Third- and fourth-year medical students completing clinical rotations enter a new and challenging world. Finally, the students are face-to-face with patients on a daily basis; finally, they begin that delicate balancing act between symptoms and suffering. For two years they have focused on learning and memorizing the many ways the body can betray us. They enter the hospital determined to track every symptom into its original lair where they will attempt to help remove it, eradicate it, reduce it-whatever it takes to restore the patient and prove their own mettle as physicians in training. "Lighthouse Keeping" by Kay Ryan, though it never mentions medicine, can become a touchstone for medical students to measure their response to patients during clinical rotations.
展开▼
