by Shannon Barrow, MD
On April 23, 2014, incoming and graduating GHHS medical student members at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Chapter presented their humanism challenges, stories, and advice to first-year students at the “Humanism in Medical School-Bridging the Years” Luncheon. The event was developed to:
- bridge the gap between preclinical and clinical students, promoting greater mentorship and support.
- remind students, as well as faculty and staff, that humanism is an integral part of patient care and physician wellness.
- create a forum for sharing humanism strategies and stories.
The one-hour luncheon was incorporated into the first-year Wellness Series curriculum, though the event was open to all students, faculty, and staff. The program included an introduction to GHHS, talk about challenges with humanism in medical school, six humanism stories, and project involvement ideas.
Feedback from the evaluation process was overwhelmingly positive, reflecting the objectives for the luncheon. “I really enjoyed the program,”wrote one student. “It definitely reminded me of why I chose to go into medicine.”Additionally, GHHS members involved in speaking and helping to facilitate the program felt it was personally encouraging, rewarding, and reinforced the importance of humanistic patient care.
As a fourth-year student coordinator of this program, such inspirational reflections from my fellow students established just the ending to medical school and start for residency that I could have hoped for. To conclude this article as I did the event, also on behalf of the rest of the GHHS members involved, I paraphrase from my mentor Dr. Bernard Lown’s book, The Lost Art of Healing: This program is a recompense to my patients, ultimately my greatest teachers, who help me to become a doctor.