Medical Humanities Commons^™

Lifting Others, Kevin G. Budziszewski

Akesis

Medicine is full of paradoxes. As a species, we often need to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others. As humans, we become more energetic by the energy-intensive process of exercise. As physicians, we elevate ourselves by lifting others. Through all of the unexpected worries and complications that crop up in life – finances, illness, and indeed an understanding of our own mortality – it is through these three paradoxes of self-care that we survive the complications that life throws at us.

During my first year of medical school, I have grown to understand how important …

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.”

(Least) Complicated, Masina G. Wright

Akesis

The personal has always been a microcosm of the political.

Dear Mabel (Please Allow Me To Inhabit Your Pain Awhile), Jack C. Lewis

Akesis

This started as a note that I would have sent a patient I treated while working as a paramedic in Central Maine. Despite best intentions in caring for patients, we don't always walk away having "won." The practice of medicine is difficult for everyone, but it is necessarily a process and life-long endeavor.

Reflection, Interrupted: Material Mirror Work In The Confessio Amantis, Jenny Boyar

Accessus

The Confessio Amantis concludes with a revelatory scene in which Venus holds up a mirror to Amans, allowing him to recognize John Gower the poet— a moment that is often read as a mimetic and healing counterpoint to the Confessio’s sickness and self-questioning. My intention in this paper is to very slightly modify certain aspects of this narrative, to consider how the materiality of the mirror can inform its metaphoric deployments in the Confessio. I organize my discussion around two seemingly contrasting moments in the poem in which the self is seen and in different ways recognized through …

Calcium Phosphate As A Key Material For Socially Responsible Tissue Engineering, Vuk Uskoković, Victoria M. Wu

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Socially responsible technologies are designed while taking into consideration the socioeconomic, geopolitical and environmental limitations of regions in which they will be implemented. In the medical context, this involves making therapeutic platforms more accessible and affordable to patients in poor regions of the world wherein a given disease is endemic. This often necessitates going against the reigning trend of making therapeutic nanoparticles ever more structurally complex and expensive. However, studies aimed at simplifying materials and formulations while maintaining the functionality and therapeutic response of their more complex counterparts seldom provoke a significant interest in the scientific community. In this review …

Heavy Expectations: Reading Pregnancy In The Victorian Novel, Livia Arndal Woods

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation articulates the tendency of Victorian novels to make legible only the pregnant bodies of immodest characters who transgress gendered ideologies while the pregnant bodies of modest characters tend to go undescribed. Tracing the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth over the course of the long nineteenth century, my chapters demonstrate the function of moralizing narrative conventions in the representation of pregnancy in mid-Victorian novels, of a self-conscious use of free indirect diagnosis in high-Victorian fiction, and a shift at the fin-de-siècle from pregnancy as a signifier of morality to a symptom of unstable minds. The novels I read closely …

Abuse And Discrimination Towards Indigenous People In Public Health Care Facilities: Experiences From Rural Guatemala, Alejandro Cerón, Ana Lorena Ruano, Silvia Sánchez, Aiken S. Chew, Diego Díaz, Alison Hernández, Walter G. Flores

Anthropology: Faculty Scholarship

Background

Health inequalities disproportionally affect indigenous people in Guatemala. Previous studies have noted that the disadvantageous situation of indigenous people is the result of complex and structural elements such as social exclusion, racism and discrimination. These elements need to be addressed in order to tackle the social determinants of health. This research was part of a larger participatory collaboration between Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Servicios de Salud (CEGSS) and community based organizations aiming to implement social accountability in rural indigenous municipalities of Guatemala. Discrimination while seeking health care services in public facilities was ranked …

Biopsychosocial Factors Of Resilience In The Medically Indigent Adult Population, Kaitlin E. Puckett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The medically indigent adult population continues to struggle with the effects of not having insurance coverage, despite the efforts of the Affordable Care Act to provide more affordable healthcare coverage to the population. Based on the United States Census Bureau’s reported population in 2015, an estimated 45 million Americans are without insurance. This study aims to identify and explore the impacts of the biopsychosocial factors of resilience that enable the population to face adversity, stress, and manage distress in the face of trauma (Masten, Best, & Garmezy, 1990; Rutter, 2006; Zimmerman, 2015). Four hypotheses follow a review of literature and …

Rest, My Dear, Seher Chowhan

be Still

This is a painting of one of my best friends, Heba. It is from a night when a couple of us were hanging out at my house in high school. Heba was resting on my bed while we were talking and she was caught totally unaware when the picture was taken. She is Muslim (we both are) and Egyptian. Her religion is very important to her, as you can see by the fact she is wearing her hijab. She was so beautiful that I had to paint her. Though she is completely covered, the pictures shows her in a state …

Bliss, Nergess Taheri

be Still

On a mission trip last year to Ecuador while I was waiting for the next surgery to begin I was able to capture this moment. The surgeon I was working with had leaned in to reassure the patient that he would be OK. You can truly see the love she has for her patient and the trust the boy has in her as his surgeon. This piece shows the true female form as a physician in her natural environment.

Untitled, Dianna Silvagni

be Still

Art is a very personal statement. When viewing art I look for pieces to which I can relate and enjoy, whether they are realistic or abstract. When I create a piece of art it is my personal observations, experiences and spiritual connection to the piece that helps me create it. After many years of working in charcoal, chalk pastels and acrylics, mostly creating art centered around the female form, I decided to try sculpting in clay. I found the experience to be really challenging, but enjoyable.

This piece is an attempt to bring many pieces of my life with my …

Volume 1, Issue 1, Be Still

be Still

No abstract provided.

Musings From The Dean, Elaine M. Wallace

be Still

No abstract provided.

Design Introduction, Patt Gateley

be Still

Artist Statement on the be Still logo created for the journal.

Editor's Introduction, Janet Lynn Roseman

be Still

No abstract provided.

Cultivation, Erudition, Edification, Ariel Lee

be Still

Cultivation, Erudition, Edification is an exercise of self-portraiture. Few careers are as all encompassing, and all consuming as that as a physician. Becoming a physician is a metamorphosis, it changes who you are and becomes an intrinsic part of who you become. As a medical student, I am measured first by my intellect, and then by my communication skills, social competence and responsibility. In a way, I am somewhat disembodied by my profession. Everyday life comes with a mask on your face, bulky scrubs obscuring your gender and the epochal white coat spilling over with notes, books and instruments. Gender …

Guest Editor's Introduction, Rosa De La Cruz, Ibett Yanez, Melissa Wallen

be Still

No abstract provided.

Untitled, Haley Talboy

be Still

I am originally from Boise, Idaho and have wanted to be a doctor since before I can remember. I believe the power of observation to be vital for a physician. I also believe true beauty can be experienced from the eyes, whether looking within or out into the world.

Untitled, Robert Contrucci

be Still

Throughout the history of human existence the ability of the female form to bear offspring has remained a marvel of medicine and science prying the boundaries of our creator. This black and white silhouette of the female form with child gives us a positive and powerful statement. From this comes life, which fuels our mind and powers to help create, preserve, and maintain the health of the human form and fight disease.