Professional identity

In the midst of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, I reluctantly joined a virtual academic half day for care of the elderly and geriatric medicine residents. The talk was titled “Professional Identity” and I was not sure what to expect or what I would gain from it. After discussing a short story written by writer and physician Dr Naomi Rachel Remen, Dr Arielle Berger gave us the following writing prompt: “Behind my mask, I ….” We were given 5 minutes to write whatever came to our minds. As I put pen down to paper, I was reminded of my recent experience seeing an elderly patient who presented with hip pain to a busy downtown emergency department.

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