Process
Reflections From The Path To Doctor
Select chapters still open to submissions.
Please email processbookproject@gmail.com for inquiries.
What is Process about?
Process is a collection of writings from medical trainees around the world about their journeys through medicine and medical education. The dream is for the poems, stories and reflections to capture the raw emotions of medical students, junior doctors, and residents and thus, take readers through what it feels like to be in medical training: mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Students spend many years learning the art of medicine, teaching themselves to recognize and preserve the dignity and humanity of others, yet often forgetting their own. The rigors of their training also leave them with such little time for self-reflection that they often do not appreciate how they are changing until much later. Process is a call for a pause, a call for medical trainees to ponder the paths they have chosen, and hopefully, determine how they will continue to walk.
For medical trainees, I hope the anthology engenders a sense of camaraderie with their colleagues around the world: they are on similar journeys, albeit at different stages, and in different social and geographical contexts, but they are not alone. For the rest of the world, I hope it demystifies the medical education process and shows what forces—good and bad—shape the doctors they eventually meet in hospitals and clinics around the world. For both groups, I hope Process encourages conversations that translate to stronger, more robust medical and healthcare systems.
(The Chapters page has more information on the themes the anthology will cover.)
Submissions
Who can submit?
Any medical student or resident anywhere in the world. Junior doctor/Resident submissions are particularly welcome as the anthology has mostly received medical student reflections thus far.
Recent graduates are also welcome to submit reflections.
Where may I send my submission?
All submissions should be sent to processbookproject@gmail.com
Include your submission in the body of the email. Please do not attach your submission as a separate document.
What should I include with my submission?
Subject line should read: Submission_Authorname_Title of submission
You may use your real name, pseudonym or choose to be anonymous.
Please include your school/program, country and graduation year.
If your email address will not be functional in the near future, please include an address we can reach you with.
What can I submit?
Prose reflections are particularly welcome but poems and other written forms of expression will be considered. Please see the Chapters page for descriptions of topics that the anthology will cover. However, you are also welcome to submit reflections on topics that are not explicitly described.
Reflections should focus on your internal journey through medicine. You may draw on your unique background and how that has influenced your journey. Stories about patient encounters are fine but please reflect on how these encounters affected you and be mindful of patient confidentiality.
Are there restrictions on style, word count or language?
You are welcome to write in whatever style you want.
Prose submissions should be between 600 to 1,500 words. Poems should have a maximum of 50 lines. However, submissions that do not exactly fall within these limits but are in line with the theme of the anthology will be considered.
Submissions in any language are allowed but non-English submissions should include an English translation. All submissions should be original work, based on your own experience and should not have been submitted for publishing or published elsewhere.
Multiple submissions are also allowed.
When should I have my submission in by?
The anthology will be open till March 10, 2018.
When you send in your submission, you will receive an email acknowledging receipt of your work.
What happens if my work is accepted?
You will receive an email stating that your work has been accepted. Any follow-up instructions and additional details will be included in that email.
If your work is included in the final manuscript, you will also receive a copy of the book after it is published.
About the editor
Tolu Kehinde was born in a quiet southern Nigerian town. She spent most of her childhood and adolescent years between three towns—Warri, Ibadan and Abuja—or four, if you count the eight months in Lagos, Nigeria’s bustling coastal metropolis. Tolu moved to the US for college and spent four years studying Neuroscience and Behavior at Mount Holyoke College. She is currently figuring out her process as a fourth-year medical student at the Geisel School of Medicine.
She loves reading (but doesn't always have time for it), believes in the cathartic power of poetry and has recently taken up woodworking.
