Vivid memories may not be listed in the curriculum of medical school. but they come with the studies said Dr. Kate Pedersen.
With all the time spent in the classroom, lab, and doing rounds, Pedersen said the memories that impacted her the most came from watching families as they dealt with medical issues.
“Everyday I am influenced by the people I see. The ones that stick out are the kids with terminal illness and adults who are at the end of their lives,” she said.
“When I was in graduate school, my research was in neuroblastoma, which is a nasty pediatric tumor, and one of my collaborator’s sons had just died of it when he was 3-years-old. So coming into medical school I had already seen the effects of these diseases, especially on the people left behind.
“The week I turned in my thesis, my grandma died. I learned what these situations are like from different perspectives — not just as the doctor but also as the family member. It is sad, but I took away a lot from these extreme emotional circumstances and seeing how everyone deals with illness. The patients I remember the most are those with amazing families.”
Certain situations, she said, affected her at a personal level, but she learned not to let it cloud her judgment.
“It’s a balance you have to achieve. In difficult situations, you’re watching the attendees as they deliver bad news or you’re in the room with a dying patient so you observe how to interact,” Pedersen said.
“We are not specifically trained to deal with these situations but we are trained through observation. We learn to take cues from how everyone is reacting and what your role should be in that. It’s very family-specific and not patient-specific.”
Pedersen said a memorable learning experience took place far from the classroom.
In the summer of 2008, she spent three weeks in Tanzania with six other medical students working in local clinics. Her trip had an unusual source of funding.
“I was a contestant on Jeopardy which aired in Jan. of 2008.  Sadly, I only got second. Ironically, I guessed correctly on a question about where Mt. Kilimanjaro was (it is in Tanzania), and a year later I used the money I won to go there,” she said.
“The time I spent in Africa was amazing. I can’t think of another word for it. I had never been to Africa before or seen health care in another country, especially one that wouldn’t be considered industrialized.”
She found medical resources very limited.
“If someone has a cough, they’re unable to get a chest x-ray. We basically had Tylenol, antibiotics and anti fungal medication and that was it,” she said.
“It was very frustrating that we were doing everything we could do, and it was definitely not enough. It was also frustrating to be there for a while and then go home when you knew people would still be sick.”
Pedersen said one of her biggest shocks was that America’s major problems are also their major problems.
“We didn’t find very many exotic diseases, we found a lot of high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, etc. They have pretty much the same illnesses. Here we are able to keep an eye on it and send people to specialists. There, you just don’t have any of the same resources,” she said.