JaiAnna Megahan, the author of “You Live and You Learn,” is a junior undergraduate student at UTA studying Biology and Psychology “I am very excited to be in UTA’s first edition of Stimulus: A Medical
Humanities Journal. As an aspiring child and adolescent psychiatrist, I believe that mental health and physical health are not only equal, but also reliant on each other. Likewise, I believe that a patient’s experience in any aspect of the medical field will play a pivotal role in their mental and physical well-being. In my short story, ‘You Live and You Learn,’ I am not a pre-medical student learning about disorders and illnesses, but instead a scared and confused patient. Seeing and interacting with medical professionals while at my most vulnerable allowed me to learn something that isn’t commonly taught in textbooks—compassion. We all start our journey in medicine with the same basic notion: “I want to help people.” We all begin that journey with compassion and empathy, but I believe somewhere down the line we forget how to express it. As I progress in my studies, I plan to be an advocate for relearning how to express humanity the way a patient needs. I hope you enjoyed my story and thank you for reading!”
