What I Learned as a Doctor

By YJ Kim, MD. Physician, Writer, and Author of "What Every Science Student Should Know," published by the University of Chicago Press.

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I got my vaccine last Friday. For the first time in a long time, I have hope.

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Fourth week of wards, more COVID-19 patients, grim sense of humor.

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In the hospital, some consultants are very pleasant to work with. Others are decidedly not. But my gripe is this: It’s really easy being nice, and it takes effort to be mean. If one has to do a job anyway, why be rude at all?

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So many deaths have been utterly unnecessary. I can’t think of a worse way to die than while intubated and isolated, surrounded by strangers, without your loved ones at your side.

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“We found love in a hopeless place” -Rihanna. I mean, we all know dating within the residency program is a risky move, but people can’t stop falling in #love.

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This Thanksgiving, stay safe and stay smart. This way, we will have more to be thankful for in the coming year.

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At my hospital, physicians MUST make their medical notes accessible to our patients. Problem is, some of the notes are incomprehensible to even to other physicians. I wonder what patients will make of them. (FYI for those not in medicine, S.O.B. in medicine = ”Short/Shortness of Breath”)

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Hospitals are where nice shoes go to die. #MedTwitter #MedStudentTwitter #premed #medicine #physician #hospital #patientcare #medhumanities #shoes #doctor

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When #science journals editors ask you to cut down your full paper into a research letter (after spending months/years on it), it feels as if you’ve been asked to cut thru your very soul.

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I just finished worked with amazing interns and residents in surgery. They work so hard, sometimes against impossible odds, and occasionally pulled off miracles. My team was amazing.

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The enthusiasm that some physicians have for their specialty is palpable. It warms my cold, cynical heart.

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A cartoon that I drew for Daylight Saving Time. Some people have all the bad luck.

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I am definitely anticipating a busy Halloween trauma service. #hospital #trauma #surgery #medicine #doctor #werewolf #halloween #spooktober #physician

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Rejected magazine article illustration, inspiration for the piece was the “lofi hip hop radio” girl. 

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All physicians are plague doctors in 2020, when reality is scarier than any Halloween display . Stay safe.

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Happy Halloween!

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I got my M.D. from an academic institution filled with specialists, so I’m amazed by the procedural breadth of the general surgeons at my county hospital. Still, I’ve heard that out of necessity, the true generalists are a dying breed. #surgery #physician #Academia #medicine