Podcasts
Pulse stories, read by their authors, followed by a Q & A.
Season Two
My Invisible Illness
Her doctors don’t believe that this teenager’s intense pelvic pain is real.
Treasuring Our Differences
What’s it like to be nonbinary and pay a visit to the doctor?
Finding the Upside
A nineteen-year-old receives a diagnosis that eventually reveals her best self.
The Real Me
What’s it like when people insist on putting you in a box, but aren’t sure which one to put you in?
The Dreams That Bring Us Here
An aspiring doctor journeys from the West Bank to New York–via Jordan, Ramallah and Jerusalem–in pursuit of the American dream…
A Duplexity of Maladies
What’s it like to come down with two debilitating illnesses during your last year of college…?
New Normal
It’s the bureaucratic hassles, not the special needs of an emotionally expressive son, that crush the soul…
Checking Our Assumptions
A male nurse experiences–and finds himself engaging in–profiling…
The Quest of a Lifetime
In his teens, the author discovered he had a genetic disorder that made him feel like a mistake…
Being Different: My Struggle and My Motivation
Hearing her mother say that doctors “don’t care about people like us” motivated her to become a nurse…
Don’t Ever Let Them Break You
A medical student and then OB-GYN resident discovers what it’s like to be a woman in medicine.
Many Shades of Different
“Stage IV cancer at age twenty-one made me different from my peers…”
Nontraditional
A thirty-six-year-old mom with four children and four jobs embarks on a career in nursing…
Season One
Our Town (Chinese Spoken)
After ten years in the US, a Chinese immigrant finally finds a doctor who puts her at ease.
Chameleon
At age five, on her first day of kindergarden, the author was asked, “Are you Black or white?”
A Weird Fit for Medicine
Front-page headlines can leave a queer physician feeling alone…
A Real Family?
After many tries at a fertility clinic, a physician and her husband decide to change course.
Coming Clean
A physician keeps quiet about her past as her patient struggles with alcoholism. (Story: 1:38; Q&A: 10:12)
Soon
An emergency room nurse tries desperately to keep up. (Story at 1:54; Q&A at 9:53)
Two Timelines
An Air Force veteran develops bad neck pain and calls his doctor. His wife recounts what happens next. (Story: 1:57; Q&A: 14:15)
Black and White
Loud music interrupts a family in mourning and sparks a racially charged confrontation. (Story at 1:32; Q&A at 8:15)
Everyone Has a Story
A medical student shares a special bond with another person–not a classmate, but a patient. (Story at 1:35; Q&A at 11:00.)
A Day in the Life of a Psychiatrically Hospitalized Clinician
I am a licensed clinical social worker. And, occasionally, a mental patient. Today, in this inpatient psychiatric unit, I am more a patient than a social worker.
Borderlines — Joo-Inn Chew
A physician can relate to a self-harming teenager–and has the scars to prove it.
Too Everything to Fit In — Zainab Jimoh
A student’s hijab, skin color and gender have set her apart ever since a sixth-grade classmate asked, “Where were you on 9/11?”
Truth in Translation — N.Y. (Nora) Sun
An eight-year-old granddaughter helps her Chinese grandfather deflect a doctor’s nosy questions.
Stigmata — Kevin Koo
A medical student sees something in the OR–and wishes he could speak up.