title: On this side of the bubble.
abstract: I was told by many people that medical school would be a transformative period in my life. As I began my medical education, I started to grasp what this meant; medical school was not only an exhilarating academic experience, but a positive social one as well. However, my classmates and I soon realized that we were trapped in a bubble, one which separated the world of medicine from the world at large. Experiencing strain in some of my personal relationships, I tried to explore how the medical bubble could affect our lives not only as future physicians, but also as friends, family, and spouses. It is my hope that an awareness of the bubble will help those in medicine develop and maintain relationships with both their patients and those in their personal lives.
authors.affiliation: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Gaw
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D004501:Education, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012577:Schools, Medical
keywords: health care education; medical education; poetry and prose