiatrists?”
Resident Physician Contributing Writer
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Dale is a resident physician in the internal medicine primary care track at the University of Colorado. He grew up in the Seattle area and received his medical degree and MPH at the University of Washington.