Medical Humanities Commons^™

Vermillion, Saptarshi Biswas

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

The sky is vermilion, and the sand below mirrors its hue—a seamless union of heaven and earth in the waning light. The setting sun spills its final radiance across the world, as if reluctant to surrender to night. In this mirrored brilliance lies a quiet truth about human life: that our final moments often reflect the sum of all that came before, casting meaning backward, tinting memory with the soft, forgiving glow of closure.

Just as the sand borrows its color from the sky, so too do our lives borrow significance from what we love, what we lose, and what …

Diastole, Charlaine Chen

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Diastole is the space between heartbeats. It is in this space that the heart actively rests, refills. These periods of relaxation are what allow the next heartbeat to occur. A heart without diastole is in heart failure. In medical training, we are raised on the myth that constant effort equals devotion, that rest is a luxury. A sense of guilt riddles me when I take a sick day, or when I feel I am not doing enough, fast enough. This work is a meditation on the nature of rhythm, and the rhythm of nature. These quiet spaces are not signs …

Facing Dissection, Aya E. Cannon

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

The summer prior to beginning medical school, our anatomy professor prompted us to reflect on the experience of dissection and create an image based on our thoughts and feelings. I was thrilled by the assignment and immediately began listing my emotions. Excitement: For so long, I had worked toward this point, and now the quintessential medical school experience was within reach. I expressed my appreciation for the beauty and complexity of the human body through color and collage, using the vibrant layers to reflect the awe and range of emotions I felt. Nervousness: Despite my enthusiasm, I was faced with …

Rainflakes, Ripples, And The Moonlit Ocean, Saptarshi Biswas

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Raindrops, ripples, and a moonlit sky evoke not just poetic imagery but also profound physiological and psychological responses from deep inside. In a kaleidoscope of colors, rain flakes spiral down like whispers from the cosmos, each droplet a tiny universe reflecting the dreams of wandering souls. They dance upon the surface of puddles, sending ripples that shimmer like liquid silver, weaving a tapestry of sound that resonates with the heartbeat of the earth. As moonlight drips softly from the sky, each moondrop creates a symphony of luminescent echoes, cascading through the air like stardust, inviting us to lose ourselves in …

Lewy Glacier, João Guilherme Bochnia Küster

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

This poem explores the complex intersection of memory, identity and the challenges imposed by Lewy body dementia, using the metaphor of a lost expedition traversing an isolated icy landscape. A profound sense of solitude reflects the disconnection that accompanies the dementia and tremors that follow, while also highlighting the danger of memory loss with mythological sirens representing its perilous allure (with some inspiration from The Odyssey). Through vivid imagery and lyrical language, it delves into the complexities of cognitive decline, providing an artistic reflection on dementia and offering a unique view of the emotional landscape of those affected by …

Message In A Bottle, Saptarshi Biswas

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

The title of the image is inspired by a famous old song by the British rock band The Police. The song featured Sting’s evocative lyrics and captures a profound sense of isolation and longing. The song tells the story of a castaway who sends out a distress signal, only to discover that he is not alone in his feelings of loneliness. Through its haunting melody and rhythmic pulse, the track conveys themes of connection and the human experience, illustrating how, despite physical separation, people share similar struggles and emotions. The metaphor of the bottle serves as a poignant reminder of …

A Resident, Angelina Hong

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

We are all passengers in this life, with unique trails and destinations but many common intersections along the way. I have always been fascinated by the multidimensional nature of the hospital—a place of hope, love, pain, mourning, reflection all at once, not only for patients, but also for friends, family, and employees. At times, journeys become so layered and intertwined that the lines between these different roles are blurred, seemingly dissolving the classical hierarchy we rely on to differentiate physicians, residents, nurses, patients etc. At the end of the day, we are all people persevering and growing the best we …

Two 55-Word Stories: Reasonable Suspicion And There’S An Art To This, Angel Ogbeide

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Narrative medicine, specifically the 55-word story, provides clinicians an opportunity to reflect on experiences they encounter and garner significant meaning from them. These 2 stories discuss difficult situations I have experienced in my practice of medicine.

“Reasonable Suspicion” is an internal reflection on the weight of the complex decisions providers are often faced with (mandatory reporting, etc) and are not emphasized enough in health care. Doing the right thing in a clinical situation is taught. How doing the right thing can make a provider feel is not.

“There’s an Art to This” discusses grief. How do you grieve a patient? …

Behind The Curtain, Angelina Hong

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

One of my favorite themes in medicine is the concept of identity. Medicine is layered. It is continually saving lives, expanding in capabilities, and recruiting new students. But how does it shape us, and where does one draw the line between self and profession?

Physicians are classically a symbol of hope and healing. But medicine is challenging physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Add on top of that the daily burdens of our personal lives, and the responsibility can become quite heavy, making it difficult to walk with a smile every day. There is a time to stand behind a “curtain”, for …

Lyrical Stillness, Madhav Patel

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

“Lyrical Stillness” is a poem I wrote during my radiation oncology rotation, during which I was provided the opportunity to learn more about multidisciplinary cancer care while delving deeper into radiotherapy. Cancer can be an overwhelming disease process physically, psychologically, and emotionally. Patients undergoing treatment often experience stress and anxiety with the uncertainty of their prognoses. In this poem, I describe a patient receiving radiation therapy whom I enjoyed speaking to about his favorite hobby: bird watching. During his subsequent radiation treatment sessions, I decided to play a CD of mockingbirds singing in a tropical forest, in the hopes it …

Turmoil, Derek Kent

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

I painted this picture after tearing up over the phone with her parents. "I think she's passing away," I had told them, "You'd better come up to the hospital." Inexperienced as a brand new physician, I felt like I was drowning in my responsibility over the care of my patients. Real people, with real lives, with real consequences to my decisions. It has gotten easier to feel okay while helping other humans pass away. And it sounds a little dramatic, but I've found ways to help myself cope without being stranded by the waves.

The Heart Of Residency, Julia Fashner, Samantha Gionocchio

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

As part of wellness activities in 2023, our family medicine residents produced individual paintings. Samantha coalesced these 4 x 4 canvases to create this heart. The following quote is also poignant for those of us in family medicine:

Wherever the art of Medicine is loved there is also a love of Humanity. -Hippocrates

Comfort Care, Saptarshi Biswas

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Death does not thrill me anymore. I am a trauma surgeon extraordinaire! The patient had suffered a traumatic brain injury and has struggled for weeks. He is only 16. Today, the family decided to make him “comfort care." I was at the end of my call, exhausted, drained of all energy. I looked out of the ICU window and saw the fading rain and the city lights. It somehow reminded me of a precious life ebbing away, and I burst into a silent scream. I am still human.

Cârța Monastery, Barbara L. Gracious

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

The Cârța Monastery, a former Cistercian monastery, is pictured here from one of its sides, conjuring the romanticism that is beloved in medieval ruins. The photo was taken on a sunny fall afternoon in the Țara Făgărașului region of Romania in southern Transylvania. Cârța Monastery was started around 1202 by a group of Cistercian monks from Egres Abbey in the then-kingdom of Hungary. Cistercian architecture is considered some of the most beautiful of the Middle Ages, and walking the grounds of the Monastery indeed evoked a profound sense of gratitude, awe, and peace in the shadow of its beauty that …

Covid: The Sound Of Silence, Saptarshi Biswas

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

COVID brought its toll of deaths. Something the human race has not experienced in recent times. Something almost unimaginable in the modern world! But having joined a new hospital and moved to a sleepy old town, COVID gave me a sense of solitude I have not experienced for eons. There are times you wonder at the endless ocean in front of you and communicate with your inner soul.

And Yet, Angelina Hong

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

As healthcare workers, invested in the wellbeing of our patients while also hoping to grow as individuals, we sometimes tend to view our jobs as a rigid duality—we are either “in love” with our practice and persevere flawlessly through all hardship, or we are “burnt out,” coldhearted, and defeated by the heavy workload and expectations of medicine.

In reality, we all sit somewhere in the middle of a blurry spectrum, balancing out physical, mental, and emotional pain with the immense honor of saving and cherishing human life, while simultaneously struggling to reconcile our altruistic goals with realistic but necessary human …

Resilience, Nicholas D'Angelo

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

On one of the busiest parkways, in the midst of a spring drought, despite the lack of soil a sunflower blooms. This tiny beacon of hope represents the enduring spirit of humanity managing to struggle through this recent global pandemic. For me as a program director, it conjures to mind my graduating family medicine residents. Due to COVID-19, they had to pull extra shifts in the hospital, flip patients in the ICU, and witnessed death on an unprecedented scale. Despite this adversity, they continue to grow professionally, thrive individually, and show the world their sunny smiling faces.

Ode To My Emr, Kelly T. Clouse

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Our EMRs should empower us, but unfortunately, they often bully and frustrate us. This poem is an expression of my frustration and disappointment with my own EMR. Creating it allowed me to channel my frustration and disappointment.

Ambivalence At 10 000 Feet, Marc Perlman

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

The transition from medical neophyte to seasoned physician is a gradual process spanning the course of many years. However, there are various milestones throughout the experience that capture increases in decision-making capacity and responsibility, such as the switch from pre-clinical to clinical medical education. Medical students in their clinical years are endowed with an abundance of knowledge from their pre-clinical years and are just beginning to synthesize and apply that information to patient care. “Ambivalence at 10 000 Feet” captures a reflection of a third-year medical student on the theoretical decision to provide emergency medical care in the absence of …

My Heart, Mina Bhatnagar

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

A poem expressing a daughter’s love for her father through their shared passions for cardiology and medicine.

Medicine's Roots: Through The Banyan Trees, Emily E. Klosterman

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

I started residency before the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when we were able to see our patient’s faces without masks, give reassuring smiles, and sit closely while discussing a difficult diagnosis. Little did I know that in 2019, the way we practice would change overnight, as an unprecedented virus took hold. We could no longer see our patients’ faces, reassuring smiles were hidden by masks, and close conversations were held at a distance. Our homes became our claustrophobic havens, and the hospitals were saturated with patients.

Driven by a deep-rooted need to assist others, we continued onward. As life …

A Vista Of Kahana Bay, Haryashpal Bhullar

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

This is a picture of Kahana Bay in Honolulu, HI I took when I was visiting my friend stationed at Tripler Army Medical Center last year. Like me, he is a Psychiatry resident and I had not seen him in over a year, so meeting him was quite meaningful to me as we had so much more to talk about. Having this vista behind us while we climbed and shared stories made for one of the best hikes of my life. I often look at this photo and realize the freedom we had to fly to all sorts of beautiful …

Corona, Syed Anjum Khan

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

We all are witnessing unprecedented pain and suffering, enduring unsurpassed tribulations. As a doctor working in an intensive care unit each day, I carry the burden of my patients and their families, my coworkers, my own family and friends. I never think about myself, the burden on my soul.

Yet I believe there will be a better tomorrow. A new day, where COVID times will be remembered with tears in our eyes yet a comfort in our smile that it’s past.

Music And Medicine, Sanjana Sundara Raj Sreenath

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

This digital artwork, titled “Music and Medicine”, explores the role of holistic patient care as well as the important role of music as a therapeutic tool. Patients often seek connection and belonging during illness, and music serves as a powerful tool in healing. The important role of music in minimizing anxiety and improving mental wellbeing has been brought to the forefront during the Covid pandemic, given the drastic increases in depression and anxiety levels during this time.

Lanterns In Marrakesh, Stefan Mann

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

This photo was taken in Marrakesh, Morocco in 2014. I decided to travel there after a few friends inspired me with their descriptions of a beautiful desert-filled country with kind people, mountains and incredibly delicious food. For me, traveling is truly food for the soul. It allows you to break out of the monotony of work-life and potentially step outside of your comfort zone. I absolutely love exploring various cultures and over the course of my life I have traveled to over thirty countries and have back-packed numerous countries solo. There’s no better feeling than embarking on an adventure free …

A Moment Of Peace: An Artistic Representation Of The Influence Of Healthcare On Social Disruption, Nafisa Choudhury

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

This original pen-and-ink artwork features a lily on the water symbolizing peace. As war, distrust, chaos and coups wreak havoc throughout many developing nations, healthcare workers and public health officials should be encouraged that we do in fact have a part to play in managing the human health affected by the disruption. Health work can provide a zone of comfort, spread solidarity and understanding, and manage the human toll of war. Healthcare workers have major roles in peace-keeping efforts as a result of these determinations and their impact on peace should be acknowledged and lauded. We hope that as we …

Movement In Stillness, Shalini Chaliki

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

These images feature the Lower Antelope Canyon which was originally called Hasdestwazi, a Navajo word that means “spiral rock arches.” After hundreds of years, monsoons, winds, and flash floods eroded the slot canyon into the geological wonder that it is today. It enchants tourists and engulfs visitors as it flows around them in every direction. Just east of Page, Arizona, the massive sandstone formation is sacred to the Navajo Nation for its representation of Mother Nature’s many gifts and the passage to time; it is also a reminder that things are larger and greater than ones’ self. While these photos …

We’Re All On This Spaceship Earth, Nancy Si

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

The photo features the geodesic sphere at Epcot, Disney World in Orlando, FL. Inside the dome, there was an iconic ride called “Spaceship Earth”, which has since been shut down for refurbishment. This photo was taken November 2019, approximately 6 months before it was shut down. Much like how the ride emphasized the progress that human civilization has made in the last several hundred years and hopes to make in years to come, the current pandemic has shown us how far we have come in the medicine and other STEM fields. We hope only to do better and be better …