Medical schools owe their students more

Readers know that I believe that servant leadership should inform leadership and management decisions.  We who have the privilege of having leadership positions at medical schools therefore have as a primary responsibility to our students. Being a medical student, while a reward and a privilege, is nonetheless a stressful experience.  The first two years at most US MD schools have the students grinding through the basic sciences related to medicine.  The volume of material that our students try to absorb is massive.  Then they must take a high stakes test (Step 1) and pass it so that they can progress to the clinical years. The 3rd year of medical school for many students is the reward for the challenging basic science years.  The students work hard and grow dramatically.  As one who has worked with 3rd year students as a faculty member since 1980, the changes during that year are dramatic.  Our students learn the culture of medical care.  They experience all social strata of life; they see tragic illnesses; they experience patients dying; they see the diseases of self abuse.  They begin to understand the responsibility of our profession.  Unfortunately, too often they have role models who are not great.  They too often see cynicism.  Too many “role models” do not exemplify the ideal. As our students go through this experience, and then as the enter the 4th year have the additional stress of “the match”, what should we do to help them.  H...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs