Tag: medical language
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Ahab’s gift: Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and the meaning of pain
Xi Chen Rochester, New York, United States A whale being speared with harpoons by fishermen in the arctic sea. Engraving by A. M. Fournier after E. Traviès. Wellcome Collection. Public domain. In the summer months before my first year of medical school, I unfurled the pages of Moby Dick. Immersed in the novel’s adventurous…
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Decoding doctor-speak in the era of OpenNotes
Jennifer Wineke Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Modern-day doctors share a common dilemma: how do you get all of the necessary information into the electronic medical record while still being present with the patient? Every doctor I have talked to approaches this challenge a little differently. Some acknowledge the impersonality upfront and apologize to the…