© Kelly Chambers, CRNA
Helping our humanity
Defined by our technology
Seems every advancement
Puts me in further proximity
To an individual
Keys requiring my care
Stealing my stare
Stealing my time
It just isn’t fair
To my patient
Buried in numbers
Wrapped in wires
Trying to survive
While my stethoscope alive
Listens to the beat
Of a hard drive
Judge’s Comments:
Form and meaning are intertwined in this poem that describes medicine’s integration of technology—or a better term may be the interruption of technology. The bouncy, limerick-style rhyme scheme turns a corner at the end of each stanza with a prepositional phrase pointing out how these tools produce for the doctor both connection and alienation. It’s a poem about doing the best job possible for one’s patients, while considering carefully both the opportunities and the obstacles posed by technology.