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 …

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 …

Stillness, Fatima Bawaney

be Still

No abstract provided.

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 …

Sacred Oath Of Healing - Volume 9

be Still

No abstract provided.

The Hidden Scars Of Healing, Amanda Almeida

be Still

A photograph collection of Mark's unique road to healing, and a medical narrative.

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.

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.

Using Adult Learning Characteristics And The Humanities To Teach Undergraduate Healthcare Students About Social Determinants Of Health, Elizabeth A. Brown, Hannah Kinder, Garrett Stang, Wendy Shumpert

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Authors used an andragogy framework to help undergraduate allied health students better understand social determinants of health (SDOH) using a photo essay assignment. The study examined students’ perceptions of SDOH in various communities, description of health outcomes associated with their chosen SDOH, and lessons learned and suggestions to improve the assignment for future cohorts. Data were extracted from photo essays from 2019–2021 and entered in Microsoft Excel and Word for data analysis after course completion. Conventional qualitative content analysis was used to analyze student evaluation data from open-ended questions. Data were extracted from 53 student essays from 2019 to 2021. …

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 …

Capallaries Of Care: Pato Hebert In Conversation With Alex Juhasz, Alexandra Juhasz, Pato Hebert

Publications and Research

Discussion about art show, Lingering: No Silver Linings, about longhaul COVID with artists and organizers, Pato Hebert and Alex Juhasz.

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 …

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 …

Aching For Sacred Spaces, Arjun Mann

Akesis

This image was made in early 2021, inside a local cafe that was operating takeout-only. It is a space that is very dear to me, one in which I spent countless hours (pre-pandemic) studying and reading, rejuvenating and relaxing with friends.

Recently, as I browsed books while waiting for a latte to-go, this scene caught my eye. The warm light pouring in through a large window fell over my favorite table, marked as "unavailable" by the chairs perched upon it. It would remain, understandably, unavailable for months to come. I was reminded, as I so often am these days, of …

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 …

Medicine In Spirituality, Ashesh Soni, Krunal Patel

be Still

Modern day medicine places a major emphasis on appreciating spirituality. A patient’s cultural and religious beliefs are integral when practicing medicine in order to provide the most humanistic care possible to patients. This photograph comes to show the exact opposite, medicine in spirituality. Medicine is an integral part of a medical professional's life and it serves as a major defining characteristic of an individual. Though viewed as objective and subjective, medicine and spirituality are all one.

Clay And Stone, Jess W. Rempel

Akesis

Clay handprints on a canyon wall in southern Utah, found after the people who made them had gone. The Navajo sandstone of the canyon wall dates to the Jurassic period, with a record of eons revealed by the water that carved the canyon away. People love to leave their mark on places that make marks on them: some of the earliest recorded graffiti in Pompeii simply read "Gaius was here." I enjoyed stumbling upon the hand prints which allowed me into the hikers' experience, and their joy could add to the lasting impression that place made upon me. Our experiences …

Making A Mountain Of A Mole Hill, Nihit N. Mehta

Akesis

There are times when students develop a certain amount of tunnel vision, which focuses their vision at the problem in front, making the proverbial "mountain out of a molehill.”