Life at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
“Why won’t this cough go away?” “It’s probably nothing,” I thought to myself. “I haven’t had any fevers, night sweats, weight loss. Could it be TB? I am in Zambia after all. But I’m sure with a few more days of cough and cold medicine, this will improve. I really don’t need this right now. […]
“Let us know if you need anything,” I said to my patient as I hurried toward the door. With many more patients to see before heading down to the OR, morning rounds are kept short and concise. “Doctor,” she stopped me before I opened the door, with a slight tremble in her voice, “thank you […]
The prospect of helping patients is what attracted neuroscience graduate student Riley Bannon to the field of research, but this semester brought many humbling reminders that it is all too easy to lose sight of the bigger, human picture in translational research.
A medical student reflects on a recent encounter with a patient who shared painful details of his life for the first time.
Want to read more from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine? Subscribe to the Biomedical Odyssey blog and receive new posts directly in your inbox. (Disclaimers: Although much of the following comes from my medical education, it should not be generalized to all medical students. Certain details — name, identifiers, complaints — have been modified for privacy […]
“It’s not too often the right opportunity with the right person at the right time comes about, and sometimes you just say, ‘This is one of those shots I have to take or I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life,’” said Robert Lord, a co-founder of Protenus, when I sat down […]
I vividly remember one particular week during my medicine subinternship as the Week of the Pancreas. On the wards, I was caring for two patients with pancreatitis: one acute, one chronic. Then, I admitted a third patient with heretofore-undiagnosed metastatic pancreatic cancer. To top it all off, midweek, I received a phone call from one […]
One of the most memorable experiences of my medical training was my first home visit. I was a medical student participating in a primary care elective with a physician in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition to gaining experience in the clinic setting, I was expected to make a visit to a clinic patient in his/her home. […]
Before I came to medical school, I had a very simple understanding of the components of patient care. In my mind, all patients had the same basic needs, which physicians provided along the road to cure. After four years, I now realize patient populations are incredibly diverse and far more complex than I could have […]