Author's posts
What is an informed decision in the context of an addiction?
Ironically, his fingers looked like cigarette butts. They were black and chalky at the tips and then tan through his knuckles to his hands. A couple was capped by long yellow fingernails, shooting out like stalks of hay, bending in different directions…
Even with education on hold, medical students still contribute
I’m a third-year medical student, but my medical education, as I knew it, is currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. Stanford has pulled its students from hospitals and clinics for the time being, following recommendations from the Ass…
Medical school ends with a leap of faith
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a question I frequently hear from physicians on my clinical rotations. Phrased somewhat tongue-in-cheek, the wording allows me to answer either in jest or in earnest. “An astronaut…
The excitement of clinical rotations: Not just learning medicine but doing medicine
The first time a woman went into the final stage of labor, I watched from a corner of the room. As a third-year medical student, I was on my six-week clinical rotation in obstetrics and gynecology, and it was day one of the two-week portion on the labo…
A medical student before exams: the danger of neglecting the people she loves
A couple weeks ago, I called up my family and non-med-school friends: “For the next couple months, pretend like I’m backpacking in the Himalayas,” I said. Pretend, I stressed, because, in reality, I don’t even intend to leave Pa…
5 confessions of a medical student
I’ve finally stopped thinking about the process of getting into medical school. But with friends going through the application cycle, waiting on and making decisions, I’ve been reflecting on my process and remembering just how terrible the whole thing …
Patients are an integral part of medical student education
A face feels nothing like a frozen pig’s foot, I thought, as I guided a curved needle into the woman’s cheek, drawing the absorbable thread across her still-bleeding wound. Two wraps around the needle driver and I pulled the nearly invisible thread thr…
