Resident Physician Contributing Writer
College of Medicine at the University of Alberta
Nicole completed her medical degree at the University of British Columbia and was studying Diagnostic Radiology at the University of Saskatchewan until she transferred to Family Medicine at the University of Alberta. She is also working towards a Masters in Health Science Education. In addition to medical education, her professional interests include culture in medicine and mindfulness meditation.
Prior to starting medical school, I meditated for an hour every morning. There is a Zen proverb that goes something like this: “If you don’t have time to meditate for an hour everyday, you should meditate for two hours.”
It’s been about three years since Jacob committed suicide. In the high turnover microcosm of general surgery residency, there aren’t many who remember him.
Writing is the greatest self-excavation tool I have found. It was always something I enjoyed, but during my medical training it became something much more important than that.
Medical alert, paged — STAT to Bed 3 / The nurse comes a runnin’ — we need an MD!
In 1894, the State Ministry of Culture, Religion, and Education in Vienna commissioned three paintings for the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna to celebrate the institutions accomplishments of Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence. When the artist who painted these works chose to make a bold stylistic statement, all three were heavily criticized for their eroticism, obscenity, and “ugliness.”
A haiku about screening for colon cancer.
When do-sed dram or weigh-ted dusts / no remedy impart
How do you enjoy that / Which will be gone — sooner than someday?
“Compassion” / A pale moon hangs above / The workroom clock reads six, but / Is it day or night?
His mother asks whether or not there will be a scar. I tell her yes. We’ll do our best to make it small, but there will be a scar.
Easter Sunday, intern year / MICU long-call consult resident / 41-year-old female
Shrouded in a plastic blanket / Raising the temperature of your / Frail limbs and famished core
Resident Physician Contributing Writer
Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Dominic Decker is an English major at heart now training in internal medicine. He completed a master's degree in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University, attended the University of Minnesota Medical School, and is in residency at Brown University.
