{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T17:50:55Z","timestamp":1791568255375,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Am J Hosp Palliat Care"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This reflective essay chronicles my experience as a fourth-year medical student during a clinical rotation in a hospital ward. Initially overwhelmed by the sensory intensity and surrounding suffering, I developed an unexpected stillness\u2014not born of indifference, but of necessity. Grappling with death as an inevitable reality, I reframed my presence at the bedside as an act of witness rather than a battle against the incurable. Through observing physicians and nurses, I absorbed not only clinical skills but the art of delivering difficult news with compassion. The essay explores the tension between empathy and emotional detachment, concluding that the quiet I cultivated was the only way to remain useful. Stepping outside the hospital, I realized the psychological distance I had built within the ward did not travel with me\u2014leaving the outside world feeling strangely unguarded. This piece reflects on the hidden curriculum of medical training: learning to carry reverence for life alongside the discipline to act.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/10499091261496427","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T00:09:25Z","timestamp":1791418165000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Behind the Curtain"],"prefix":"10.1177","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-2308-6243","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roshan","family":"Thajudeen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Medical University-Pleven"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"container-title":["American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine\u00ae"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/10499091261496427","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/10499091261496427","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/10499091261496427","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T17:00:31Z","timestamp":1791565231000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/10499091261496427"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"references-count":0,"alternative-id":["10.1177\/10499091261496427"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/10499091261496427","relation":{},"ISSN":["1049-9091","1938-2715"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1049-9091","type":"print"},{"value":"1938-2715","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"article-number":"10499091261496427"}}