FIELD NOTES

INTIMA SPRING-SUMMER 2026

Click on the title of the essay to read.

The Daughter and the Doctor | Natalie Malluru

For a first-year resident, perspectives about care change when a loved one is diagnosed, realizing the small gestures count when delivering ‘news.’

Death Notification | Huma Farid

One morning, a patient doesn’t show up, and a doctor contemplates what happened and reflects on her own actions when the memory remains, long after knowing what occurred.

Electrically Alive, Genetically Wired | Vangipuram Harshil Sai

During a semester break, a medical student follows a cardiologist and learns about a genetic heart condition that his family shares with a young patient.

Ilha Das Flores | Guilherme Coelho

Teachers surround us if we’re willing to stand and watch and listen—and stay out of the way.

Response Time | Macie Garner

Being prepared doesn’t always yield the best results.

Risk Assessment | Jeanna Ford

Losing a parent to suicide poses its own set of questions and risk assessment matters. “But so does timing, language, and most of all, presence,” says the author. A fierce and measured examination on the importance of engagement during a crucial clinical moment.

Settlers | Thomas Robey

In the board game Catan, every move is a message and strategy rules the day. The same could be said about night shift in the emergency room.

Space Cadet | Adnan Askari

Do actions speak louder than words? In this amusing and instructive tale, it’s a toss-up.

Survivor Guilt | Shannon Bueker

Each cancer patient is different. Treatments vary and some work; others don’t. An essay about facing the questions, the anger and the aftermath of living in the world when the treatment has done its job.

Telemetry | Crystal Ralls

Easing a patient’s discomfort—her sense she’s being watched by the hospital monitors—prompts a clinician’s questioning of what that tracking serves.

Tuning Up: Narrative Practice and Attuning to Others | Shreya Tamma and Daniel Mahoney

It takes the legacy of a musician like David Bowie and an iconic musical composition such as Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev to prompt creativity and thought in a workshop focused on original response.