Written by Julia Shatten, M.D.'18
We are all sitting in the classroom, staring at the Powerpoint. Our eyes lock on the trajectory of a line graph. It increases a bit and then plummets. The graph we are staring at is a part of a lecture with some nebulous title like “Professionalism in Healthcare.” It is showing the results of a study that assessed the trajectory of empathy during medical school training.
Category: Education
Students in the Field: Pediatrics in Newport, Vt.
Written by Harshal Athalye '20
At the start of the rotation, I thought I had ruled out working in a rural area due to its potential isolation. But one pearl that has stuck with me from Dr. Bannach is that specialists are just a phone call away. Technology continues to close the communication gap for rural medicine, making it feel much less secluded. Though I am unsure of what my future holds in terms of medicine, after working with Dr. Bannach, I am considering rural medicine as a career path.
Students in the Field: Family Medicine in Waitsfield, Vt.
Written by Jennifer Boccia '20
It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to work with different people and get the advantage of their differing backgrounds. It’s not just valuable in terms of physical exam skills; observing the different ways and the different styles of each physician as they talk to patients and get their stories is great. Everyone has a unique style, and the more exposure we get as students to different physicians the easier it is to develop and refine our own personal touch.
Students in the Field: Family Medicine in Milton, Vt.
Written by Kinjal Thakor '20
I was most surprised by the high number of mental health follow ups on anxiety and depression here at Milton. I have found my time with these patients to be an incredible learning experience on the power of open and non-judgmental listening and on the ways in which physicians can guide patients in the right directions.
What Doctors Can Learn from Nurses
Written by Laura Nelson '21
In the United States, we tend to subscribe to the belief that medicine is a hierarchy in which doctors call all of the shots. Nurses, in contrast, simply do as they are told. This assumption is deeply rooted in the patriarchal history of medicine, which has largely been rejected by modern practitioners in favor of a more progressive, team-based approach.
