Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, June 11, 2021
In This Special Residents and Fellows Issue:

Editor's Corner



Dreaming of home
Kathleen Monahan, DO
Perspectives/Opinions

Take 3

Art Submission
  • Kathleen Monahan, DO: Dreaming of home

Poetry Corner
  • Robert Frost: The Tuft of Flowers


Your Turn



Announcements & Resources

Editor's Corner
Remembering Your Residency Family





by Alicia Pilarski, DO; and Kathlyn E. Fletcher, MD, MA

Kern GME Pillar directors Alicia Pilarski and Kathlyn Fletcher share with today’s residents how their own experiences during residency led to lifelong, supportive, and important relationships... 

June is a time filled with so much nostalgia and excitement. There are so many endings in June.  But of course, endings almost always make room for beginnings. This weekend, I (KF) had a Zoom call with members of the graduating class of 1996 from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine. How can it have been twenty-five years since I graduated? But that ending made way for the beginning of my residency which would ultimately become the most formative years of my professional life.   

Perspective/Opinion
Words of Gratitude, Encouragement and Strength From the Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and DIO

by Kenneth B. Simons, MD


Dr. Simon reflects on the past year and thanks the MCWAH graduating housestaff for their strength and inspiration …

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” 
Lao Tzu
 
The journey of becoming a physician is a difficult one; quite understandable given the importance of what the responsibilities are. Thus, completion of the residency or fellowship training portion of this journey in “normal” times is a remarkable achievement. In extraordinary times such as this, it is a feat of incalculable proportions. You, the 2021 graduates of our 98 ACGME accredited programs along with our non-accredited GME programs have been tested like no other prior graduates.

Perspective/Opinion
Small Moments of Human Connection Make all the Difference

by J. Daren Covington, DO



Dr. Covington reflects on the moments of empathy and connection that make a difference for patients…


As someone who has been on all sides of medicine as a patient, as a father, and as a physician, I’ve tried my best to bring all my life experiences to the table when taking care of my patients. Some of the most meaningful and impactful moments during residency have been during my time in labor and delivery (L&D). A vast majority of these patients are young, healthy women presenting for normal labor pain and might be the very first time they are in the hospital for any reason at all. Several patients that I’ve interacted with were very defensive because of either poor past experiences with medical personnel, horror stories from the internet, and/or other physical or mental abuse and trauma. There have been times when I felt the medical staff in general have judged the patient harshly during their care because of something the patient has said or done upon arrival. I try to put myself in the patient’s shoes and remember that the patients are doing the best that they can under the circumstances while still trusting in us to provide the best medical care possible.

Perspective/Opinion
The Experience That Changed My Perspective on Everything


by Kaitlin Kirkpatrick, MD


Dr. Kirkpatrick writes movingly on how experiencing her own illness had a profound influence on how she sees others who suffer...

Four years of medical school, 2.5 years of residency under my belt, I entered spring of my 3rd year of residency as a confident and competent senior resident. I knew how to manage my inpatient team: which tests and procedures we needed to order right away, how to triage pages from nurses, and how much time we could allot to each patient we rounded - the essentials that kept us efficient and on top of our workload. Then one day I got sick, and everything changed.

Perspective/Opinion
Reflecting on Medical School and Residency

by Buba Marong, MD




Dr. Marong reflects on his journey of gratitude through MCW as a student and resident ...

It has been quite the journey, these past seven years. As I conclude what I considered to be the most meaningful endeavor of my adult life, I am filled with a range of emotions, but perhaps the sentiment that overshadows them all is GRATITUDE. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity and privilege to realize this childhood goal of mine in this faraway land. A land so far away from where I grew up, yet it never quite feels foreign to me. America always feels like home to me because I consider myself so lucky to have crossed paths with some amazing human beings; human beings whose impact on my growth - both personally and professionally – has been immeasurable.

Take 3 with Eric Holmboe, MD, MACP, FRCP
Reflection on Residency and the ACGME During a Pandemic


 Dr. Holmboe, a leader in graduate medical education, describes an important lesson he learned during training, covers what the ACGME has done to adapt to the pandemic, and gives this year’s graduates some sage advice. He was interviewed by Transformational Times editor, Kathlyn Fletcher, MD, MA.



Dr. Holmboe answers the following questions:

  • Tell me a story about something that occurred during residency that influenced the development of your character as a doctor ad a person.
  • What do you think was the most important role the ACGME played during the past year? Was that something you (as a group) explicitly decided?
  • What words of wisdom would you share with the residents who are graduating this month?
Dreaming of home
by Kathleen Monahan, DO, MCW Department of Medicine Chief Resident
The Tuft of Flowers
I went to turn the grass once after one
Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.
 
The dew was gone that made his blade so keen
Before I came to view the levelled scene.
 
I looked for him behind an isle of trees;
I listened for his whetstone on the breeze.
 
But he had gone his way, the grass all mown,
And I must be, as he had been,—alone,
 
‘As all must be,’ I said within my heart,
‘Whether they work together or apart.’
 
But as I said it, swift there passed me by
On noiseless wing a ‘wildered butterfly,
 
Seeking with memories grown dim o’er night
Some resting flower of yesterday’s delight.
 
And once I marked his flight go round and round,
As where some flower lay withering on the ground.
 
And then he flew as far as eye could see,
And then on tremulous wing came back to me.
 
I thought of questions that have no reply,
And would have turned to toss the grass to dry;
 
But he turned first, and led my eye to look
At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook,
 
A leaping tongue of bloom the scythe had spared
Beside a reedy brook the scythe had bared.
 
I left my place to know them by their name,
Finding them butterfly weed when I came.
 
The mower in the dew had loved them thus,
By leaving them to flourish, not for us,
 
Nor yet to draw one thought of ours to him.
But from sheer morning gladness at the brim.
 
The butterfly and I had lit upon,
Nevertheless, a message from the dawn,
 
That made me hear the wakening birds around,
And hear his long scythe whispering to the ground,
 
And feel a spirit kindred to my own;
So that henceforth I worked no more alone;
 
But glad with him, I worked as with his aid,
And weary, sought at noon with him the shade;
 
And dreaming, as it were, held brotherly speech
With one whose thought I had not hoped to reach.
 
‘Men work together,’ I told him from the heart,
‘Whether they work together or apart.’
fresh_tomatoes_basket.jpg




Tomatoes right off the vine! Grilled brats.
- Denise Curran, staff




Watermelon
- Lynn, staff
food_summer.jpg






Summer is hamburgers on the grill, corn on the cob and watermelon!
- Debra Bryant




Fresh tomato and basil open-face sandwich - yum. Maybe with a side of crunchy gazpacho!
- Linda Meurer, Faculty




Ice cold watermelon!
- Niki Karp, staff




Normalcy!
- Lauren North, Resident

Respond to next week's reflection prompt:


If you could be any animal, which would you pick and why?
  
paper-people-chain.jpg

Residents and Fellows:

We are inviting applications from residents and fellows to join our GME Pillar as a team member.

Develop your leadership skills by participating in the planning and executing of programs for residents and fellows, and participate in innovative scholarly projects along with us.


RFP for GME Connectedness/Wellbeing Program

The Kern Institute’s GME Pillar and MCWAH are happy to announce a program to increase connectedness and well-being across MCWAH’s GME programs. 

Residency and fellowship programs are invited to submit proposals for programming/activities that would enhance connectedness and well-being between GME programs.

Proposals should include at least TWO programs and up to $500 can be requested. A post-activity report is required. Please see the Request for Proposal (RFP) below for details and submit your proposals before August 2, 2021, below.  

If you need more information, please email dsyam@mcw.edu
Shape the Movement Toward Human Flourishing

KNN Conversations


The KNN is holding small-group conversations to obtain feedback on its integrated framework and inform future activities. 

Help shape the direction of the KNN by sharing how you think the work of caring and character within the medical profession is supporting—and can better support—human flourishing.
KNN Student Session
June 15, 2021
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. CT
KNN Faculty/Staff Session
June 17, 2021
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. CT
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