Becoming a Doctor

Caring for patients is a privilege. Learning how to assist and watch patients as they grapple with the challenges and joys life dishes out is a process. If we are paying attention, we gain insights into our own struggles. Medical students from across Minnesota reflect on their experiences in the anatomy lab and the library, on the hospital wards and in clinic exam rooms. Their musings represent the universal experience of learning to negotiate the path of becoming a physician. Several share insights about healing from their own experiences as patients. Some reflect on their times abroad and how caring for patients in those settings gave them insights into their interactions with patients at home in the US. Others examine being different and ministering to patients dissimilar from themselves, a reality in today’s global world. This collection will encourage students considering medicine as a career, inspire other medical students, reinvigorate those in practice and delight readers who are curious about the process of becoming a doctor. Discussion questions are included.