If ...then.... Rituals to make you more reflective in the moment We all have important things we want to accomplish, but there are so many distractions and stumbling blocks that may get in our way. Here, writer Bina Venkataraman shares a startlingly easy strategy to use to defeat future challenges.
Thriving in Scrubs: Making Mistakes One of the most traumatic experiences doctors go through is making mistakes. Though they try to prevent errors at all costs, they will inevitable make mistakes at some point in their training and career. How can they cope with the repercussions – for the patient as well as for themselves, legally, mentally, and emotionally? How can the medical community support one another through the process, instead of silencing the mistake, thus perpetuating shame and guilt?
Thriving in Scrubs: Mothering While Doctoring Becoming pregnant and having children is a part of life for many doctors that challenges their efforts to balance their personal and professional selves. This deeply human experience adds insight into the experiences that patients have, but adds weight to the personal demands and experiences the doctors have.
Thriving in Scrubs: How Much Time Do I Have, Doctor? Fictional accounts of medical encounters often feature the conversation when a patient asks their doctor to predict the outcome of their disease. Doctors in real life have to answer these questions, too, but without the benefit of a pre-written script. Thinking about prognostication means trying to answer difficult questions, but more importantly trying to get to the heart of what the patient may really be wondering. It’s about trying to connect with the heart of what patients need in times of uncertainty about their health. It’s also about understanding how these conversations affect us doctors as people who struggle with some of the same questions ourselves.
Thriving in Scrubs: Normal People At some point in their education, doctors start talking about “normal people” with a mixture of envy and curiosity. Why do doctors feel this distance from others, and from the parts of their own selves outside of their profession? We talk to Nicole, Sarah and Emma, three OBGYN residents at different stages of training about how they recognize, love and forgive the normal parts of themselves. Spoiler alert: it’s all about the friends who keep us from feeling alone.
Wit by Margaret Edson A powerful investigation into the aspects of life that make it worth living, the nuances of relationships and how one’s approach to life and death can change throughout the process of “living out” one’s end.
We Need a Heroic Narrative for Death by Amanda Bennett A powerful talk arguing that having hope for a happy ending of a loved one’s life does not warrant a diagnosis of “denial.” A call to match the heroic narratives we have in life with a heroic narrative for death.
Dying Father has Last First Dance with Daughter by Gabe Gutierrez Video and short text - Rachel Wolf had always dreamed of her wedding - gown, makeup, guests, and family. When her father, Dr. James Wolf, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had only 3 months to live, she knew she had to find a way, groom or no groom, to have a first dance with him.
How long have I got left? A young neurosurgeon describes his struggle with living and dying, in the framework of incurable cancer.
Wit by Margaret Edson A powerful investigation into the aspects of life that make it worth living, the nuances of relationships and how one’s approach to life and death can change throughout the process of “living out” one’s end.
We Need a Heroic Narrative for Death by Amanda Bennett A powerful talk arguing that having hope for a happy ending of a loved one’s life does not warrant a diagnosis of “denial.” A call to match the heroic narratives we have in life with a heroic narrative for death.