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‘Stickers’—A pediatric resident’s experience with loss

Pediatric Research volume 97, pages 1250–1251 (2025)Cite this article

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I look at the picture on my screen—a hospital bed, covered in blue sheets. A child-sized bed with an intravenous pole next to it. The intravenous line lying gently on the bed with a trail of blood following it. Beautiful, colorful walls. Clouds floating above the bed, as if, the child who had been the occupant of the bed had simply floated after the clouds. The image was violent and serene at the same time. I look at this with eight of my colleagues in a medical humanities and bioethics class, which I had enrolled in to make some sense of all the decisions we make with, without, and for our youngest patients. Sometimes after a long and busy day at work, the class that I had signed up very enthusiastically for, seems like another checkbox on my never-ending to-do list.

Like many people in that virtual class, I had completed my residency training during the COVID-19 pandemic. The irony of virtually attending a class that was centered on our connections with our patients and peers was not lost on me. Why did so many of us decide to forego the in-person option? Maybe it was the safety valve of turning the camera off when things got too deep. In any case, I preferred this, sitting on my couch with my cat snuggled up next to me. I bring my wandering mind back to the class and focus on the image again, and this time, something changes. Somewhere, a floodgate opens, and memories of ‘M’ come rushing into my mind.

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References

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Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge Dr. Anson Koshy for expertly leading the VTS session which inspired me to write about my patient experience. I want to acknowledge the support I received from the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston as a part of the GME Humanities and Ethics Certificate Program. The image referenced in the article is a painting named ‘Patient’ by artist Frank Moore. Available from: https://www.speronewestwater.com/artists/frank-moore#tab:slideshow;slide:5. I have no funding sources or competing interests to declare.

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  1. Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellow, UTHealth Houston/McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX, USA

    Vaishali Harne

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  1. Vaishali Harne
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Correspondence to Vaishali Harne.

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Harne, V. ‘Stickers’—A pediatric resident’s experience with loss. Pediatr Res 97, 1250–1251 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-024-03473-0

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