2023 - It's a Wrap

2023 has been tremendous. I cannot believe another year flew by. I am halfway through my PGY-4 Chief Year of Neurology residency at Duke.

I'd like to share a couple of learning points from my patient encounters, and a few trips I'm grateful to have been able to take this year for conferences or personal travel.

*To ensure HIPAA compliance, personally identifying information has been omitted/changed and certain details of these encounters have been modified to protect the patients and their families.

A few major learning points and fulfillments from my clinical encounters:

1. LISTEN to the patient. It's simple. I completed the first part of my Psychiatry rotation this past summer, and this was one of the salient lessons. It sounds simple and generic, right? But it's unfortunately a lesson that many of us in healthcare need. Psychiatrists LISTEN.

They wait, they pause, they STOP talking so much so the patient can talk, and when the patient sees that they’re not being interrupted, they go on to speak more. This adds to our ability to diagnose their condition. I cannot tell you how many cases I was able to confidently diagnose by just the HISTORY and LISTENING (i.e. I diagnosed a patient with a seizure disorder after fighting tooth and nail to reach a family member when the patient came into the ED (Emergency Department) with no history, no documentation in the chart, and no ability to speak directly about their symptoms). Admittedly, my listening isn't always great, but it's an ongoing work in progress!

2. One of the biggest fulfillments of my clinical encounters is with patients who look like me. One day, a *45-year old black woman came into the ED with numbness on the left side of her face that progressed next to her left arm and leg. All of this was in the context of a headache. She came in as a stroke code with the paramedics given the unilateral nature of her symptoms. I was more suspicious for migraine with aura instead of a stroke, but I took a more thorough history from both the patient and her husband. She was understandably anxious so I tried to calm her down. At the end of the encounter, her husband told me, “Representation matters, I appreciate everything you’ve done for us today.” This was such a good feeling.

3. We have to remember that it is a privilege to take care of patients. I received a note from a patient's spouse after I took care of her following a stroke code.

"Dear Dr. Rose,

It was truly a pleasure meeting you this morning when you examined my wife due to the stroke-like symptoms she experienced last night. It was a joy watching you in action. Thank you for your kindness and the thorough examination you performed. I agree with my wife, you are superb. Healthcare in the U.S. would be a lot better if we had more doctors like you."

I was both shocked and incredibly grateful to receive such a thoughtful note like this. It is helpful for us to be reminded of how much of a privilege it is for us to care for patients who need us.

Trips:

July 2023 - REACH Reunion in Atlanta, GA

REACH is an Addiction program that strives to build the capacity of the workforce to better care for racial and ethnic minoritized patients with substance use disorders. REACH stands for Recognizing and Eliminating Disparities in Addiction through Culturally Informed Healthcare. We had a reunion in Atlanta this past summer to gather all of the cohorts from this program over the past several years for a massive learning and networking event. It was incredible.

I didn't get the chance to explore as much as I would've liked, but I was able to grab a nice quick meal from a laid-back, good-quality, reasonably priced, grab-on-the-go food place: Rock's Chicken and Fries - it serves exactly that, plus a little more (salads, other types of sandwiches, and more).

September 2023 - American Neurological Association (ANA) Meeting in Philadelphia

The annual meeting for the ANA was held this year in Philadelphia! It was such a great time. The IDEAS (Inclusion/Diversity/Equity/Anti-Racism/Social Justice) committee held a reception one evening during the conference. As one of the recipients of the IDEAS Junior Member Award, I gave a brief presentation about my research. Admittedly, I was much too excited while preparing the PowerPoint and added more preliminary data than necessary :) We were also given the opportunity to share a little bit about what inspired us to pursue our respective areas of research.

Let's talk food! I ate from a few different places and they were pretty delicious:

• Dan Dan Noodles: I ordered Shrimp Fried Rice and vegetables :) Super delicious.

• Marathon Grill: I grabbed a Grilled Chicken Cobb Salad from this spot, which was pretty tasty and very filling.

• Toms Dim Sum: I ordered Shanghai Wonton Soup with shrimp dumplings. DELICIOUS. This was the perfect cure for a cold I was suffering from at the time. 
  

October 2023 - Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA

I'm honored to have been invited to speak at a couple of churches in Charlotte and Atlanta for HEAL Collaborative’s series on Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia! HEAL Collaborative is a nonprofit organization focused on Health Education Advocacy and Learning. It was wonderful raising awareness about Alzheimer's Disease's disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minoritized communities.

November 2023

• Society for Neuroscience (SfN) - DC
• 
  SfN is the largest professional society dedicated to the study of the nervous system, with nearly 40,000 members, and over 30,000 attendees at this past meeting!
• I have to talk about the delicious food that I ate while here:
• Clyde's of Gallery Place: They had one of the best crab cakes I ever ate. I ordered the Jumbo Lump Crab Cake and the banana bread pudding for dessert. Both were incredible, though the banana bread pudding was quite sweet!
• Founding Farmers DC: I had to have the Glazed Cedar Plank salmon and the butterscotch bread pudding. Are you seeing a theme here? Haha. Bread pudding is one of my favorite desserts. I'd rate this entire meal a 10 out of 10.

• Thanksgiving in GA - It was so nice getting to spend the holidays in South Georgia with my fiance's family, and to take a few engagement photos!