About More Voices
Every month More Voices invites readers to contribute short nonfiction prose pieces of 40 to 400 words on a healthcare theme.
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laughter po prn
Slavena Salve Nissan ~
if you happened to pass by room 2
in a medical practice somewhere uptown
some time in the spring
you would’ve heard
laughter
a medical student and her patient
giggling like toddlers
right in the middle of the cranial nerve exam
what a thing to hear
if only i could write that prescription
laughter po prn
no copay required
Editor's note: The term po stands for the Latin phrase per os, used in prescriptions to describe a treatment taken orally; prn stands for pro re nata, "as needed."
About the poet:
Slavena Salve Nissan is an aspiring physician-writer and a third-year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City. She was introduced to poetry as a second grader, and it was love at first sight. Her poetry has appeared in in-Training and Hektoen International.
About the poem:
"When I was a first-year student, I worked with a wonderful patient whom I got to know over the course of several months. We always laughed a lot together, and he taught me a number of lessons about the foundations of empathic clinical care."
Poetry editors:
Johanna Shapiro and Judy Schaefer
About the poet:
Slavena Salve Nissan is an aspiring physician-writer and a third-year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City. She was introduced to poetry as a second grader, and it was love at first sight. Her poetry has appeared in in-Training and Hektoen International.
About the poem:
"When I was a first-year student, I worked with a wonderful patient whom I got to know over the course of several months. We always laughed a lot together, and he taught me a number of lessons about the foundations of empathic clinical care."
Poetry editors:
Johanna Shapiro and Judy Schaefer
Encounters
Encounters, our latest feature: Patients talk about their healthcare experiences and share stories about their lives outside the doctor's office.
Slavena, I visited In-Training and stayed for a long while. Very impressive. PS Your smile is so warm. I just read the poem again and could easily envision you 'giggling'.
Lovely poem. Lovely image that I will carry with me today.