The Inner World of Medical Students

Listening to Their Voices in Poetry

by Johanna Shapiro

Contents:
Medical Education as a Rite of Passage (Chapter 1)
Background Medical education as a rite of passage Shortcomings in the current rite of medical passage

Functions of writing for medical students (Chapter 2)

Reflective writing in medical school Narrative typologies Chaos stories Restitution stories Journey stories Witnessing stories Transcendence stories Limitations of writing

Why Study Medical Student Poetry? (Chapter 3)

Unique features of poetry Methodology Qualitative data analysis of poetic texts Poetry as qualitative data Poetic exceptionalism?

Living Anatomy: The Experience of Cadaver Dissection (Chapter 4)

Anatomy as a rite of passage The cadaver as guide and teacher The student as a conduit of knowledge Donation The cadaver as a person Physical intimacy Identification with the cadaver Journey of cadaver and student Emotional responses to dissection Violation requiring forgiveness Suppression of and detachment from emotion Philosophical reflections on life, death, and love

Am I a doctor Yet? Becoming a Physician (Chapter 5)

The medical school applicant interview Transition to medical school Stultifying environment of medical school Sacrifice of personal lives Fear, exhaustion, being overwhelmed Exploitation and humiliation Negative personal changes

Its not only whats in your brain, its whats in your heart: becoming a physician part II (Chapter 6)
Lack of knowledge Learning and acquisition of knowledge Increasing knowledge, skill, and confidence Developing an understanding of doctoring

Oh Doctor, doctor, what can I do? (Chapter 7)

Becoming a patient Patient pleas for empathy and compassion Patients fears and suffering Stigmatized voices Vulnerability/courage of child patients Personal experience of illness

A friendly touch would have done so much (Chapter 8)

The doctor-patient relationship Pre-clinical observations about the doctor-patient relationship Positive views of the doctor-patient relationship in the clinical years Positive views of pediatricians Negative views of the doctor-patient relationship in the clinical years Negative physician images in pediatrics Physician encounters with patients Families

You are my patient let us take flight! (Chapter 9)

Student-patient relationships Connection with patients Identification with the patient Countertransference Patient as teacher Medical student as advocate and ally of the patient Student/patient/family relationships Emotional caring and connection

If they dont care, why should I? Student-patient relationships II (Chapter 10)

Separation between student and patient Detachment Mistakes with patients Limitations of patients/limited control of patients

Tickling the conscience: the intersection of medicine and social justice (Chapter 11)
Societal problems Intersection of healthcare and societal problems Underserved, uninsured, and minority patients Language discordance Drug and alcohol abuse Child abuse Domestic violence and rape Abortion

I am afraid as I ponder that inevitable end: death and dying (Chapter 12)
Death of loved ones Dying patients Calls for more limits to medical intervention Death as a normal part of life Accompanying the patient on the journey toward death Philosophizing about the nature of death

Is this the way of life? Reflections on love and life (Chapter 13)
The anguish of lost love The miracle of loved gained How to live life

Strangers in a strange land: what matters to medical students on their journey and how they tell about it (Chapter 14)
Anatomy Becoming a doctor Becoming a patient Doctor-patient relationships Student-patient relationships Medicine and social justice Death and dying Love and life

Postscript:
writing rings around death