Guest Post: To Honor The Human Experience A Critical Lesson In Medical School

As medical students it is critical we zoom in and understand the science of medicine. It is critical we understand cellular processes, the mechanics of our body, and the chemical and physiological impacts our treatments have on a person.

It is critical we achieve a deep understanding and respect for those things that make us tick and those changes and injuries that can make us sick.

This deep-dive makes it all the more crucial for me to remind myself to zoom out, recognize and honor the human experience. This system can feel like it pulls you away from those very things that inspired you to become a physician. At times it can feel like those things that keep you rooted in serving your community are the things that drain you the most. Yet, what we chose to build our framework and what we choose to build our career from cannot be forgotten as we dig deep and study for the exams we must take.

I just ended a two-week rotation on Palliative Care and I am grateful for the experience. This was the rotation I was the most afraid of experiencing because I was not sure what it would surface for me. John Thompson always reminds me to reflect and to process so that I can move forward and continue working hard. I am writing so that my heart and mind have clarity; I am writing so that I honor my own journey and my intimate relationship with illness, death and dying.

Over the span of my shifts, I witnessed nurses and physicians care for their patients while gently affirming the needs and contributions of the caregivers. I watched as the spouse of a dying man grappled the reality of his prognosis and the limitations to what she could do for him. I watched as he (the patient) assured her that she had done enough for him and that his decision to go to a hospice facility would give them the opportunity to spend much needed quality time.

It makes me think of the daily absence my father must feel and the life that has to be rebuilt for anyone that has lost a loved one.

I drank coffee with a different patient and his wife while they reported the events over the weekend to the nurse overseeing his care. I was reminded about the daily updates Barhaza Franco would give me about my mother and my constant need to know the play-by-play when I was not able to visit her. Its a reminder that I was raised by fierce brown women. Its a reminder of the strength and patience we as a family tried to maintain as each of us had our waves of burnout.

In our weekly group debriefing, we talked through the many ways pain is felt and experienced as well as the different methods of managing them. We learned about the differences between palliative versus hospice care and the sensitivity needed to talk through these options as a person becomes terminally ill.

There is so much trust that is given to physicians; there is so much trust that needs to be earned. We have to recognize that we see people in their most vulnerable states.

We will deliver devastating news more than once and there will be moments where we will have to walk patients and their families through unbearable life-changing decisions. The best advice I can give myself is to treat each person and family with the same respect, patience and attention that I gave my mother.

Power and love to any person that has witnessed the death of a loved one

Power and love to any person that was not able to say goodbye

Power and love to any person that has had to make a life ending decision for a loved one

Power and love to any person that has been a caregiver

Power and love to anyone that walks around each day missing a loved one they have lost

Power and love to any person that has held space for a grieving friend or family member

Power and love for anyone that has felt guilty for feeling burned out

Power and love to the illness narratives that have never been heard

#queeringmedicine #powerandlove #honoryourjourney #medstudentsofcolor




Mauricio "Jimmy" Franco is a second-year student at the College of Human Medicine. The California-native graduated with a BA in Chicanx Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles and a MS in Global Medicine from the University of Southern California. 

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