Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Winter 2009

  • Nursing during the US Civil War: A movement toward the professionalization of nursing

    Karen EgenesChicago, Illinois, United States In April 1861, there was no organized medical corps or field hospital services. In addition, there was no provision for military nurses. At the time, there were no nursing schools, no “trained” nurses, and no nursing credentials. The title “nurse” was also rather vague, and could refer to a woman…

  • Emerging infections: a perpetual challenge

    David M Morens; Gregory K Folkers, and Anthony S Fauci Bethesda, MD, USA This article was first published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, Volume 8, Issue 11, Nov. 2008, pages 710-719 Summary Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, and their determinants, have recently attracted substantial scientific and popular attention. HIV/AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, H5N1 avian influenza,…

  • The sound of one hand clapping: meditations on sinistrality

    James L. Franklin Paper presented to the Chicago Literary Club on April 7, 2008  It all began on the coldest morning of the season in early December 2006. Painters were still in our apartment putting the finishing touches on what had proven to be an all too prolonged renovation project. However—the end was now in…

  • Eisenhower and Crohn’s Disease

    James L. FranklinChicago, IL First published in the Illinois Carol Fisher Chapter Newsletter of September 11, 2005.Published by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.  It is still well within the public consciousness that Dwight David Eisenhower suffered a myocardial infarction three years into his first term of office as President of the United States…

  • Can Hippocrates save modern medicine? A plea to return to our roots

    Patrick GuinanChicago, Illinois, United States Modern medicine is in the midst of a morale crisis. In this brief review I will attempt to 1.) explain why, 2.) note that medicine has abrogated control of its destiny, and 3.) suggest that a return to the Hippocratic doctor-patient relationship can save medicine. This crisis is manifested, to…

  • The Dead Mother Series of Egon Schiele: Psychoanalytic use of an artist’s image

    Prudence Gourguechon Paper presented at the Hektoen Institute of Medicine on Nov. 6, 2007Revised for publication in Hektoen International, Vol. 2, Jan. 2009 Introduction Two intensely creative men lived and worked in early 20th century Vienna, both intent on elucidating aspects of the darker side of the human psyche. There is no evidence that they…

  • Lost Babies: How a photosculpture is changing the etiquette of consolation

    Nancy GershmanChicago, Illinois, United States The mother who loses her full-term baby goes home with the five stages of grief (Elisabeth Kübler-Ross), funeral home pamphlets, and a support group calendar. But the well-meaning friends and family who await her return have little if no experience with consolation. They will prattle on about how So and…

  • Journaling – enhancing the arts experience while traveling

    Mary McDermott “The Plight of Nursing” from a collection of poems by Carol Battaglia, a retired nurse practitioner at Loyola Medical Center, concludes: “Sometimes at the end of my shift, I cannot account for all of me. I retrace my steps, in hopes of putting myself back together again.” (Carol Battaglia Murmurs. 1996. p. 33.…

  • Art and healing pilgrimage to France: The art of re-imagining

    Lynda Slimmer I am not an especially creative person. I am a doer; I get things done. I help others channel their creativity into realistic outcomes. However, I am that individual that theologian and ethicist Richard Niebuhr describes as “a poet who creates by taking journeys.” My creative self is most stimulated when a trip…

  • A pilgrim’s poems from the heart

    Joan Callahan I am a daughter, sister, wife, mother, school nurse, colleague, friend and neighbor. My vocation is healing in all dimensions of my life. I care for spirit as well as bodies, knowing that spirit guides and informs how we care for ourselves. Spirit is what guides my path, which is why my spirit…