Counterbalanced

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Spring 2020

Counterbalanced
ink and paper
Emery Boudreau

From Ms Boudreau: “I drew this piece in an effort to find some sort of balance during medical school. So much of our time as students is put towards studying, preparing for cases the following day, or trying to get some sleep in after a 24-hour call shift. It is easy to lose sight of the passions we have outside of medicine—the things that help ground us in this difficult part of our training. I think making time for those things is equally as important as the material we study in aiding us to become good doctors.
In recent research, it has become clear that addressing the need to counterbalance stress and sleepless nights early on in a physician’s career will help reduce or even prevent episodes of burnout. For me, it is art that allows me to escape the demands of medical school and focus on the lines and details on the page in front of me. Another thing is time spent outdoors, which I represented with leaves winding through the anatomy I’ve been studying.” Ms Boudreau is a third-year medical student at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City.