Psychiatry is present in every patient [...] You notice that every patient has their mental struggles, either with their mood, disorganized thinking, pain, drugs... we don’t appreciate that enough. Practicing psychiatry is both a pleasure and a privilege, because it’s nice to get to know people at their vulnerable level and gain that trust.
Kenzy Abdelhamid is a 23-year-old recent McGill M.D., C.M graduate. Having been born in Alexandria, Egypt, moving to live in Beirut, Lebanon before moving to Quebec City Kenzy is excited for the new experiences that will come along with starting her Psychiatry residency with McGill University in July.
Describe yourself in one sentence.
I think by virtue of the fact that I am an immigrant, and that I grew up with three older siblings - I tend to be someone that is very open-minded and just always excited to see new things and try new things, [meet] new people… I’m also someone who is super active, that’s really important to me. And I think the last thing that I have to say that describes me is that I try to keep a cool-headed mind and I try to be someone with a voice of calm and reason to people - I'm always going to be the person who is like “chill, it’s not a big deal.”
Tell us about your journey to medical/dental school.
So as I mentioned before, I’m an immigrant. I moved to Quebec City when I was about 10 years old. I think I have always been interested in medicine. My brother and my sister are pharmacists and my dad taught biochemistry in university, so a very “sciency” kind of family. But when I hit CEGEP, I wasn't sure if I actually wanted medicine. I didn't feel like I fit in. I think that had a lot to do with the fact that a lot of my colleagues were not from a similar background [as mine]. But, when I thought about applying, I thought about what was really attractive about medicine. I wanted a profession where I could get a job right away, for the security of it. And I think that resonates with a lot of immigrant families. And I think what I loved about it obviously is the knowledge base like studying the human body, but then also, I liked that as a job that [medicine] was that it is very ethical in a sense. Like we say we wanna go into it to help people, but there are many professions that help people. And I think you realize this also more after you get in and gain a greater appreciation for other healthcare professionals. But my journey was that I wanted a job that was secure, that suited my interests. I hesitated for a while, but ultimately, I applied and got into McGill, which was like a dream to me. It was simple, or I’d say a relatively simple journey since I got into the Med-P program. But I really loved it for the security it had to offer more than anything - something I continue to be grateful for.
Tell us about your journey through M3/M4 to residency.
You know the path was an interesting one, especially when it came to discovering specialties. So I mentioned that I was a first-generation medical student, so I didn’t really have any med people in the family. I got into medicine because it seemed like such a wonderful profession. But, early on, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with it, like, I think that we had the Public Health block first and I kind of fell in love with it [from the beginning]. But, I wasn't sure how that applied to the rest of medicine. Wasn’t sure yet anyways. I also thought I wanted to do Obstetrics because I thought that’s a nice career with women and I think as an immigrant woman, I have to say that was encouraged by my family. Eventually, I got into research and got to explore Plastic Surgery, and I loved it. I loved the idea of Plastic Surgery, just because it was so varied and it seemed like such a nice surgical specialty more than anything else. There was a lot of creativity involved and I liked that it was very patient-focused. It challenged me in ways that I didn’t think it would. In a sense, I had the impression that it's all about cosmetic surgery, but then when I shadowed in a clinic I got to appreciate the variety and how patient-focused it was. [The field] comes from a non-judgemental perspective, you approach the patient about what they want and help them and it's more about quality of life over anything. So I liked [the field] for that. But, then I actually did Surgery in clerkship, and I didn’t love it in terms of practice. So then I got into this whole limbo of like I have no idea what I want to do, I think this was around Med 3. I thought at some point about Emergency Medicine, I liked the quick pace of it and I am someone who’s always on my feet. I'm very calm, I thought that that was perfect - in terms of how it suited my skillset and qualities. But then when we were off for 4 months because of COVID - which I think is very special about our cohort and a huge part of our journey I would say - it gave me personally a lot of time to reflect and think. When I came back [after the pandemic’s restrictions were lifted in M3], I got to do Psychiatry and I just loved it - it made all the sense to me. Like honestly, it just connected with what I liked about providing patient-focused care, quality of life care, and then it reminded me about what I liked before medicine. I think when you get into medicine, you forget what you love about social sciences. And I realized before, in CEGEP, I kind of struggled with if I wanted medicine or not and a part of it was because I loved the social sciences, like I even considered religious studies at some point. And Psychiatry I feel offered that opportunity to explore social sciences, philosophy, psychology, and other fields. So that was my journey in terms of specialty-wise. Otherwise, medicine was a wonderful journey of meeting new people and again I went into it trying new things from the very beginning. Like I got into research, and then founded MedComm, which became my passion project (for those that don’t know, MedComm hopes to address language barriers in the medical system), and that was really again a huge part of my journey. Then CaRMS [hit], and that’s the final part we all have to encounter on the medical journey - full of hardships but also wonderful and especially very rewarding in the end.
What has been your most impactful or memorable experience since starting medical/dental school?
It’s hard to think of the most for sure. I think if I had to start from the very beginning, I remember Med-P frosh was quite a special time, I think the reason why that was so is because I had moved to Montreal from Quebec City. Finally, I was surrounded by a huge group of people who shared my interests, who came from a variety of backgrounds, and were all in the same age range - the same backgrounds in an academic sense, but also from a variety of backgrounds culturally. I think that was a hugely memorable experience of mine. And then, I mean, from the first publication I ever had, to when MedComm started getting known. These are all really great moments for me in my journey and then [after those moments] the cheesiest answer would have to be clerkship, and every patient encounter. I mean, I wouldn't say every single one, but definitely ones that hit you hard both in really bad ways, like tragic stories, but then also really great ways. The most impactful experience would have to be the patients, the patients that [either] confirmed specialties that I wanted or specialties that I didn’t. I think one of my favorite patients that I remember was one of my favorite stories when I was actually in Geriatrics after my Psychiatry rotation, and I wasn’t sure about Psychiatry just yet. But then, this patient over ninety years old was admitted for paranoid thoughts. What does that mean, [the patient] thought that people were robbing her, so she kept calling the police, up to twenty times-a-day. At some point, I saw her on the ward and she thought that she lost her hearing aid. But I knew, because she told me before, where she would hide her belongings, so people wouldn't steal them. So I thought for sure it would be there and she just forgot. So eventually, after getting her permission and turning my back to the door, I looked in her secret hiding spot, which was like in the pillowcase, in a little bag, hidden in a little paper towel and I found the hearing aid and I gave it to her. And to me, that was a very impactful story because it shows how important therapeutic trust is. Though at first, she didn’t trust me (or anyone), that day she trusted me enough to look in her hiding spot. Then when I found it, I saw how happy she was, and I also kind of got her to think if it were possible that she just kept forgetting where she kept her things, and that people weren’t robbing her. And she said, “it’s possible, but you know people are also still robbing me.” And was like okay you know that’s fair - we got some partial insight there. To me, that was a very impactful moment in terms of confirming that I love the idea of Psychiatry and taking the time to get to know my patients and have them trust me. Then, finally, enter CARMs, which again, full of the good moments but then the hard ones too.
Follow-up Comment: I feel like Psychiatry in particular, especially through FMD, there isn’t enough talk about it, or there isn’t enough patience to be taught about it. So it really is a cool clinical experience that made a difference or impact in your case.
So I have to say in response to that, that Psychiatry is present in every patient, and that is something that I appreciated only after I did my rotation, which again was at the end of my Med-3, early Med-4. You notice that every patient has their mental struggles, either with their mood, disorganized thinking, pain, drugs... we don’t appreciate that enough. Finally, practicing psychiatry is both a pleasure and a privilege, because it’s nice to get to know people at their vulnerable level and gain that trust.
In your opinion, what has been the most impactful discovery in medical/dentistry?
As someone who is going into Psychiatry, I have to say this, which connects to what I was saying before. I think now, we are appreciating that there is a lot more intersection between medicine and Psychiatry. I think that’s the part that I think is really important. We’re starting to appreciate that every patient comes in with mental health [challenges] and that their mental health impacts their physical health. It’s not a discovery, but I think that it’s something that is really good for us to take forward, and to encourage the whole biopsychosocial model for every patient, not just the psychiatric patients.
What is something little known about you?
When I first got into medicine, obviously there was a lot of stress. How I started relieving that stress was by going to the gym with my friends. It became this wonderful routine where we would spend, you know, all of our days at the library until 9 PM, we’d leave the library and then go to the gym, and we’d spend another hour at the gym and that was the day. So after spending about a couple of months at the gym, I started lifting pretty heavy weights; in fact, a personal record was lifting “a plate” benching (135lb), which means that as I was bench lifting my own weight! That’s little known about me, but still a part of me!
What is one experience that you have had that you feel others can learn from?
I think that the patient encounter that I mentioned can also fit with this question, in terms of taking the time to listen to your patient. I think everybody on the ward thought “Oh her hearing aid was missing”, and they were ok with that, they settled on it. But because I had listened to her before, and because I had spent every day talking to her for at least 30 minutes, I knew where to look, I knew she would trust me, and I took the time to look for it. And I think that that’s an experience I would like people to learn from. Take the time, especially with those patients that are considered ‘difficult’. She was this elderly lady who was very irritable and very aggressive and loud, and actually had a lot of nurses and PABs trying to quiet her down, because she was making a lot of noise. And with all of the COVID regulations, she wasn't happy in her room, but I would always try to think that obviously she’s bored in her room... that was my reaction. Ultimately, it was a very rewarding and impactful experience for me at the end - also gave me a funny story to share.
What is something you wish you knew before entering medical/dental school?
That I did not know anything about medicine. I am a mentor to many premeds and I never know what to say. To answer the question of why you want medicine before doing medicine is very difficult. Even now, I’m not entirely sure why medicine over any other career and why Psychiatry, and I think that’s normal and really okay. I think it takes lots of clinical exposure to really figure that out. I also didn’t know how varied medicine was. I never appreciated that. You can find something for everybody; there is not one picture of someone that fits into medicine. Finally, I didn’t know what was coming and I didn't know the sacrifices that it would take. Yes, we all know that medicine is difficult, but we don’t know how much medicine shapes you and takes all of your time. Your life will revolve around it. I think that’s what makes medicine more unique than other degrees as it’s your lifestyle, you will be part of the culture, in wonderful ways, but a lot of hardships too.
What are you looking forward to or concerned about your upcoming Psychiatry residency?
What was nice about choosing Psychiatry, is that because I explored it so late, I actually have so much to look forward to. In fact, I feel like I didn’t do enough of it, if anything; especially because it is not something we see often. I’m so excited to explore everything it has to offer. In terms of concerns, something that I was concerned about, even with patients that I see, is that you can’t help everyone. Especially for people from different cultural backgrounds or any minority background, I hope I get to continue to approach them in a culturally safe way, in a way that they are comfortable expressing themselves and that I don't say the wrong thing. I don’t want to be a source of someone’s bad days or make someone feel like they are lesser, embarrassed or ashamed in a way that I didn’t intend to. That is easy to do. It is easy to shame someone and it is easy to put someone in an awkward position even if that wasn't the intention. It is easy to get sucked into the ‘to-do list’ and checking off things on that list which does not [always] include taking the time to speak to patients in an appropriate way. I hope to continue to be aware of that and be mindful.
Do you have any advice you would like to give to future cohorts of medical/dental students?
Everything that I’ve been saying. I’d like people to keep an open mind, try new things, and explore themselves. I think that we all grow a lot in medical school. Maybe because I was also Med-P that made me feel like I grew a lot. Also, it’s not the end of the world; nothing is the end of the world. If you fail a block for example, it’s not going to end anything. You are here, you made it, you have such security and privilege. It is important to both acknowledge that and also take advantage of that. You have such an opportunity to do such wonderful things. In the end, I know that it doesn't work out for everyone and that CaRMS is super stressful, but most of the time, it works out. Most people match and most people match into specialties that they want!
What is the funniest way that you’ve been injured?
I was standing right beside the MGH, on Cedar/ Cote des Neiges. The street goes downhill, and it was 7 PM on a summer night and I saw a tire rolling down it. That tire was freely rolling down this huge street and approaching the intersection and I was thinking that it was going to definitely cause an accident at any moment. I was kind of terrified as I saw this happen. Then, I felt like someone had to stop it, “Who do I call? What should I do?” [were thoughts that passed through my head]. Then I noticed that it was coming right towards me and I thought, “Perfect, I’ll be the one to stop this car tire.” At that time, I was going to the gym, lifting weights and I was feeling all hyped up. I was about to stop it but obviously, I was not going to.
It was a heavy tire, it hit my leg, which I’m pretty sure was how I got my labral tear. I was then knocked a meter away. I don’t know if I passed out for a split second, but my heart skipped a beat. I got up and I didn’t understand what happened. But the tire kept rolling. It just slowed down and a car stopped as it saw what happened, so I’ll take some credit for having done that [i.e. slowing the tire down]! Luckily, no bones were broken but I think it permanently displaced my leg a little bit from my hip joint. This was the funniest way I was injured, despite the fact that I am quite reckless.
Note: The above is a direct transcript from a live interview with Kenzy Abdelhamid conducted by the Resonance Humans team.
Comentários