A retired hematologist explores the importance of clinical communication and health literacy by close reading two pieces published in this journal.
Read moreOn Sinatra, Bach, and Daughters: The Power of True Joy in the Face of Illness
A medical student reflects on the loss of their father to a devastating neurodegenerative disease as well as the power that music can hold during the illness experience.
Read moreThe Importance of Providing Compassionate Palliative and End-of-Life Care
A writer reflects on her own mother’s experience with death and dying and argues for the greater recognition of palliative care in the clinical encounter.
Read moreLeave Work at Work
Which story is heard, and by whom? Which story do people want to hear, and why? A COVID nurse provides explanations as well as recommendations about storytelling.
Read moreThe Embodied Connection in Patient-Provider Interaction
A former PICU nurse examines the power of both embodiment and gaze in the clinical encounter.
Read moreStories Make Us Human by Krista Puttler
“Ms. Paul, I can’t give you any more pain medication, it isn’t time.”
Edith’s eyes were closed. She was in the single patient room again, the one that had an anteroom with an extra sink that connected to her room by a sliding glass door. The residents always made sure both sets of sliding doors were closed before talking about her.
Read moreReligious Moments in Medical Practice by internist John Pierce
A retired physician reflects on his glimpses into religion and spirituality while confronting his patients’ illness and suffering—as well as his own.
Read moreTherapeutic Alliance: A Key to Effective Treatment
A retired nurse practitioner close reads a Field Notes essay published in this journal and emphasizes how shared identities and backgrounds can generate a more therapeutic alliance during the clinical encounter.
Read moreInstruction as Narrative: A Reflection on Rachel Kowalsky's "Your First Pediatric Intubation"
What makes writing different from medicine and vice-versa? A contributor to this journal pinpoints their shared ability to instruct via narrative.
Read moreI Am Moments / I Am Nature
Through collage art and poetry, a pathologist comes to understand that our anatomical selves are made up of the same building blocks that comprise all life on earth.
Read moreAn Abortion Doula and the Greatest Professional Calling
A family physician reflects on her own experiences in handling her patients’ abortion stories and notices the parallels in her own practice with that of an abortion doula.
Read moreDesensitization to the Face of Death: A reflection by poet and medical student Catherine Read
A medical student examines the desensitization that imbues the study and practice of medicine—and advocates against it.
Read moreOn Brian Ascalon Roley’s "Caregiving"
A pediatric emergency physician reflects on the burning intensity found at the heart of caregiving.
Read moreLeading Change in Healthcare Through a Healing Nature
A pharmacist fiercely advocates for lasting change via a healing framework.
Read moreA Moment of Intimacy
A writer questions the dynamics that shape—as well as disguise—not only the clinical encounter, but also personhood, identity, and intimacy.
Read moreRepeat After Me: Questions about the brain in transition by writer Nancy Huggett
A caregiver reflects on the orienting power of repetition. and how such repetition allows us to anchor ourselves within our lived narratives.
Read moreHow Patients Teach Us by Catalina Flores
A nurse contemplates how and why patients are made to feel like burdens—simply for having several needs.
Read moreThe Lost Patient Narrative in our era of "EHR-Centered" Medicine: A Reflection by family medicine physicianJacqueline Redmer
A family medicine physician reflects on the true costs for the patient and the clinician of the increasing digitization of modern medicine.
Read moreOn "Where Are You, Mary Oliver?" A pediatric ER doctor contemplates what two poets taught her about healing
A pediatric emergency physician reflects on the enduring power and comfort of Mary Oliver’s poetry during difficult times.
Read moreThe Luxury of Walking Away: An MS4 meditates on time, isolation and the comforts of home
A medical student contemplates her roles as a physician-in-training and learns to appreciate the privilege she possesses—unlike her patients—in walking away from the clinical space.
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