Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Category: Education

  • The revolution of Abraham Flexner and its aftermath

    Unlike his brother Simon, who became a celebrated infectious diseases specialist and director of the Rockefeller Institute, Abraham Flexner was mainly interested in culture and education. He also grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, where his father had ended up after an odyssey that had taken him from Bohemia to Strasbourg, to New York, to New…

  • Things to think

    Dean GianakosLynchburg, Virginia, United States Think in ways you’ve never thought before.If the phone rings, think of it as carrying a messageLarger than anything you’ve ever heard,Vaster than a hundred lines of Yeats. Think that someone may bring a bear to your door,Maybe wounded and deranged; or think that a mooseHas risen out of the…

  • Not as a Stranger: The desperate medical student

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden In order to study medicine, a future doctor needs motivation, some intelligence, a medical school, and the ability to pay for the education. Morton Thompson’s 1954 novel Not As a Stranger follows a young man through childhood, medical school, and beyond. A film based on the book was released in 1955, and…

  • “Looking at … Looking away”: A challenging and vital skill

    Florence GeloPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, USA For nearly a decade, I have used images of paintings to teach students in health care professions how to cultivate the skills of looking while learning to recognize their own feelings and those of others. Most recently, I have been concerned with how emotions compel us to look away. Inspired by…

  • Thank you notes

    Margaret MitchellBoston, Massachusetts, United States I wrote thank you notes after matching in my residency program, though I found I was thankful for things I had not anticipated. I began working with Dr. Langerman in my first year of medical school, both in clinical settings and research. In his letter, I wrote, “Thank you for…

  • Everyone’s pain

    David Nathaniel YimBaltimore, Maryland, United States During a grueling two-week backpacking trip, I made the conscious commitment to become a physician. I did not realize at the time, but the painfulness of my trek was only beginning. I knew that I had to achieve excellent grades and top test scores. So, I spent years studying…

  • Partial eclipse of the heart

    Perry DinardoCleveland Heights, Ohio, United States In early August 2017, the nation was buzzing about an upcoming total solar eclipse. I had been immersed in news about the eclipse for weeks, and decided it would be absolutely necessary for me to watch from the “Zone of Totality.” Within this zone, a diagonal path across the…

  • Engage the emotions

    Florence GeloPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Captivated by the paintings of Caravaggio, I search for them wherever I travel. But no encounter has been as intense and personal as The Taking of Christ in the Beit wing of the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. The Taking of Christ depicts the moment of Jesus’s betrayal by…

  • Certifying clinical competence: principles from the caliphate of al-Muqtadir

    Faraze NiaziJack RiggsMorgantown, West Virginia, United States “The devil is always in the details.”“Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”—Two Old Wise Sayings Certifying clinical competence has virtually universal support. After all, who does not want their doctor to be competent? Moreover, how many physicians feel that they are incompetent? Despite…

  • Are we culturally tone-deaf?

    Clara KooNew York, United States The cultural norms of American medicine are speciously like those of traditional Korean culture, but the differences place Korean-American students at a disadvantage. When I began my third year of medical school, a fourth-year student advised, “Just do what you can do be useful.” If there is anything I know…