In the ensuing weeks, I continued with my work, behaving as if the incident had no impact on me while clamping down the embarrassment of being called a racial slur in front of my team. When others asked how I was doing, I said that I was fine in an attempt to make it go away.

Takesha Valentine Cooper, program director of the Psychiatry Residency Training Program and chair of medical school admissions, equity advisor, and vice chair for education in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at the University of California Riverside School of Medicine in Riverside, California discusses the importance of supporting historically marginalized medical students and residents who have faced discrimination.

The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the March 2022 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Guests Will Bynum, MD, and Joe Jackson, MD, join host Toni Gallo to discuss new research into the nature of shame experiences in medical students and emerging work on the implications of premedical students' shame experiences for their professional development. They offer advice for educators and learners for naming, normalizing, and addressing the effects of shame and provide suggestions for fostering a safe, inclusive learning environment and a holistic admissions process that support learners and minimize opportunities for shame triggering experiences. 

Read the article discussed in this episode: Bynum WE IV, Teunissen PW, Varpio L. In the “shadow of shame”: A phenomenological exploration of the nature of shame experiences in medical students. Acad Med. 2021;96:S23-S30. 

A transcript of this episode is available at academicmedicineblorg.org. 

This episode was originally released in August 2019.

Guests Will Bynum, MD, Lara Varpio, PhD, and Ashley Adams, MD, join Toni Gallo and former Academic Medicine editor-in-chief David Sklar, MD, to discuss shame in medicine and medical education, what it is and isn't, how it can be studied, and their research and other work in this area.

Read the articles discussed in this episode: 

Bynum WE IV, Adams AV, Edelman CE, Uijtdehaage S, Artino AR Jr, Fox JW. Addressing the elephant in the room: A shame resilience seminar for medical students. Acad Med. 2019;94:1132-1136.

Bynum WE IV, Artino AR Jr, Uijtdehaage S, Webb AMB, Varpio L. Sentinel emotional events: The nature, triggers, and effects of shame experiences in medical residents. Acad Med. 2019;94:85-93. 

Sklar DP. Recognizing and eliminating shame culture in health professions education. Acad Med. 2019;94:1061-1063.

A transcript of this episode is available at academicmedicineblog.org.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this episode are the authors’ own and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Government, or its agencies. 

Ultimately, whether it is through language, a shared interest, or another shared commonality, finding ways to connect with our patients is an invaluable skill that can transform medicine from a science into an art.

Avani M. Kolla, a fourth-year medical student at New York University Grossman School of Medicine in New York, New York, reflects on how language can act as a stepping stone to forming relationships between patients and providers.

The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the February 2022 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

I realized I never processed what I witnessed, experienced, and lived through. I put it all in a box so I could keep going to work. I sealed the box so that nothing could escape and distract me from the mission at hand: caring for critically ill patients.

Amanda S. Xi, a critical care anesthesiologist in the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, discusses how institutions can help trainees who experienced trauma while caring for patients during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the January 2022 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

I choose to view this not as a story of bias against me, but instead of my attending’s patience and perseverance. His uncompromising kindness made the patient blind to his own preconceived notions. I try to be a role model for my own residents the way that he was for me.

Deepa Danan, assistant professor and medical student clerkship director in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, reflects on remaining compassionate when caring for patients, even when they make misjudgments about their providers.

The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the December 2021 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

The formative experience I had long sought emerged outside the context of feedback itself. I had spent my rotation in search of people who would change me, but I had not expected to find them dressed in johnnies rather than long white coats.

Grace Ferri, a fourth-year medical student at Boston University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts, reflects on the patient who helped her remember where she came from, and—most importantly—where she belonged, during a stressful day on the wards.

The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the December 2021 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

With the mask muffling my voice and the omnipresent sound of monitor alarms, words too, were strained. I grew irate at the situation. The inability to talk. The inability to connect. The inability to touch.

Graduate nursing student Hunter Marshall reflects on isolation and connection during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This essay placed first in the 2021 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the December 2021 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Even in the age of medical miracles, there is still no intervention more powerful than a genuine human connection. There is no lab, no scan, no test, no drug, no surgery, that can replace it. For the soul heals not by human medicine, but human kindness.

Medical student Ross Perry reflects on the most important lesson he learned while caring for a very special patient during his third year of medical school.

This essay placed first in the 2021 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the December 2021 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Dementia does not rob the ears of joy.

Recent nursing school graduate Anna Swartzlander remembers a patient with dementia who shared with her his love of music.

This essay placed second in the 2021 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the November 2021 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.