Greatest Hopes and Fears

We have this class which started the first day of fall quarter called, 'Introduction to Clinical Medicine' and it continues until our rotations (in the hospital) start in 3rd year. The purpose of the course is to get us comfortable with 'bedside teaching' - interviewing patients, learning compassion and communication skills, learning how to show empathy of our patients and to help us learn the physical exam.

The instructors for this 'ICM' course are awesome. They are funny, compassionate and very enthusiastic about teaching. All the older students say that this is one of the best and most enjoyable classes in the first two years. As our first assignments for this class we were supposed to write down our greatest hope and fear about becoming a physician. They compiled the list of everyone hopes and fears and it was a very inspirational experience to read through it. Everyone has very high hopes for their medical education. I decided to share a couple of them with all of you: :-)

I hope:

"to inspire my patients" (1st year medical student)

"I can develop relationships with my patients that help them feel safe, respected and understood" (1st year medical student)

"to complete the first year and still have my sanity at the end..." (1st year medical student

"that I will learn to truly listen" (1st year medical student)

"that many years from now when I am about to die, I can close my eyes and know that the world is a better place because I became a physician" (me)

"to make a difference in the lives of others, to make a difference in the way that health care is used and administered in this country" (1st year medical student)

I fear:

"that I don't really have what it takes to succeed..." (1st year medical student)

"hurting a patient due to ignorance or negligence" (1st year medical student)

"that I will harm a patient" (me)

"failing anatomy..." (1st year medical student)

"that I won't have enough time for the people I care most about" (1st year medical student)

"that I won't enjoy being a physician" (1st year medical student)

"that I may one day abandon the Marxist-Leninist ideals that led me to become a physician and instead use medicine to buy a big house and drive expensive cars, thereby turning into the gutless, spineless, and soulless peon of American corporate capitalism" (1st year medical student)

"that under the withering effects of cynicism and the tantalizing appeal of opportunity I'll lose sight of my primary goal to work with people who are without means to pay for health care under our current system" (1st year medical student)

These are our hopes and fears now. We will see if they are the same 4 years from now (assuming we all pass). Supposedly there is a general trend in medical school for students to loose their idealism and become cynical. I really hope that doesn't happen to me or my inspirational classmates.