This afternoon ceremoniously marked my entrance into the medical profession. The white coat was placed by current RUSM physician faculty members onto each student's shoulders. The actual "Donning of the Coats" only required a small portion of the ceremony's total duration; however, as much as I would have liked this portion to be completed in a more individual fashion for each student, I think it served as a symbol of the type of profession we are entering; One that cannot function without an entire team of people working together to defeat tough enemies. Instead of putting each one of us on a pedestal to receive our coats, we did it together- as a team. Throughout the course of the ceremony, various keynote speakers talked about what it means to be a doctor. Each one of these speeches was fantastic, but the one that really stood out to me was related to the connection between our white coats and who we are as physicians.
Now, I want you to take a couple minutes to think about what a physician's white coat symbolizes.
What kind of images does it evoke? What kind of emotions? Memories? Ideas? Expectations?
This question was posed a few hours ago by a RUSM faculty member to myself and my fellow MDs in training. She followed the question up with single words that describe what our white coats will become over the course of the next four years. In some cases, the words used to describe our white coats related to how the public and our patients will perceive us. Such things as: "knowledgeable," "role-model," "moral," "trustworthy," "intimidating" (ie. in Pediatrics, some children are afraid of the white coat and what it means for what they will have to go through), etc. In other cases, it literally related to the different purposes our coats will serve while we wear them. "Handkerchief;" patients sometimes need that shoulder to cry on, and we will have to be that for them. "Pillow;" there WILL be times that we will fall asleep with our white coat crumpled and used as a makeshift pillow. "An indication that we need to do laundry;" the sleeves are dirty and the lapel is wrinkled (so much for the classic "whenever I run out of underwear" rule :) ). "An extra layer;" clinical rotations in the Upper Midwest in the middle of January, anyone? At the end of the day, though, in spite of all these words and mental pictures, our white coat symbolizes our entrance into an elite and respected group of professionals. When we wear this coat, we are no longer just people walking down the street. There is an expectation, a standard universally understood, that we, as physicians, will be all of those things listed above.....and more. I, personally, heed this responsibility with immense gratitude and appreciation, and know that I will never have to do it alone. Am I going to be perfect? Absolutely not (who is?), but the challenge to constantly be better, to seek improvement every single day with every single patient case I have, is one that I could not be more thrilled to tackle. I read a quote after the ceremony that goes as follows:
"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone." - Ronald Reagan
Upon reading this, I immediately applied it to the medical profession. We all are here because we want to help people, but so often we forget that there are going to be times when we won't be able to help someone as much as we want. That reality will not be an easy one to digest- especially the first few times- however, knowing that I have colleagues who will still support me, or who might be able to help someone in a way that I am unable, is incredible.
Although I know teamwork will be a critical piece in the future success of my career as a physician, I have learned over the last 5 days that the teamwork starts as soon as you start medical school. Never in my life have I experienced the sensation of consistently running as fast as I can on a treadmill and still not being able to keep up. The lecture contents are dense and the time that the student has to master the material is significantly less than any educational program I have been a part of. That being said, I wouldn't have it any other way. Am I tired and want a nap? Yes'siree. Are there times when I just want to sit down and watch a movie? Absolutely. What keeps me from doing those things; however, is knowing what awaits at the end of the seemingly endless tunnel of coursework. Experiences and interactions that I have with faculty and upper semester students only works to solidify what I already know- that being a doctor is what I am supposed to do. Additionally, at the end of the day, I actually love what I am learning. Being able to personally dissect the human body is incredible. After my first lab on Tuesday, I was on cloud 9. Learning about muscles, bones, ligaments, blood vessels, nerves, etc in lecture and from a textbook is one thing, but to actually SEE it, is completely different. By the time I return home to friends and family in December, I'm not sure how my brain will be able to process the idea of having free-time, but I won't worry about that just yet.
In the words of Jimmy Dugan from A League of Their Own, "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard.....is what makes it great."
Until next time,
Ashleigh
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