Today was the kickoff of something I never knew I would have the opportunity to be a part of, especially when I thought about medicine as my profession. I grew up the son of a physician and heard about the culture of paternalistic medicine along with its stigma. When I discuss with him the current change and culture of what my generation wants to bring of what we discuss here, his jaw drops. He would state that’s not only something he and his colleagues would dare do, out of fear of losing their jobs, but also it wasn’t the norm or anywhere near it. I think this is something we need to make the norm. Bring patients into their care and into the fold, so we make them part of our healthcare team.
Today we watched the Lewis Blackman movie, a truly eye opening film of how the medical and healthcare system can fail in so many ways. This was my second time seeing this film, with the first being just prior to starting residency. Now a year later, going through intern year I can think of dozens of examples that fit right into this film. This to me is dozens of medical errors and mistakes where the medical system fails these people. These are opportunities to fix these mistakes and learn so we can reduce them and make sure they don’t happen.
It has been an exciting first day to meet such warm and inspiring leaders from different institutions. I look forward to more productive and insightful discussion in the days to come!