• Skip to main content
  • Skip to main content
Choose which site to search.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Logo University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Medicine and Meaning
  • UAMS Health
  • Jobs
  • Giving
  • About Us
    • Submission Guidelines
  • Issues
  • Fiction
  • Non-fiction
  • Poetry
  • Conversations
  • Images
  • 55-Word Stories
  • History of Medicine
  1. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  2. Medicine and Meaning
  3. Take a Bow

Take a Bow

By Andrew Oh

Before walking out of the patient’s room, I bowed and spread my hands out, signifying respect and a thankfulness for one’s presence in our culture. He began to tear up – although I had been waiting for my first Samoan patient, he had been waiting much longer for his first Samoan provider.

“Keep going.”

I smiled.

Andrew Oh is a medical student from Seattle who wrote this piece after a shift in the Emergency Department.

Posted on April 15, 2025

Filed Under: 11 – 55 Word Stories

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences LogoUniversity of Arkansas for Medical SciencesUniversity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Mailing Address: 4301 West Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72205
Phone: (501) 686-7000
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement

© 2025 University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences