Everyone has a story, and each story is unique, intimate, and powerful. Our Narrative series invites you to step inside someone else’s life by reading their story, as told in their own words. Readers, please come open-minded and ready to engage in one of the many stories that makes our community complete. The following is the narrative of Luisa Moncada Lopez, a first-year medical student at KUMC.
Amidst all of the changes with COVID-19, one thing that has stayed the same for the KUMC Class of 2023 is exams and the post-exam, pre-score period – now complicated by having much less to distract us while we sit at home and wait. We asked some members of the M1 class about their favorite post-exam traditions (and whether they’ve changed), as well as if they have found any new favorite social distancing activities.
Continue reading “Favorite Activities: Post-Exam and COVID-19”
The night was young when the radio crackled to life. We couldn’t believe our luck. They told us the search and rescue missions wouldn’t start for another week, but here we had someone that couldn’t continue their hike. Eager to test our skills, we quickly gathered our supplies into the truck ambulance. When I look back on all my clinical experiences, the Philmont rotation outside of Cimarron, New Mexico, is certainly my favorite. Established in 1938 as Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp, Philmont Scout Ranch has become a center for high adventure and training.1 For emergency medical technician students and medical students like me, this site offers a unique clinical training in wilderness and prehospital medicine high up in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Rockies.1 Below the peaks in basecamp, the Philmont Infirmary is the central hub for this medical four-week sub-internship rotation, and it all began on my first night.
This post was adapted from the University of Washington School of Medicine: https://faculty.uwmedicine.org/55-word-stories/. Likewise, the instructions used to solicit these reflections were adapted from Sheetz, A and Fry, M The Stories, JAMA 2000 Vol 283(15)1934.
Sharing our experiences in health care, especially during intense, emotional, or stressful times increases our connectedness and well-being. Hearing stories from others helps us know we are not alone, and strengthens our community. The authenticity, compassion, creativity, and bravery of our colleagues help us access our own emotions, and helps us carry on.
“The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma.” – Patrick
Three Cats at the Winter Window (Cross stitch)
Continue reading “Cross Stitching: Family, Fundraising, and Fun”
[Featured below] are two “starter” embroidery pieces I found patterns for, and I decided to try my hand at embroidery as an outlet for some stress and anxiety during my second year. I learned to sew from both of my grandmothers and how to cross stitch from my mom at a very young age, and in college I did some free-hand embroidery on a jean jacket I wore all of the time. I got tons of compliments on the anatomical heart and eye that I did on my jacket, and found that embroidery was similar to basic sewing, but with so much more of an artistic flair. It is basically painting, but instead of using paint, you create the color and texture using embroidery floss (fancy thread). Embroidery can be very difficult, but the finished pieces are so beautiful and satisfying that it more than makes up for the time I spent on them and the number of times I stabbed myself with needles!
Continue reading “On Pins and Needles”
MCAT’s. Pre-med classes. Applications. This trifecta of medical school requirements brings chills to the most accomplished of medical students and especially more-so to college students aspiring to become doctors. Pre-med students face many obstacles that can make the application process extremely overwhelming. Often questions arise such as “What classes should I take?” or “Who should I find as a mentor?” Luckily there are two first year medical students at KUMC who are happy to help. First year medical students Kiatana Ferguson-Square and Florence Osei created a podcast called “Melanin in Medicine”, which aims to provide advice to aspiring medical students, discuss their own experiences with medicine, and interview others in the medical field.
Miranda Machacek, M4, Class of 2020
I laid my original white coat to rest at a beach in Auckland, New Zealand after my final day of an international clinical rotation. White coat disposal ceremonies are a tradition I must confess I have greatly anticipated. I had grown to resent that coat and what it meant. Its characteristic short length was an immediate signal to any healthcare professional in the hospital that I was a student – perhaps to some savvy patients as well. I frequently felt the weight of the “student” label while walking through the hospital. The real or imagined looks of patients, nurses, residents, and attendings that said I was a temporary time-waster at best and utterly incompetent at worst.
Med Intima 