Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: medical student

  • Greater than the sum of her parts: The journey of a medical student

    Japjee Parmar Amritsar, Punjab, India   “I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I…

  • The fainting medical student

    Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden   Abandoned. Painting by James Tissot, c.1881–2. Via Bridgeman Images on Fine Art America. Public domain. “Fall backward if you faint, and not across the patient.”1 – Surgeon Sir Lancelot Sprat, in the film Doctor in the House   The squeamishness of the beginning medical student or intern during the dissection…

  • A day in the team room

    Kirin SaintAnn Arbor, MI Today is Monday, May 2. The day starts before the sun has risen, before pink-lavender hues warm the earth, as two internal medicine interns slink in, yawning and bleary eyed, careful not to spill their coffee onto their well-worn scrubs. The residents stride into the room, greet one another, lament the…

  • Guidelines for the 2022 Medical Student Essay Contest

          Students currently enrolled in a medical school or program are encouraged to submit to Hektoen International’s 2022 Medical Student Essay Contest. Submissions will be reviewed by the Hektoen International Editorial Staff and a select group of contest judges who will determine the two winners of the following awards: Grand Prize: Single winner…

  • Furniture of bones

    D. Brendan Johnson Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States   Selvportrett i helvete [Self Portrait in Hell]. Edvard Munch. 1903. Munchmuseet. Via Wikimedia. “Would you like the new patient?” My senior resident offered me the next admission, a patient being stabilized in the emergency department after a suicide attempt. As a fresh medical student in the beginning…

  • The medicine in our stars

    Nishitha Bujala Hyderabad, Telangana, India   Photo by Khamkéo Vilaysing on Unsplash I have been fascinated by the night sky for as long as I can remember. I would see the tiny, indiscernible stars and wonder if there was a bigger meaning to the world than what I had perceived. As I grew up, I…

  • Best friends for never

    Ariya Mobaraki Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States   Three people contemplate the cadaver of Saint Petronilla. Etching by James Basire, 1764, after Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, il Guercino… Credit: Wellcome Collection.  (CC BY 4.0) I stand looking over you, Wishing I could turn back time. Wondering what wisdom you would give me, Back in your prime.  …

  • Everyone’s pain

    David Nathaniel Yim Baltimore, Maryland, United States   Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash 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…

  • The pandemic: A medical student’s perspective

    Saira Elizabeth Alex Houston, Texas, United States   The Isle of the Dead. Max Klinger after Arnold Böcklin. 1890. The Art Institute of Chicago. As medical students, we eagerly await the start of clinical rotations since the first day of school; we anticipate building memorable connections with our colleagues and patients. This is an account of my days…

  • Regalia

    Nancy L. Hagood Charleston, South Carolina, United States   Rainbow over Haiti. Photo by Thomas Johnston. My medical school graduation regalia has hung in my closet for two years. It will never be worn. In spring 2019, I was a fourth-year medical student, planning to graduate in May and move 500 miles north to work…