Wednesday, August 14, 2013

My blog has moved

Please watch this page for future posts.

Monday, June 24, 2013

The Paradox of the Doctor-Patient Relationship


I watched a birth. More than watched: an hour or so after first meeting the mom-to-be as she lay in her bed in a hospital gown, I was helping her push. I was the one who retrieved her glasses so that she could see her new, perfect baby girl. I might be a footnote in some of the stories she and her husband later tell their family about the day their first child entered the world. I’m probably in some of the photos. But it’s almost certain that I will never see those new parents or their daughter again.
My career will be a series of moments like that. Sharing good news, delivering bad, offering a diagnosis or treatment that may change someone else’s life — and then moving on with my own. I will be present at some of the biggest turning points in my patients’ experience, but I will never really be part of their lives.
Read more of my latest at TIME Healthland: http://healthland.time.com/2013/06/23/the-paradox-of-the-doctor-patient-relationship-a-medical-students-view/#ixzz2XBG4P54R

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Anatomy memorial service

A nice piece about the memorial service we held to honor the people who so generously donated their bodies to further our medical educations: http://weill.cornell.edu/news/deans/2013/04_26_13.shtml

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Anatomy Lesson

I skinned a man. Strange as it sounds, it felt more natural than I expected.
Fresh off winter break, we first-year medical students were slated for our first two days in the anatomy lab: Thursday would be orientation. Friday (gulp), dissecting a human body. The professor ran us through the ground rules—no music, no food, utmost respect for the cadavers. If we want extra study time, he assured us, the lab is open 24 hours a day. I can’t imagine any place I’d less like to be in the dead of night than in a room full of half-dissected bodies.
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/29/doctor-in-training-anatomy-lesson/#ixzz2JPxFBagA


And here is my previous Doctor-in-Training essay, which I neglected to post, about taking my first medical history from a real patient: http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/26/reality-strikes-a-doctor-in-training-encounters-her-first-patient/