Who: Dr. Brian Nguyen is a physiatrist at WellSpan Surgery & Rehabilitation Hospital. He specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation, treating patients with injuries or disabilities that impact their physical or cognitive functioning, with a goal of treating the whole person.

What: Dr. Nguyen started learning card magic as a stress reliever while he was in medical school.

Over the past decade, he has taken up the craft more seriously, even studying under the tutelage of a  card expert.

The physician, who carries a deck of cards in a small leather case on his belt, does card magic for his patients during his rounds and also hosts a bi-monthly hour-long Saturday card magic show for all patients and their families at the hospital.

Patients, who can have long rehabilitation stays at the hospital, are delighted by the fun that Dr. Nguyen brings to their day.

Jeff Stonier, who was in the hospital for three weeks as he recovered from heart-related problems, says he grew weary of watching television in his room when he wasn’t involved in therapy sessions.

“I just love magic,” Jeff says. “It’s a good change of pace. It gives you a little bit of happiness.”

Jeff is treated to several tricks on a day when Dr. Nguyen comes to check on him. Following the physician’s direction, he signs his name on a card and then slides it back into the middle of the deck that Dr. Nguyen is holding. The physician snaps his fingers, and the card magically rises to the top of the deck, where he reveals it with a flourish.

“Like that card, keep rising to the top!” Dr. Nguyen encourages Jeff, who is being discharged from the hospital on this day.

Words to live by: “This is a great way to build rapport with patients, and get them to feel joy in the connection,” Dr. Nguyen says.

His patients react in a wide variety of ways. Many get very absorbed in watching the physician perform magic, asking questions about how the tricks work. Often, they laugh in surprise at the final reveal. One patient greatly enjoyed the tricks, then became overcome with emotion and cried, saying that the magic allowed her to smile about something for the first time during a long, difficult recovery.

“Magic makes the impossible possible,” Dr. Nguyen says. “That’s what we do in rehabilitation every day.”