The formative experience I had long sought emerged outside the context of feedback itself. I had spent my rotation in search of people who would change me, but I had not expected to find them dressed in johnnies rather than long white coats. Grace Ferri, a fourth-year medical student at Boston University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts, reflects on the patient who helped her remember where she came from, and—most importantly—where she belonged, during a stressful day on the wards. Th...
Jan 10, 2022•5 min
With the mask muffling my voice and the omnipresent sound of monitor alarms, words too, were strained. I grew irate at the situation. The inability to talk. The inability to connect. The inability to touch. Graduate nursing student Hunter Marshall reflects on isolation and connection during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. This essay placed first in the 2021 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the December 2021 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay...
Dec 27, 2021•8 min
Even in the age of medical miracles, there is still no intervention more powerful than a genuine human connection. There is no lab, no scan, no test, no drug, no surgery, that can replace it. For the soul heals not by human medicine, but human kindness. Medical student Ross Perry reflects on the most important lesson he learned while caring for a very special patient during his third year of medical school. This essay placed first in the 2021 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contes...
Dec 20, 2021•6 min
Dementia does not rob the ears of joy. Recent nursing school graduate Anna Swartzlander remembers a patient with dementia who shared with her his love of music. This essay placed second in the 2021 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the November 2021 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.
Dec 13, 2021•5 min
Why do I find it so much easier to deal with death after the fact than I do watching its slow, looming approach, like the shadow of a cloud creeping over my face? I think of cupping water between my hands, the spaces between fingers that I cannot hold tight. Medical student Davy Ran reflects on how their perspective on death has changed since they began medical school. This essay placed second in the 2021 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the November 20...
Dec 06, 2021•7 min
"My time, energy, and focus are finite; one clear, properly motivated action will come at the cost of another. It is easy to think this means I will miss out on important moments, or that I may disappoint some for the benefit of others. But the antidote is to recognize that each experience is special." Fourth-year medical student Fletcher Bell reflects on doctors' overlapping duties to their patients and family. This essay placed third in the 2021 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay C...
Nov 29, 2021•6 min
Guest Deena Hamza, PhD, joins hosts Toni Gallo and Research in Medical Education (RIME) Committee member and assistant editor Dan Schumacher, MD, PhD, MEd, to discuss a new framework for evaluating innovations, including why and how this model was developed and the ways it can be used in medical education. This is the third episode in a 3-part series of discussions with RIME authors about their medical education research and its implications for the field. Find the complete 2021 RIME supplement,...
Nov 22, 2021•31 min
It is often minute details such as the lack of internet, transportation, or a signature that can prevent people from completing an application for food stamps or the medication they need. By acknowledging patient experiences and reflecting on what we have heard, we can more effectively tailor the support we give to find patient-centered solutions. Katherine M. Kutzer, a recent graduate of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, reflects on her experience calling patients of a community health...
Nov 15, 2021•5 min
Just like technical expertise, expert caring can be taught and deliberately practiced. As educators, we must study it, measure it, and build consensus on an ideal framework. And above all, we must value it, not only in medical students and doctors, but in everyone. Bonnie M. Miller, professor of medical education and administration at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee and senior director of scholarly communications at the Kern National Network for Caring and Charac...
Nov 08, 2021•6 min
Guest Richard Baron, MD, joins hosts Toni Gallo and deputy editor Colin West, MD, PhD, to discuss the importance of trust in patient-physician relationships and ways physicians can build trust and overcome mistrust with patients and communities, including in conversations about COVID-19. Read the article discussed in this episode: A Trust Initiative in Health Care: Why and Why Now? A transcript of this episode is available at academicmedicineblog.org ....
Nov 01, 2021•36 min
"The importance of fostering trust with families cannot be overstated, and effective communication techniques make up just one part of the complex puzzle. Body language is often considered to be the most important part of communication, but in extraordinary times, we had to rely on other tools such as tone of voice and content of speech." Edwin Wei Sheng Thong, a senior resident in the Department of Haematology-Oncology at the National University Health System in Singapore, discusses the importa...
Oct 18, 2021•7 min
"Using my body to tell these cultural stories not only allowed for emotional mutability, but it also cultivated a sense of pride, identity, and autonomy. In dance, I was reminded that the body was not a victim of medical circumstance but an instrument rewriting the story in her own language through dance and music." Shilpa Darivemula, a fourth-year obstetrics and gynecology resident at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, reflects on the importance of cultural arts as a ...
Oct 11, 2021•5 min
Joining hosts Toni Gallo and Research in Medical Education (RIME) Committee member Javeed Sukhera, MD, PhD, to discuss their research on the experiences of trainees and physicians from minoritized communities in the United States and Canada are Taryn Taylor, MD, MEd, Nicole Rockich-Winston, MS, PharmD, EdD, Tim Mickleborough, PhD, and Tina Martimianakis, PhD. They address creating safe and brave spaces to discuss bias and discrimination, how professional norms may be harmful to those from minori...
Oct 04, 2021•46 min
"I have learned that no matter how much I study and practice, there will come a time when I cannot help—or, even worse, when my help is not wanted. While such moments do create the potential for moral distress, they also offer space for renewed motivation." Pallavi Juneja is a first-year neurology resident at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. She reflects on how her time at home as a fourth-year medical student during the pandemic made her more aware of her limitations and g...
Sep 27, 2021•6 min
Guest Jesse Burk-Rafel, MD, MRes, joins hosts Toni Gallo and Research in Medical Education (RIME) Committee member Mahan Kulasegaram, PhD, to discuss the development of a decision support tool that incorporates machine learning and the use of that tool in residency applicant screening. They also talk about the residency application process and potential ways that artificial or augmented intelligence (AI) might mitigate current challenges. This is the first episode in a 3-part series of discussio...
Sep 20, 2021•43 min
"Holding his hand, we had been alone in a room fighting a virus with no cure. Though he lay prone and I stood standing, we were equals in our fear in facing overwhelming unknowns. Neither of us knew what would happen over the next few hours or days." Eric Kutscher, a resident physician in the Department of Internal Medicine at NYU Langone Health in New York, learned how to maintain dignity in vulnerability from a special patient while working in the intensive care unit at the height of the pande...
Sep 13, 2021•5 min
This episode was originally released in August 2018. Guest Carl Stevens, MD, MPH, joins hosts Toni Gallo and former editor-in-chief David Sklar, MD, to discuss the peer review process. Carl is a 10-time winner of the journal's Excellence in Reviewing Award. He shares his reasons for serving as a peer reviewer and his process for evaluating submissions, including practical advice about the logistics of completing a review and what he looks for in a submission. This episode is meant to be a resour...
Sep 06, 2021•37 min
"Our patients and their families are living that one-in-a-thousand life. Even if focusing on rarity helps us cope with the unpredictability of our own pregnancies and of the world in pandemic, rarity cannot protect us from the truth that the terrible is possible." Katharine Callahan is a neonatology fellow, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and an ELSI genomics fellow, Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania. Elizabeth Salazar is a neonatology fellow, Th...
Aug 30, 2021•4 min
"So, when I step back and think about the most important lesson I have learned in medical school, it is to have the courage to speak up when I am struggling." Fourth-year medical student, Michelle M. Ikoma, describes how honoring vulnerability over shame allows her to speak up for her true feelings and get the help she needs to maneuver challenging times. This essay was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the May 2021 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmed...
Aug 23, 2021•5 min
Guests Catherine Lucey, MD, and Aaron Saguil, MD, MPH, join hosts Toni Gallo and assistant editor Paula (Ross) Thompson, PhD, MA, to discuss the consequences of structural racism on MCAT scores and medical school admissions. They also talk about the role of the MCAT exam in holistic admissions and how to mitigate the effects of structural racism to improve the diversity of the physician workforce. Read the article discussed in this episode at academicmedicine.org: The Consequences of Structural ...
Aug 16, 2021•40 min
"People are not born racists; these are learned behaviors. Over time and generations, these learned behaviors have manifested in institutional and systemic racism, teaching our medical learners and demonstrating to our patients that the commission of racism is acceptable." Robert Sapien is a distinguished professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics, associate dean for admissions, director of the Combined BA/MD Degree Program, and principal investigator of the Child Ready Program and New Mexic...
Aug 02, 2021•8 min
"This was not a case report in a medical textbook but a real-life situation, and my adrenaline and training had pushed me to fight and not freeze. My attendance at many prior deliveries had never presented me with quite the same challenges, yet they strengthened me for this moment." Pediatric chief resident, Dr. Sarah Justvig, emphasizes the positive impact of rigorous clinical training and acknowledges how the supportive teaching of her teachers and mentors has strengthened her readiness for re...
Jul 26, 2021•6 min
Guests Pamela Chen, MD, Jyothi Marbin, MD, and Leanna Lewis, MSW, join hosts Toni Gallo and associate editor Monica Lypson, MD, MHPE, to discuss their novel approaches to addressing gender bias and structural racism in medicine, by painting honor wall portraits of women physicians and using travel to the American South to explore structural racism and health disparities, respectively. They also talk about the role of storytelling and getting proximate in overcoming bias. Read the articles discus...
Jul 19, 2021•31 min
"To my future patients I say this: When you give me the gift of your feelings, I may still freeze up for a moment, wondering how to best show that I care. But I will take this lesson that a global pandemic taught me and give space and significance to your emotion—and we will look at it, together." Baila Elkin is a third-year medical student at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Reflecting on the experience of making contact-tracing calls, Baila shares how learning to listen to and ackno...
Jul 12, 2021•4 min
"In the single minute I spent listening to the patient's story and auscultating her sternum, she went from feeling frustrated and unheard to respected and thoroughly cared for." Fourth-year medical student, Abigail M. Schmucker, describes how she gains insight into the positive impact of patient-centered care through an unusual window: peach auscultation. This essay was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the July 2021 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicme...
Jul 05, 2021•6 min
"Setbacks and failures are inherent to play, yet there is little space for setbacks and failures as adults, making play risky. In a competitive work environment, play feels dangerous." Ashwini Bapat is a palliative care physician, founder of EpioneMD, and cofounder of Hippocratic Adventures. In a letter to a former mentor, she reflects upon the isolation experienced when the ability to play is usurped by the drive to succeed. This essay was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column i...
Jun 28, 2021•7 min
"The physical contrast of the light fingers dancing around the dark, as well as the fault lines where the machine had met his hand, made me think harder and feel more than before about a topic we are taught in medical school—socioeconomic factors." Fourth-year medical student, Kate E. Lee, describes how a surgery shadowing experience leaves her with lingering thoughts, not about the clinical aspect of the case, but about the vivid display of the socioeconomic determinants of health she encounter...
Jun 21, 2021•6 min
"Many aspects of medical school and residency are akin to patients' lack of control as they navigate their diagnoses. It is this parallel display of grit that students and physicians can reflect upon when counseling a patient who is struggling to cope." Jaclyn Mauch, fourth-year medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania, describes a life changing event that redefined the grit of her courage, character and resilience, and helped her to better empathize w...
Jun 14, 2021•5 min
"Speaking from both a clinical and a personal perspective, I know the importance of accepting outside help, especially when battling a mental illness. ... Learning that conditions like mine remain stigmatized is crushing because I know the importance of fighting these illnesses in groups rather than in isolation." A surgical research fellow describes their personal mental health journey and the importance of destigmatizing mental illness and seeking treatment. This essay was published in the Tea...
Jun 07, 2021•8 min
"Now, in the unavoidable silence, I was forced to consider Mr. L, his mind and world. I was forced to move beyond myself, and in that movement, understand that a medical education meant far more than the acquisition and demonstration of clinical knowledge." For Aldis H. Petriceks, second-year medical student at Harvard Medical School, silence unexpectedly becomes a valuable tool in his patient assessment toolkit as he learns how to truly listen to his patient needs and struggles. This essay was ...
May 31, 2021•5 min
