White Coat Ceremony

Abstract

Introduction: Welcome - and Welcome back to Family Medicine Moments. During this academic year you will receive a medical humanities piece each week on Thursday morning (unless it is a vacation week). These pieces are created by YOU! This is your forum.

I created this listserv format over a decade ago so that we could celebrate the work and teaching we do at UMass Chan. I invite students, residents, faculty, staff to share your musings, essays, stories, poems, haiku, 55 and 6-word stories, music, photos, artwork, or something completely different. I ask that you remove any personal health information (PHI). Thanks for reading. Thanks for sharing.

And now for week 1. This piece comes from a medical student who just arrived at UMass Chan! Prem Patel, Class of '27 shares with us a copy of the writing assignment for the White Coat Ceremony.

Prem reflects on what the white coat represents and what it does not. I am reminded of an essay on the topic of "can medical students be taught compassion?". The white coat is a cloak that covers over the person who brings humanity to medical school in the first place. Let's all help Prem and the Class of '27 hang onto and foster that humanity. And be reminded of our own commitment to our helping profession as we see it through the eyes of a new member of our team.