The PNWU Health Blog offers insight and first-hand accounts of life here at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences.
It includes contributions from current and former PNWU medical students, physicians and various members of an ever-expanding community aimed at highlighting care for the rural and underserved. If you have any questions, comments, concerns or ideas, or if you’d like to pitch a blog idea of your own, please contact us at publicity@pnwu.edu.
Like many of her peers, PNWU student Kat Lundeberg suffered from imposter syndrome during her first year of medical school. Unlike many of her peers, however, she had plenty of past experience as an “imposter” to provide perspective to her struggles.
As she prepares for year two of her osteopathic medical school journey, Lundeberg describes the challenges of being an HPSP student, offering rare insight into a path that few have ever traveled.
Read MoreFirst-year PNWU medical student Nicholas Colin watched in agony as his grandparents lives began unraveling. After over 60-years of marriage, his grandfather was diagnosed with dementia, his grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, and each of them were moved into an assisted living facility which separated them from one another and everything that had shaped their lives.
Reflecting on the experience, Colin espouses the importance of having end-of-life discussions, and illustrates how some of life’s simplest things can be the difference between happiness and agony.
Read MoreStanding before a room full of co-workers and peers, PNWU Chief Communications Officer Dean O’Driscoll seemed poised and confident as he led a strategic planning discussion. The truth, however, was that behind his calm exterior, O’Driscoll was brainstorming a very different strategic plan: how to conceal the pain radiating from his ankle and hip.
Read MoreAs medical student Megan Charlton delighted over the 8-pound puppy she’d just adopted, her mom shook her head and offered the typical wise words of a caring, concerned mother: you’ll wish you didn’t do that when you finally get into medical school. Four-years later, having received her acceptance into PNWU, Charlton looked down at her 100-plus-pound four-legged friend and wondered: was mom right?
Having wrapped up her first-year of medical school, Charlton reflects on the amazing gifts that her Great Dane, Bella, has provided her throughout the intense and often overwhelming experience.
Read More
For years, PNWU student Arashpreet (Arshi) Gill spun herself in circles trying to answer one persistent question: what is wrong with me? Time and time again, a troubling answer followed: depression and anxiety.
Nearing the end of her first year of medical school, Gill explains her decision to seek out counseling, the process of finding the right counselor for her needs, and what she learned about herself through the experience.
Read MoreAs a third-year medical student completing her psychiatry rotation, Niki Mohammadi has discovered one common, uniting trait that all of us share: our humanity, and the emotions that come firmly attached to it.
Reflecting on her experiences, Mohammadi offers advice for medical students currently staring down the proverbial barrel of finals and boards, explaining how the acceptance and embracing our universal emotions can help us all to achieve beautiful things in even the hardest of circumstances.
Read MoreTeachers come in all shapes and sizes. Proof of that arrived on the PNWU campus this week dressed in miniature overalls and sucking on a pacifier.
This week on the PNWU Health Blog, Marketing Coordinator Paul Bubluski takes readers on a journey through PNWU Pediatrics Day.
Read MoreAfter suffering an ACL tear in high school, PNWU student Jessica Cole had all but given up hope that her leg would ever feel normal again. Ever since the surgery she’d suffered with a hard-to-describe case of parasthesia, and it seemed like there were no explanations, much less remedies, in sight. Then, as a first year osteopathic medical student studying in PNWU’s OPP lab, she discovered FDM.
Now on the PNWU Health Blog, Cole describes her struggles and explains how osteopathic medicine helped her to rediscover normalcy.
Read MoreFor years, PNWU student Haley Heitzman’s self-worth and potential were dictated by the thoughts and feelings of others. Struggling with physical insecurities and an overwhelming lack of confidence, she found herself trapped in a cycle of self-doubt and sadness.
Now a first-year medical student, Heitzman explains how discovering a community saved her from herself and allowed her to take on the world.
Read MoreWhen Katie Ackerman’s undergraduate study habits landed her on the brink of burnout, she decided to break from the books and reconnect with her passions. Now a first-year medical student, Ackerman shares four simple tips for finding balance, and explains how a combination of passion and discovery have helped her maintain a healthy, happy life.
Read More
