Ragging
P. Ravi Shankar Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Photo by Nathan Wright on Unsplash. The corridor was long, narrow, and brightly painted. The carpet was torn in a few places and the red wall paint was beginning to peel off. Sixteen of us walked through the corridor into the restaurant. The food was tasty, but we […]
Grand rounds
André Brouillet illustration of “Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière.” In the days when medical teaching took place mainly at the bedside, grand rounds were the accepted method by which rare or interesting cases were demonstrated to the entire hospital staff. It was a tradition that went back at least to the days of the […]
The “Ne-Uro” mess
Nishitha Bujala Hyderabad, Telangana, India Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash When I took my oral exams in the final year of medical school, I was tested on surgical instruments by an external professor. He appeared to be in his sixties and stern. As a conversation starter, he asked my favorite specialty. “Neurology,” I […]
The good, the bad, and the regrettable
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden “Man . . . cannot learn to forget, but hangs on the past: however far or fast he runs, that chain runs with him.” — Frederick Nietzsche Lab coat and scrubs. Photo by Samir. 2006. Via Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0. What follows is a description of different aspects of […]
Novice doctor at Guy’s Hospital in 1964
Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom Fig 1. “Entrance into that most noble Public Charity and admirable Medical Establishment Guy’s Hospital” Founded 1721 by Thomas Guy it was intended for the incurables rejected by neighboring St. Thomas’s Hospital—the foreground scene shows this restriction had ceased. The building on the east (left), Boland House was […]
The “weak” intern
Htet Khine Reno, Nevada, United States Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash “She is quite weak,” I overheard two senior residents say about one of my co-interns. I tried to tune out the conversation—I did not have enough time or mental capacity to comprehend what being “weak” entailed. I was busy writing notes, answering […]
Healing literature
Scott D. Vander Ploeg Cocoa Beach, Florida, United States Dr. Vander Ploeg (Ph.D.) checks the lit pressure of the complete works of William Shakespeare published in The Riverside Shakespeare. Photo by Audrey Kon. Courtesy of the author. I taught English courses for thirty years at a community college in western Kentucky. One of the […]
An essential attitude of the heart
Florence Gelo Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Andy Warhol, 1970. By Alice Neel. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Timothy Collins. Digital image © Whitney Museum of American Art / Licensed by Scala / Art Resource, NY I project an image of the painting, Andy Warhol, on the screen in the medical school classroom. […]
The use of television series in medical education
Gulmira Derbissalina Nur-Sultan city, Kazakhstan “House M.D.” by showbiz kids is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 Medically themed television series are popular among future doctors. Students and trainees can imagine their future work, including the clinical setting, relationships with colleagues and superiors, communication with patients and their relatives, and consultations and advice from senior […]
Pediatrics and theatrics
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden Chicago, Illinois. Provident Hospital. Doctors and interns in the cafeteria. Photo by Jack Delano. 1942. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division 1. Initiation. I had had a busy night on call in the city’s largest women’s hospital. I was a second-year pediatric resident assigned to the Neonatal Intensive Care […]