15 55-word

Our research monitor called her trembling an artifact. I almost believed it. She apologized for shaking while the cuff squeezed her arm and the room waited for a number. Outside the graph, her fingers kept closing around the paper bracelet, as if holding her name in place. Measurement began there: pressure, pulse, person, permission, trust.

Author Bio:

Jason Bean is a neuroscience undergraduate and student researcher at Baylor University. This piece explores the tension between recording a physiological signal and attending to the person who produces it.

Written By: Amir Ahmed Sibda 

The child sits on the bed, silent. 
Feeling no pain.  
The child lays on the bed, talking. 
School zones shouldn’t have speeding taxis.  
The child lays on the bed, screaming. 
Betadine burns, and so does the POP cast. 
The child hops off the bed, limping. 
“Thank you” 
She will walk again, but some never do. 

Author Bio:

Written by Amir A. Sibda, a third-year medical student at University of Cape Town, this piece reflects on a clinical encounter at Vanguard CHC. The young girl’s nonchalance highlights how deeply normalised preventable trauma has become in the community. It stands as both a tribute to the resilient children seen in our clinics, and a poignant reminder of the victims who go unseen. 

Written By: Sarah Marion 

She felt like a UWorld question
Purple lips, livedo reticularis, lives on a farm with turtles, oral ulcers, found face-down I fell asleep working her differential  
That’s broad and scary  
This morning she said I must be new because she would have remembered my beautiful dress  
A medical mystery who only has capacity to complement  

Author Bio:

Sarah Marion is a PGY-3 at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and loves using poetry to parse through the challenging parts of medicine.  

Written By: Celokuhle Mbatha

Ghosts gather around his deathbed, whispering about what he might have been. If only he had tried, taken chances, perhaps his story would have been different. Now sixty-five, a retired doctor, divorced and alone, battling prostate cancer. His career consumed his life. Was it worth it? Suddenly he wakes up, realising he’s late for class.

Author Bio:

Celokuhle Mbatha is a third-year medical student at University of Cape Town, South Africa, who wrote this piece to explore the fleeting nature of time, the sacrifices of a medical career and the question of what makes a life well lived.

Written By: Tshegofatso Kgatshe 

I didn’t know she had aphasia.  

I was too concerned with completing my portfolios to notice. 

Soon, I’m performing charades to try and translate her unintelligible murmurs. 

I remain unsuccessful.  

I’m getting frustrated.  

She watches me give up.  

Then, her eyes well with tears, and her voice shakes. 

“Why?” she whispers.  

I understand her now. 

Author Bio:

Tshegofatso is a third-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery student at the University of Cape Town. Inspired by an emotional interaction with one of her first patients, she wrote this piece as a reflection on the lessons that allowed her to grow in empathy, understanding and patient-centered practices.