White Coats: Becoming a Real Almost-Doctor...

This is my carrot (and I must say, that unlike other things in life, like good food and kisses, one does not reap as much satisfaction with all that holding off and anticipation... for me, it was rather anti-climatic... there is something to be said for that 'spontaneous freshness' of creative imaginings... still, hopefully you will still find it interesting!). I was actually going to treat myself to blogging yesterday if I got all the work done that I had planned, but as it always goes, I only finished it up today (all caught up now though -let the real studying begin! I guess in a way it's good that it's going to pour rain for the next couple days and we can't go hiking up north anymore... I mean not really, I was so looking forward to that, but well, what to do!). At least I have Madonna's "Celebration" to keep making me happy here ;)

Before telling you about the big White Coat day, I just want to briefly mention that last weekend I was in Quebec City for a family medicine symposium where, not only did I get to take part in a suturing workshop and learn some basic kinds of stitching techniques (and incidentally, get filmed by the RDI crew... I didn't even realize that I was on TV last Saturday night apparently ;), but I also had the most amazing opportunity to hear the real Dr. Patch Adams speak. Yes, I will now say the most cliche thing ever: he was really so inspiring, that idealized family doctor who will do anything for his patients, who never charged any of his patients a dime (he held side jobs, essentially 'paying' to practice medicine for 39 years), goes around to underprivileged areas (of the U.S. and the world, I think) to health care facilities that don't have enough resources to adequately manage patients' pain, and provides psychosocial relief through his Clown Tours... he travels 300 days a year (doing this, giving these motivational talks too, I'm sure, visiting good friends / patients -one and the same for Patch, based on his stories) and writes over 600 letters by hand, per year to essentially fans from around the world... he's pretty much awesome. And wonderful to hear in person, standing casually before us, dressed in a clown outfit with a long greying ponytail, telling us to love ourselves and each other and not to forsake love for rigid, old-school "professionalism" and dehumanizing, patient-alienating rules in medicine (don't worry, I can take the message from this without going the extreme, but he did make some excellent points!).

And now, for the White Coat Ceremony.

Yesterday was a momentous day -I had my more formally entitled, "2009 Dr. Joseph Wener Donning the Healer's Habit Ceremony", beginning (half an hour late) with a "musical prelude" from the Medici di McGill String Quartet -a really lovely piece by Dvorak and another by Carlos Gardel -followed by intros and addresses from the Associate Dean, Dean and a family med / medical humanities doctor from Michigan / Texas (it was actually a pretty good talk -a First Nations story about the healer's journey, and the importance of virtue and love in medical practice to complement all that solid technical knowledge). The most moving though was hearing the reflections of a Med-4 at McGill talking about his personal experience being diagnosed with MS when he was a Med-1 and how the right kind of doctor with the right kind of communication skills can make the difference between a doctor who leaves their patients feeling helpless and afraid, or reassured and full of hope. It was quite touching to hear his story -so compelling (and apparently, when I react to people's stories I'm expressive enough to warrant the photographer zooming in on my face, which was kind of weird, really...).

Then we were "donned" with our White Coats -basically, 200 of us have our White Coats ceremoniously put on (2 at a time) by a big-shot McGill Medicine Faculty person and posing for a photographer... long, but, well... I guess that's partly the point. It does feel different when they put the coat on though, I'm not gonna lie. Especially because we also have our official engraved McGill nametags pinned on as well for when we go into the hospitals... it's kind of like "now, you're legit", but also "now, you better know stuff so you can help people", and frankly, people will expect quite a lot from us. That sense of responsibility was lost on no one, despite the sometimes snarky comments and making fun of all the pomp and circumstance of the ceremony beforehand... it's nice to have a tangible thing, a kind of rite of passage as we transition into real almost-doctors.

Anyway, we ended by reciting an Oath / Pledge on which a few of us from our class had worked really hard, right before the summer... okay, yes, I will just admit that I had a pretty big hand in its compilation, synthesizing the others' ideas into one cohesive message that represented all our values, to the best we could. It was a good Oath and I was very happy with it, but the real pride will be in, God-willing, being able to uphold it:

Pledge – Class of 2012

Remember the excitement of our first days as medical students? That early passion, which we surely feel again today, will be our motivation throughout our careers as we strive for excellence in delivery of care, scientific exploration and ethical conduct for the benefit of our patients, colleagues and society.

In full awareness that this journey is ongoing, recognizing our diverse talents and the value of supporting each other’s health and well-being, that we may fulfill our social and professional mandate, and

Appreciating that, through the generosity of our time, knowledge and understanding, our collective achievement will exceed our individual contributions,

We pledge, together, to our patients and to Society:

To be fully present with you, recognizing the unique fabric of your existence;

To learn from our mistakes and from you, that we may gain wisdom to adapt our methods to serve you better;

When we do meet with clinical and innovative success, to remain grounded, without pride or complacency, that we may continue re-phrasing our questions and searching for answers within the context of mutual respect, openness and trust;

To be your advocates, not just in words, but through our actions; your social struggles are ours too. We seek to transcend our differences and work together across disciplines, that we may make you well, keep you well and prevent your illnesses, no matter your background or status.

We recognize that microscopic pathologies often reflect larger social challenges. We will do our best to address those social determinants that prevent you from maintaining health and well-being.

To Medicine, we commit, both as career and vocation:

To be not the servants of science, nature, nations, personal beliefs or even our desire to preserve life. Understanding the reality of our own mortality, we endeavour, instead, to heal our fellow human beings and free them from constraint, so that they may flourish.

We embark upon this calling with humility, fervour and love for humanity.