April Newsletter
- amwautd
- Apr 5
- 32 min read
2026 Edition
“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”
-- William Shakespeare
The Editor's Take: Home Stretch
Happy spring ❀.ೃ𓍢⋆ , AMWA UTD!
My name is Gauri, and I wanted to start off by saying that we're in the home stretch! For those of you graduating, congratulations, for those of you excited for summer break, congratulations! This April, we continue to feature your favorite columns -- Spotlight, What's Poppin', and The Sex Talk You've Never Had -- while also continuing our exciting new column: Booked. This month, I will be helping us continue to page through the life of Atul Gawande, MD, MPH in his book Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science.
I wanted to wish you all the best of luck in your exams. It seems like us STEM majors don't really have midterms week, at least I don't, because my exams are scattered throughout the semester. As always, Texas weather has been so turbulent. I hope you guys are staying warm, cool, and out of the sun! Please continue taking care of yourselves, sleeping properly, and using sunscreen as the UV index keeps rising!
This month, our committee of writers includes: Abhi Saravanan, Amani Ahmed, Samhitha Palla, Sasha Burford, Sarah Sunelwala, and Sahaana Anand. Each of these writers has written an individual article about something close to their hearts as well as a paired column article.
The time has come where we are accepting new applications for newsletter writers. We warmly encourage all interested AMWA UTD members to submit this application. Please feel free to email me at gauri.guruprasad@utdallas.edu with any questions!
I hope you enjoy getting to know the issues that are near and dear to our writers' hearts. They all did fantastic jobs this month, with so many relevant, important, and extremely informative articles.
Happy reading,
❤︎ 𖥧 Gauri 𖥧 ❤︎
Booked: Complications by Dr. Atul Gawande
By: Gauri Guruprasad
Read the Book! Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Dr. Atul Gawande
To cut, or not to cut, that is the question…
That line sounds quite dramatic, but after reading Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, it feels like a real question that shows up in medicine more often than people think. Not in a Shakespearean way, but in the pensive moments where a physician has to decide what to do without having full certainty.
Gawande presents medicine as a practice shaped by uncertainty and personal judgment. His main thesis is that medicine functions as an imperfect science because it depends on people who are constantly learning through experience. He writes from the point of view of a surgeon who respects the work of clinicians but understands the limits and pressure that shape their decisions. His bias is clear in the confidence he places in medical professionals to make the best choices they can, even when those choices involve risk. He sees mistakes as part of caring for patients and as something that reflects the difficulty of the work rather than a simple failure. Across his stories, from unclear chronic pain cases to procedural complications like a misplaced central line, he shows that medicine moves forward through uncertainty, reflection, and repeated adjustment.
What resonated with me most was how harrowingly vivid those situations felt. The chronic pain patients who do not fit into cut-and-dry categories reminded me that not every patient I hope to have the pleasure of seeing in the future will match what I studied. I can picture being in clinic, trying to make sense of symptoms that do not fully add up, and having to rely on careful listening and pattern recognition instead of a clear answer. His central line story was harder to read because it showed how quickly things can go wrong under pressure. As someone who appreciates those who strive for high-stakes fields like neurosurgery, that level of responsibility feels tremendous. It made me think less about being picture perfect and more about being able to stay calm, think clearly, learn from whatever happens, and continuously adapt.
For future healthcare professionals, especially women in medicine, this perspective matters. Many of us are used to proving ourselves (especially because we are women) through being right and being extremely prepared. Medicine does not always reward that in a straightforward way. There will be moments where you are unsure and still expected to lead, speak, and decide in difficult circumstances. That can feel intimidating, especially in spaces where you already feel pressure to be competent. Gawande’s writing makes it clear that uncertainty is part of the work, not something that disqualifies you from it. Learning how to carry that uncertainty with confidence is just part of becoming a physician.
Overall, this book reframes what it means to be good at medicine. It is less about always having the answer and more about how you think, respond, and evolve in situations where there is no perfect answer. For me, it shifts the focus from trying to avoid mistakes to being someone who can learn from them and continue to show up for patients. If anything, it makes me want to approach my path in medicine with more honesty and less fear, and to start building that mindset now rather than waiting until I am in the room making those decisions.
TSTYNH: How Social Media is Fueling Fertility Anxiety
By: Abhi Saravanan and Amani Ahmed
Maybe this time will be different. Test after test, they all yield the same result: negative. “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” by Taylor Swift gently plays in the background as short clips replay the heartbreak of going through negative pregnancy tests, over, and over again. Bailey McKnight - one half of the influencer twin duo, Brooklyn and Bailey - posted a reel on Instagram late last month. There, she shared her hidden struggle of getting pregnant for almost a year now. Amassing more than 18 million views, the Instagram reel was met with an outpouring of love and support, as well as words of sympathy left in the comments. Although social media portrayal can offer a source of hope for women with similar struggles, it is also inadvertently fueling what is known as fertility anxiety.
Fertility anxiety is a feeling of fear and worry with regards to one’s fertility journey. In today’s time, a lot of forethought is required when it comes to deciding to have a baby. Proper timing needs to be considered as the desire to start a family often comes into conflict with one’s ability to further academic and career aspirations. Financial stability also must be taken into account as having a baby comes with many expenses that only continue to add up throughout a child’s upbringing. Furthermore, the cultural expectations of having children make themselves heard in the form of increased pressure from relatives and family members. All of these factors combined can leave a woman feeling uncertain and overwhelmed. But add social media into the equation, and this anxious feeling can be overbearing.
Social media plays a large role in furthering the widespread fertility anxiety in women. There is a key psychological concept at play called the availability heuristic. The availability heuristic is a phenomenon in which information that readily comes to someone’s mind is deemed significant. Human beings naturally look for patterns in everything, often misplacing importance on looking out for things too deeply rather than that pattern being the truth. In the case of a person’s potential or current grievances with fertility, when they see someone who is struggling with their fertility on social media, the availability heuristic comes into play. The more content they see regarding fertility, the more significant they view issues regarding their own fertility. They think that what is being shared across various social media platforms is more common than it actually is. This in turn works to fuel a person’s fertility anxiety even further than before.
Taking this concept even further, women are using what they see as social media as a direct comparison to themselves. This can be described with the term “social comparison tendency,” which describes an individual’s inclination to observe and compare themselves to others. People are using this information that they continue to see shared on social media regarding fertility as a metric of comparison for their own fertility. Creators share their views and experiences, and their audience use these views and experiences to change their own attitudes towards fertility. These attitude changes are not always positive; even women who aren’t currently trying to get pregnant might start to have worries about their future. Availability heuristics and social comparison tendencies work together to further fertility anxiety.
Amidst the increasing feeling of fertility anxiety lies comfort in the form of recent advances in medicine and research. Many are aware of the option of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) where an egg is fertilized with a sperm in a laboratory setting. Additionally, there is a concept known as egg cryopreservation, where eggs are essentially freezed for later use, thus providing greater flexibility when it comes to timing (however, egg freezing yields best results when performed during a woman’s mid 20’s, thus timing of the procedure still needs to be considered). Even more recent is the ongoing use of artificial intelligence in predicting embryo viability, as well as CAPA-IVM where immature eggs are allowed to mature in a laboratory setting. CAPA-IVM offers a more sustainable way of obtaining oocytes to be used for IVF and egg freezing as this procedure requires minimal ovarian stimulation, and is even proving to be a viable option for women with PCOS.
With this increase in content regarding fertility, ranging from purely informational to harrowingly emotional, it is easy to understand why many women are so overwhelmed in regards to their own fertility. However, the support that Bailey received is an example of how rather than as comparison, a person’s story about their struggles should be seen as a ray of hope. Strengthening those around you is critical, because you never know what someone could be going through. Everyone’s bodies and lifestyles are different, and no fertility journey is the exact same as someone else’s. Focus on your personal path and put your mind at ease. And when the time comes that someone else needs your support, you’ll be able to give them the strength they need.
Thalidomide Tragedy
By: Amani Ahmed
Misfortune fell in the form of the thalidomide tragedy around the 1960s. Developed by a German pharmaceutical company in 1954, thalidomide was a drug designed to treat anxiety, tension, sleeping issues, and morning sickness. Despite lacking FDA approval for market sale, citing the need for further research, millions of thalidomide tablets were distributed to physicians in the United States as part of a clinical testing program. Thus, the unapproved thalidomide drug found its way into the medicine cabinets of around 20,000 Americans, including 600 pregnant women. To much dismay, it was later discovered that thalidomide was linked to miscarriages and birth defects, including babies born with missing limbs.
The thalidomide tragedy rightfully prompted strengthened regulation by the FDA in the form of the Drug Amendments of 1962. This required rigorous testing by pharmaceutical companies and disclosure of any side effects that arose throughout testing. Additionally, the FDA initiated the Drug Efficacy Study Implementation to reclassify all pre-1962 drugs already on the market. The FDA took this a step further in 1977 by recommending the exclusion of women of child-bearing years from early stages of clinical testing; this even included single women as well as women using contraception, thereby leaving little room for potential liability or reproductive risk.
With the increased precaution, however, came about fallbacks on the medical and research front. Major information gaps with regards to women’s health became apparent as the thalidomide tragedy fueled hesitancy around the inclusion of women in clinical testing. This was only worsened by the fact that women’s health was already overlooked given the lack of women working in research and medicine in the 1970s. However, the second wave of the women’s rights movement spearheaded this issue and transformed the future for women’s health: The NIH Revitalization Act of 1933 required the inclusion of women and minorities in NIH funded research. Furthermore, experiments would need to be designed in a way to observe if different outcomes arose in women as opposed to men. Likewise, outreach programs were initiated to help recruit women and minority volunteers to participate in these clinical research trials.
Despite these major gains, women's representation still appears to be lacking in clinical research. One study showed that women made up a little over 40% of the participants in over 1000 observed trials (ScienceDirect, 2022). The lack of women representation especially hits hard when it comes to research of diseases that disproportionately affect women such as Alzheimer’s and autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis. Given the major information gaps in women’s health, it becomes clear the need for women inclusion in clinical research and trials. Yet, the male body is often seen as the “default” body when it comes to research given its ease; the woman body admittedly does present additional challenges given the reproductive system, as well as fluctuating hormones which can make data more difficult to decipher. However, these differences should not be seen as hurdles, but as openings for delving into how new drugs and treatments affect women differently.
Although the thalidomide tragedy is past us, its effects still echo today. Changes must be made in order to spread the horizons of women’s health. Researchers can work towards facilitating means for the inclusion of more women in clinical trials. This can include offering more flexible hours, or even weekends for participants to come in, especially for busy mothers. Spaces can be provided for young children so that mothers don’t have to worry about childcare and are less likely to cancel appointments. More importantly, we need to increase awareness about the need for women participants in clinical trials, as women are key to accessing the information just beyond our grasp.
Hot Button: The Growing Implementation of AI in Diagnostics and Workflow in Healthcare
By: Sahaana Anand and Sasha Burford
“Artificial intelligence” is the newest buzzword that seems to appear in every news segment, social media post, and article. AI seems to have found its way into the spotlight with many industry leaders looking to find out the best way to optimize it for their respective fields. Medicine is such a cornerstone of science and humanity, it’s no wonder that AI is beginning to be used in various healthcare contexts. The goal is to help providers – but how exactly? What are the technological limits for artificial intelligence? Maybe a more weighty consideration is what are the ethical limits set forth for using AI in patient care? We will be examining some of the current roles AI has in healthcare, their advantages and disadvantages, and where the future may be headed as the future technology sphere collides with traditional medicine in a unique way.
Charting is a chief complaint many physicians have when evaluating their own workload. However, it is of utmost importance that charts get complete with accurate records of all conversations, diagnoses, treatment plan, and patient understanding of said communication. Many healthcare workers seem to find that charting seems to take up a huge part of their time while working, due to both the meticulous requirement to document everything along with its importance. Recent developments in AI charting tools, such as DeepScribe, Abridge, and Heidi Health, have all grown in popularity for their aid in transcribing patient interactions. These tools seem to be helpful in noting down the majority of the conversations, thus reducing the charting time and preventing burnout due to extended work hours. On the other hand, these tools are still not up to “perfect” standards, as AI is prone to making mistakes in certain words, sentences, or even missing to note down entire parts of said interactions. This poses a risk of mischarting, or missing important details that can cost the physician or patient with health outcomes or legal issues. Given these different aspects, it is in growing debates about whether using these tools is worth the risk of these mistakes.
Another huge sector of healthcare within which AI is being used is in tools of diagnosis. Though that may seem broad at first, honing it down to a few examples can exemplify the ways in which AI is implemented in the epitome of physicians’ work: diagnosing disease. One of the most stand-out tools being used and looked at by physicians is Aidoc. According to their statistics, “Aidoc’s clinical AI solutions cover 75% of patients in your health system, connecting care teams across specialties and departments, unifying a patient’s journey”. With ways to diagnose, analyze radiology images automatically, connect data to look at algorithms for patients who have long-term diseases, and have an automated notifying system for any patterns in patient health, it seems like a dream come true. But again, there is a flipping of the coin that must be examined when using diagnostic AI tools in patient care. The glaring con to the implementation of this tool is its variance of reliability. When using AI of any kind, there is a disclaimer saying that AI can make mistakes and produce incorrect information while sounding confident. This in turn places a responsibility on the physician’s behalf to make sure they comb through the AI’s clinical solutions before they are put into action and not completely hand over the power to artificial intelligence. Another important impact to consider is the privacy, or potential lack thereof in AI. HIPPA compliance is something all healthcare professionals are trained in before they are able to interact with patients. Now translating that to diagnostic AI technology, what safeguards are in place so that patient data is secure? Technology is definitely not impervious to cyberattacks and threats so if a patient's data were leaked, what would be the fallout from that event? While AI tools are all the rage, it’s important to examine the pros and cons of utilizing them, especially in a field that is as sacred as health care.
The life of the physician is one that is relentless, starting in undergrad, to medical school, through residency, and even fellowships in some cases. It’s absolutely natural to seek out ways that technology can relieve the massive burden placed on physicians’ shoulders. In the case of AI, it is clear that there can be some great advantages to applying it to healthcare workflow by assisting with charting, analyzing radiographic images, and using algorithms to understand a patient's illness. All of these can benefit physicians and lessen the burnout they experience. However, the application of AI must be a nuanced approach to ensure that doctors do not rely too heavily on it, its accuracy is at the highest capacity, and patient’s data is properly safeguarded. As new age healthcare professionals, it's our responsibility to stay informed of advancements in the field and strive for a better future in medicine.
What's Poppin': The World's First Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapy
By: Samhitha Palla and Sarah Sunelwala
Japan has approved the world’s first stem-cell-based therapy for Parkison’s disease, an innovation developed by Sumitomo Pharma in collaboration with Dr. Jun Takashai in Kyoto University. This new treatment presents a unique approach to treating Parkinson's disease. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are a special type of stem cell made from normal adult cells which are then reprogrammed to behave as embryonic stem cells, so they can turn into nearly any type of cell in the body. Typically, stem cells are designed from bone marrow or placental tissue, which is expensive and hard to find. The reason why induced pluripotent cells are so special is because through reprogramming ordinary adult cells, iPSCs help reduce the shortage of stem cells, making them more accessible for medical treatments. This versatility makes iPSCs very powerful tools in research and medicine, opening new possibilities for treating a wide range of diseases.
The iPSC therapy is initiated when the first cells are collected from a patient. Scientists then use reprogramming factors to reset the cells into a stem-like state. In doing so, these factors, also known as the Yamanaka factors, change the activation level of certain cell parts. Normally, a skin cell only uses the genes it needs to function as a skin cell, but with the reprogramming factors turned on the genes that are normally active in early embryonic stem cell development become active and the genes that keep the cell specialized are “turned off.” This process gradually resets the cell’s identity, allowing it to return to a flexible stem-cell like state where it can divide and become various different types of cells.
Once the cells have been reprogrammed into iPSCs, scientists can guide them to become a specific type of cell by exposing them to certain chemicals, proteins, and growth signals that mimic what happens during early development in the body. For example, to treat Parkinson’s disease, researchers encourage the iPSCs to develop into dopamine-producing neurons, the neurons that are lost in people with Parkinson’s. These lab-grown neurons can then be transplanted into the patient’s brain to help replace the damaged cells. The transplant is done by neurosurgeons making a small incision in the skull and injecting the iPSCs into the substantia nigra where dopamine-producing neurons have died, once these iPSCs have been injected, ideally the neurons should begin to integrate into the brain’s existing neural network. Once adapted, the dopamine should help improve the patient’s movement and reduce Parkinson’s symptoms.
This approach is promising because it uses living cells to repair tissues that the body cannot easily replace on its own. Japan recently approved the first treatment using neurons made from iPSCs for patients with Parkinson’s disease. Although the therapy is still being studied, it shows how reprogramming ordinary cells could lead to new treatments for many conditions in the future.
In March 2026, iPSC based treatments not only became a reality, but also made major breakthroughs in regenerative medicine, specifically in Parkinson’s disease and macular degeneration. In the clinical trial for Parkinson’s, researchers implanted iPSC-based neurons into specific parts of the brain that help restore dopamine production and motor function. In macular degeneration trials, iPSC cells are transplanted into the retina in hopes of regenerating photoreceptor function and visual activity. While these trials are currently in the early stages, the initial reports show that some patients have shown some improvements. However, the true success of these treatments are based on the long-term outcomes while intended to showcase the durability and reproducibility of the transplanted cells. In the end, iPSCs are used in a human trial for the first time. Scientists hope that this research will allow the therapy to combine iPSCs and the patient’s own cells to reject the need for lifelong immunosuppressants, thus improving overall immunity.
The implications of iPSCs cannot just be explained using clinical trials. The treatment plan has the potential to treat a plethora of conditions, from heart disease to bone injuries, by promoting the regeneration of damaged tissues. The method combines the regeneration with patient cells, thus increasing the usage of personalized care plans and medicine. In doing so, the treatment will be customized to the patient’s genetic makeup.
However, this does not mean that iPSCs are the perfect solution to modern medical complications. These therapies are expensive to implement because of the harvesting, designing, and implementation of the patient-specific cells. This time consuming and expensive process becomes difficult to apply to multiple individual therapies in a timely manner. In the end, with the progression of scientific research and innovation, iPSC therapies can be expanded to the general public and be applied to diverse genetic markups.
As aspiring healthcare professionals, we’re already learning about breakthrough technologies and therapies that could alleviate the suffering of patients. The early stages of iPSC therapies serves as a major milestone in tissue regeneration by healing damaged tissue. Additionally, understanding the potential benefits and implications of such technologies will not only allow for more critical thinking regarding safeguarding the research to occur, but also allows for increased public awareness about the research, which would allow the research to apply to patients coming from multiple backgrounds. So, the applications of iPSC therapies serve as a new era for regenerative medicine and immunotherapy.
ResQFoam: Foam that Stops Deadly Internal Bleeding
By: Sarah Sunelwala
Approximately 60,000 Americans die annually from traumatic internal bleeding with over 31,000 dying annually from preventable, trauma-related bleeding before even reaching the hospital. Research shows that 36% to 45% of hemorrhage deaths could be prevented with quicker intervention. Internal bleeding is particularly dangerous because it often occurs out of sight, making it harder to detect and treat quickly. As a result, researchers have been developing new technologies that can stabilize patients sooner. David King, MD, created the aptyl named, ResQFoam, which is a self-expanding polyurethane trauma foam, one of the most promising innovations designed to temporarily stop life-threatening internal bleeding.
Internal bleeding, also known as a hemorrhage, is defined as the loss of blood from damaged blood vessels that collects inside body cavities or tissues instead of leaving through an external wound. This type of bleeding is most commonly caused by major trauma that causes significant internal blood loss. Head injuries and surgery as well as complications related to pregnancy, such as an ectopic pregnancy are also causes of internal bleeding. Internal bleeding is extremely dangerous because it can rapidly lead to shock, organ failure, and death if not controlled quickly. The current measures for treating internal bleeding are intravenous fluids and blood transfusions to maintain blood pressure and circulation. However, these measures only manage the symptoms and do not stop the bleeding itself, and in severe cases may not be enough to stabilize the patient. In most cases, emergency surgery is required to locate and repair the damaged blood vessels or organs causing the hemorrhage. Dr. David King created ResQFoam as a faster and more efficient method to treat internal bleeding.
ResQFoam is a new experimental medical technology designed to address the critical gap between a patient suffering from internal bleeding and reaching an operation room. ResQFoam is injected directly into the abdominal cavity of a patient suffering from severe internal bleeding, through a hand-operated injection system mixes two liquid precursors – polyol and isocyanate into a single nozzle. These two liquid precursors are then directly injected into the patient’s abdominal cavity where it rapidly expands and hardens within 90 seconds creating a tamponade effect that controls severe bleeding. This pressure helps to slow or stop the bleeding long enough for the patient to reach an operating room, where the foam is removed and surgeons are able to repair the possible ruptured blood vessel or damaged organ.
One of the most important benefits of ResQFoam is its speed. Unlike traditional treatments, ResQFoam can begin controlling bleeding within seconds, and can be administered in a pre-hospital setting by a trained medical professional, which would be significantly more valuable in situations where immediate surgery is not possible, such as during ambulance transport or in rural areas where the wait time may be over 30 minutes before even reaching the nearest hospital. Through speedy patient stabilization, ResQFoam could dramatically increase survival rates for victims of severe trauma.
The FDA has approved the use of ResQFoam in an EFIC clinical trial (Exception From Informed Consent) which allows emergency research when patients are too critically injured to provide consent. After more than a decade of research and preclinical testing, 40 severely injured patients participated in the initial clinical trial. According to Dr. King, the study focused on patients with extremely severe injuries who would otherwise have a very low chance of survival. As he describes, “we’re not talking about the child who falls at soccer practice and comes in with a minor spleen injury. These are the most horrific injuries where the human body does not do well.”
Looking toward the future, researchers hope ResQFoam will become a powerful tool in emergency medicine. Dr. King believes the technology could eventually be used not only in hospitals, but also by military medics, emergency responders, and trauma teams across the country. If successful, ResQFoam could transform how severe internal bleeding is treated and significantly reduce the number of preventable trauma deaths each year.
Attachment Style in Healthcare Providers
By: Sasha Burford
Attachment theory was first conceptualized by psychologist John Bowlby, who essentially said that people’s interpersonal relationship characteristics are based upon their connection with a “secure base.” A secure base is a person (primarily a caregiver) in your life that you have established a strong connection with. This person has provided great care, is reliable, and exhibits intentional emotional responsiveness to your needs. Bowlby said this relationship begins with a mother and her child, and depending on the nature of this relationship, you can display specific relational behaviors in the future. Classically, there are four different types of attachment including secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized (fearful avoidant). Secure attachment is characterized by being able to communicate needs effectively, exploring/forging new relationships easily, and strong emotional regulation. Moving into the three insecure types, anxious attachment has characteristics that stem from excessive worry and fear. Individuals with this attachment style can sometimes show emotional dependency, have a need for validation, and can overanalyze their relationships. Next, is avoidant attachment which individuals shy away from forming close relationships in fear of getting too close. They can be hyper-independent, tend to withdraw from conflict, and will stuff their own emotions down. Now, what happens when you mix anxious and avoidant? This presents as disorganized attachment, which can also be referred to as fearful-avoidant. These individuals display chaotic relationship patterns because they want emotional intimacy but also are afraid of it. Holding both of these ideas creates a push-and-pull relationship dynamic that makes it challenging to predict their behaviors. Disorganized individuals also can have poor emotional regulation over themselves and a pattern of volatility is a trademark. Attachment styles are categories for how people behave in all different kinds of relationships ranging from family, friends, and even significant others. But what happens when your physician has an avoidant attachment style? Is there any impact on how they go about treatment or patient care? In this article, we will take a look at some of the ways attachment style can manifest in the healthcare field, from the provider’s perspective.
When examining attachment in medicine, researchers typically approach it from the patient angle, because the patient’s own attachment style influences variables. The patient views the physician as a secure base or a position of power and caregiving, which can then lead to them treating the physician in accordance with their attachment behaviors. Unfortunately, there is little research looking at the flipped perspective of how the healthcare provider’s attachment style impacts medicine. It’s important to consider the opposing view to see if there are any varying conclusions or new insights to be found. However, a few studies have been conducted to begin to understand how interpersonal dynamics affect medical care. For example, in a study conducted by Khodabakhsh (2012), attachment styles were used to predict empathy in nursing students. Khodabakhsh (2012) found that students with a secure attachment style had a significant positive correlation with empathy. This is especially relevant since empathy is a key trait of any healthcare provider. It encompasses skills such as active listening, being responsive to people’s emotions and pain, and just having the ability to connect. On the flip side of that, the same study found a significant negative correlation between insecure attachment styles and empathy. The insecure attachment styles are anxious, avoidant, and disorganized. It’s important to recognize that this correlation could lead to less empathetic patient interactions and create a more stressful environment for the healthcare team. Attachment theory is a highly encompassing subject that covers almost all aspects of interpersonal dynamics. Although, highlighting its impact on empathy which is central to medicine is a great place to start!
Furthermore, communication is also heavily impacted by attachment styles. Secure attachment follows open, well-balanced communication, thus being able to resolve conflicts effectively. Secure individuals are typically honest in their communication, but give space for the other person’s voice. Now translating these traits into a healthcare environment paints a picture of a provider that is not only strong in bedside manner, but is able to lead the healthcare team in a healthy manner. This type of attachment style is a great fit to many different scenarios whether it’s inpatient, outpatient, trauma-centers, or even private practice. The anxious attachment style has a tendency to over-communicate and be hasty in their actions when they are under duress. While thinking about these characteristics, it is clear that working in a high-paced, stressful environment such as the ED or the ICU would not lend itself to being the best fit for this style. This is in opposition to avoidant style where their hyperindependence, and super formal communication could be useful in surgery or the ICU. While there are no published studies that examine this idea, the logic is present. By understanding one’s own attachment style, a provider can learn where their strengths are and how they can be a better fit for a specific environment.
To wrap things up, attachment theory is a relatively innovative idea, with Bowlby’s contribution only being published in the 1980s. Psychological researchers have found many different contexts to apply it to, with great focus on romantic relationships. However, since attachment theory can be applied to such a broad spectrum of situations, it’s incredibly advantageous to apply it to healthcare. Through using it as an analytical lens, we can further our understanding of how deep our interpersonal behaviors impact the practice of medicine. I encourage readers to investigate what their own style could be. It dictates how you navigate the relationships around you to such a high degree. And through understanding your own style, you not only expand your self-concept, but gain a better idea of the healthcare professional you will grow to be!
From Political to Personal: Different Levels of Systemic Racism in Healthcare
By: Abhi Saravanan
One of the most important aspects of quality healthcare is the ability for it to be universally accessible. Regardless of a person’s societal status, everyone deserves to have easy access to healthcare, just like their peers. It seems obvious for everyone to get the same level of care at the clinic, because of the emphasis on equal care for all. However, that isn’t the case. Whether intentional or otherwise, there are many different kinds of biases that are common. One of the most common biases can be found in race; whether at the personal level, or even the political level, sometimes measures are implemented to negatively impact minority groups’ health outcomes. This is also known as systemic racism, or the manifestation of a “deeply ingrained racial bias,” that creates disparities in the healthcare system in access, treatment, and more. Systemic racism, rather than being one-dimensional, has various aspects to it making it more complex than it can initially come across. Within systemic racism, there are various levels involved. They can range from discrimination in interpersonal relations to injustice built into the foundation of our political system.
The first level of systemic racism is the micro level of systemic racism, which has a focus on interpersonal relations. This can be seen primarily in racism or prejudice against a patient at the clinic. While it can occur as direct discrimination, it is more often unconscious biases that are formed throughout one’s upbringing and enforced via consumed media, social circles, and more. These unconscious biases that some healthcare professionals carry can manifest into many other kinds of biases, particularly “provider race preference bias,” where healthcare providers aren’t able to see their patients beyond the color of their skin. This leads to poor communication, reduced empathy, and other factors which could potentially lead to an improper diagnosis of any issues with that patient’s health. Without any kind of control at the micro level and continuing to be careless with patients due to their race, there will be serious repercussions at even higher levels of society that reach beyond a one-on-one interaction from caregiver to patient. This is what makes systemic racism such a serious problem– it starts off small but seeps into the rest of society– eventually seeping into higher levels.
The next level of systemic racism after the micro level is the meso level. The meso level is described as systemic racism in the healthcare and community environments. The meso level is seen as the “in between” of racism showcased in interpersonal relations versus racism built into specific government policies. To be more specific, at the meso level, some people don’t get the proper treatment they deserve because of racial bias built into CPGs, or clinical practice guidelines. Clinical practice guidelines are used to see how eligible a patient is for certain tests or treatments, giving the medical community standards to adhere by. However, these CPGs sometimes use race as a way to create certain standards and make decisions. For example, Dr. Ashley Rondini and colleagues conducted a review of an American Academy of Pediatrics CPG for a urinary tract infection (UTI) test. There is no difference in the structure of the urethra across various racial groups. However, CPG guidelines state “white” or “nonblack” as a biological indicator of if a pediatric patient is eligible for a UTI test. This means that black infants and children must present worse symptoms than their nonblack peers in order to be eligible for a UTI test. This is just one example of the potential dangers that systemic racism at the meso level brings.
The effects of racism reach even higher levels still. The final level of systemic racism is macro level racism. This is racism seen in socioeconomic disparities in funding, resources, and more. Policy-makers create intrinsically racist laws and policies which affect health care, social support resources, and more. The policies themselves are built to systematically oppress various racial groups. While this change is occurring on a grand scale, it can still showcase its repercussions in the gap of quality of care between merely two people. These gaps are a result of “intersecting systemic factors” that have been built over years of historically discriminative policies and actions such as redlining, the systemic denial of mortgages, loans, and other financial services merely on the basis of race. Years of historical discrimination still catch up to us much later in the form of unequal care across various patients due to nothing but their race or ethnicity. Society is structured to where minorities must unknowingly suffer.
Systemic racism is much more entrenched in society than one might think. Whether it’s in a simple conversation at the micro level, a certain CPG in the meso level, or even a policy at the macro level, systemic racism never fails to potentially cause dangerous healthcare outcomes for minority patients. However, action can be taken to reduce the effects of this harm. With healthcare professionals working towards adopting inclusive approaches to patient care and interaction, to even advocating for laws and policies that support equitable healthcare, systemic racism can be combatted. It’s our responsibility to be healthcare professionals that make sure to give everyone the same level of care. Even a slight alteration to your way of thinking can leave a significant positive impact on a patient. A significant change in small actions leads to even bigger changes at a grander scale over time. Systemic racism does not have to stain our society. Consistent showcases of inclusion, even if they’re small, can and will lead to big, meaningful outcomes for those who need it most.
A Drop of Blood, A World of Data
By: Samhitha Palla
In a world where cancer detection and diagnosis involves biopsies or invasive procedures, a new treatment method emerges. Imagine the convenience and relief families can feel when their cancer detection involves just a single vial of blood. Such technology is called liquid biopsy. The tool diagnoses cancer by detecting cancer-related biomarkers in the bloodstream. Previously, traditional biopsies are time consuming and invasive, leading to an increased risk of infection and fear of getting the procedure done in the first place. Unlike the messy predecessor, liquid biopsies allow the general public to find their results in live time with less chances of developing infections during their hospital stay.
While the concept can be explained in a mere sentence or two, the complexities behind the science continue to amaze scientists and the general public alike. Tumors shed DNA fragments called circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in one’s blood. The artificial intelligence in the liquid biopsy technology analyses massive genome datasets and identifies molecular sequences. In doing so, AI analyzes a blood sample to detect the early stages of unusual cell growth, thus detecting cancer at its early stages. As a result, patients can monitor their unusual cell growth in real time, thus making the procedure more transparent and less invasive than traditional surgery.
Furthermore, the real time monitoring utilized in liquid biopsies allows physicians to track tumor development or regression as well as its response to medications through a blood sample. Such monitoring allows healthcare professionals to detect relapse or treatment resistance in a timely manner, thus potentially saving lives. Artificial intelligence stores massive datasets on complex genome sequencing. These datasets are then able to detect slight variations in ctDNA, which flags unusual cell development prior to the manifestation of symptoms. In doing so, the technology can provide a customized care plan based on the patient’s genetic map and profile. As a result, the patient will be able to receive more targeted therapies which limit unnecessary treatments, thus decreasing the toll on the body and mind.
However, such technology is far from perfect. These biopsies contain a risk of false positives and false negatives since detecting altered DNA in small qualities can lead to missed diagnoses or additional caution. Additionally, AI powered liquid biopsies are expensive. A 2023 PubMed paper suggests that the treatment can cost anything in between $863 and $10,730, making the technology inaccessible to the common people. While innovation continues to thrive, the restrictions placed by the current healthcare system increases the accessibility and cost gap, preventing minorities or low income individuals from utilizing its benefits to the maximum extent. As a result, we need more health initiatives or programs, which stabilize the financial burden placed on individuals seeking to use this technology.
As aspiring healthcare professionals, we strive to understand up and coming technology as well as find ways to improve patient diagnosis and treatment plans. AI powered liquid biopsies serve as a gateway to less invasive cancer detection procedures, thus decreasing the stress on the body and mind. In doing so, medicine and artificial intelligence continue to explore new methods to improve the quality of care for current and future patients.
Physician Shortage and Burnout in Healthcare Workers
By: Sahaana Anand
Out of the many times that I have spoken with someone who at one point wanted to pursue a medical career as a physician, but eventually decided not to, the majority of their reasons to defer stemmed in not wanting to commit the long hours, years of school work, and dedication to do so. There is no doubt that being a doctor can be taxing, as according to Stanford medical data, around 45.2% of US Physicians report at least one symptom related to burnout, with more than 50% rating in certain specialties such as emergency medicine, oncology, pediatrics, OB/GYN, and family medicine. On the other hand, the rate of physicians needed to effectively help the amount of patients that face a variety of health issues and primary care physicians for the wellness checks of every person is increasingly growing apart. According to a data study by the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges), there is bound to be a shortage of about 86,000 physicians by the year of 2036, which is an increase from the current shortage already existing. This leads me to the question - if there is such a need for more physicians, why are there still existing systems that require physicians to work long hours and take on high patient volumes? Would creating more room for the brute number of well-qualified and trained physicians address this issue that is in fact steering so many from even pursuing medicine in the first place? By looking at these connections and finding a silver lining, we may be able to find some solutions that can be implemented in the coming years.
As many of you who keep up with pop culture may have heard, HBO Max’s latest medical show, The Pitt, has already gained mass popularity and gained Emmy nominations and awards with just its first season. The Pitt is surrounded by emergency medicine doctors, residents, interns, nurses, and all the other staff that keep an emergency department running, and it does so by including one 15-hour shift through the entire season. Being the first of its kind, watching this show allowed me to see how much is demanded of a doctor, including seeing great volumes of patients, charting, mentoring, keeping up with administration, running procedures, monitoring the work of those under you and keeping up with the expectations of those above you, etc. Each shift consists of seeing a volume of patients that cannot even be fully handled by the most competent workers, with wait-lines for patients filling up the entire lobby, some not being seen for more than a day. All of this to say, the show encaptures the chronic issue of all the things that contribute to the burnout and fatigue felt by physicians and nurses on a daily basis. This was also discussed in a recent Forbes article, that provides such examples of how the show captures this phenomenon in a personal perspective.
So this leads to addressing the issue at hand, but how can such needs be met with such little room for flexibility? With high demands out of every healthcare worker, the cons are not just patient dissatisfaction, but the risk of patients receiving poor treatment itself due to such burnt-out workers. The simple concept of “teamwork makes the dream work” that we had engraved in us since elementary school seems to fade when it comes to this field of work and its reliance on every individual having to put in more than they can receive. Despite support resources, the dogma of needing more hands on deck seems to be predicted to help with burnout rates greatly. According to the AMA’s article on how healthcare teams running short connects to physician burnout, by “investing in team-based care, health care organizations aim to rebuild stability and reduce physician burnout”.
Addressing burnout in a more serious tone in conversations amongst peers and in higher level organization is required to help those struggling. Burnout itself is described, according to the APA dictionary of Psychology, as “physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance, and negative attitudes toward oneself and others”. This is known to lead to a number of mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, cognitive impairments, and substance use disorders. Keeping this in mind to help physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers in need by increasing the amount of physicians trained and accepted is of utmost importance. In the end, caring for those who care for others may not always be a concept that comes to mind, but it matters more than it is given attention to. These workers who put their well-being above themselves for the care of patients also in need deserve to be treated with more empathy. Providing work conditions and space for them to pursue what they dream of without the condition of giving themselves up in return is what is at stake here. Whether you, a loved one, a peer, or a colleague are one that dreams of making it far in the healthcare field, continue to pursue what you are passionate about with this compassion in mind. Working to help those around you is a noble pursuit, but working to help yourself is also virtuous, nonetheless!
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TSTYNH: How Social Media is Fueling Fertility Anxiety
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From Political to Personal: Different Levels of Systemic Racism in Healthcare
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A Drop of Blood, A World of Data
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Physician Shortage and Burnout in Healthcare Workers
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