Welcoming Third Year Students to the Clinical Experience

Before they started clinical rounds, members of the College of Medicine Class of 2016 packed into Kresge Auditorium Friday, June 27, alongside faculty, staff, family and friends.

As part of the annual Student Clinician Ceremony, they reflected on the value of humanism in patient care and the unique struggles of their upcoming third year and listened to a patient discuss what makes a good doctor-patient relationship.

Dean Thomas Boat, MD, provided welcoming remarks, congratulating the class and reassuring those who may be anxious about their third year—generally considered the most challenging of medical school.

"No matter how well prepared you are, you’ll have the sense that you’re not as fully prepared as you want to be,” he told the class. "That’s OK. In fact, I think that’s important. Don’t be concerned if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed… I have found over the years that you do your best work when you don’t feel as if you’re on top of things.”

He urged them to write down the things they didn’t know, to use their small amount of break time to study, and most importantly, to keep their focus on the patient in front of them.

"Sit with your patients. Listen to them and reflect on what they say,” said Boat. "You’re going to learn, but you’re also going to contribute.”

For the keynote address, family and community medicine resident Eleanor Glass, MD, brought a patient from her Christ Hospital clinic onstage for a discussion about the doctor-patient relationship.

Felicia Irby recounted how she came to Glass’ practice with high blood pressure and seasonal depression. With Glass’ mentoring and guidance, she successfully used dietary changes, medication and complementary medicine practices to improve her well-being.

Irby said her sense of comfort with Glass, and the long conversations they would have during visits, helped her to initiate those changes.

From her perspective, Glass said the partnership she built with Irby reaffirmed her mission as a physician.

"When we develop a relationship with patients, and we can learn from each other—that doesn’t feel like work,” she said.

The ceremony also included the medical student association co-presidents, Kevin Janek and Wesley Ghasem, presenting this year’s apple teaching awards.

"We're truly blessed to have tremendous faculty here at the UC College of Medicine. They are the bedrock of our medical education and of our medical school,” said Janek. "We couldn’t have asked for better faculty members to help guide us through this process—every late night they spend preparing test questions, every early morning they come in to guide us through the anatomy lab, and answering who knows how many streaming, intricate emails that we send to them asking for clarification on minute details. We’re very thankful for them.”

Gold apple awards went to:

• David Pettigrew, PhD (from the first-year students)
• Bruce Giffin, PhD (from the second-year students)
• David Fischer, MD (third and fourth years).

Silver apples went to:

• D.J. Lowrie, PhD, and Keith Stringer, MD (first year)
• Pettigrew and Lowrie (second year)
• Bradley Mathis, MD, and John Quinlan, MD (third and fourth years)

To conclude the Student Clinician Ceremony, the class recited its oath of professionalism led by 2014 Swain Memorial Awardee Anne Delisio.