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HMS/HSDM CLASS DAY Keynote Takes New Look at Basics of Being a Doctor In speaking about doctors as teachers, Daniel Federman said the take-home message was "Think out loud; stick to basics; be kind." Photo by Liza Green The three-legged stool of academic medicine—research, education, and patient care—had two of its legs polished in the speaking program at the June 8 HMS/HSDM degree ceremony on the Quad. Keynote speaker Daniel Federman, dean for medical education, and the student speakers highlighted the role of doctor as caregiver and characterized medical education as a collective effort of students, faculty, and family. Working from the phrase "a doctor in the house," Federman explained three facets of doctor and house that represent the practice of medicine and dentistry.
HMS professors of medicine at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Robert Mayer (left) and Lee Nadler (right) celebrate the graduation of their children, Erica Mayer and Eric Nadler, from Harvard Medical School. Photo by SteveGilbert "The clinical encounter is the most extraordinary interpersonal mo-ment in human history," he said. The doctor is allowed to ask probing, personal questions that would be outrageous in another context and to use medication, anesthesia, and surgery, which would be felonious in another setting. The first aspect of doctor is being worthy to act in this role, Federman said, to which he appended some advice: "Think of the doctor's role as [forming] a relationship within which the science and the questioning and the decisions unfold." His first meaning of house addressed the personal side of practice, referring to each graduate's own home and the need to leave time and space for family. The second meaning of doctor is teacher, the word's etymological source, Federman continued. He pointed to the training programs most students would begin within weeks, saying, "To take care of patients, to go on with your own learning, and yet to be responsible for the learning of students under you is a remarkable assignment." He exhorted the graduates to remember an eight-word mantra for their role as teacher: "Think out loud; stick to basics; be kind." Federman asserted that "practically no one is really happy about the current state of health care," explaining that his second meaning of house is the house of medicine. "I would urge that you get involved in your hospitals, schools, medical societies, and even the legislature to bring about a better world." He concluded with the third meaning of doctor as an alum of Harvard Medical or Dental School and house as each school itself. "We in this house hope you never forget the dreams, the hopes, the aspirations, the standards that this old house has for every one of its youngest doctors, yourselves," he said. The keynote address followed those of the three student speakers (see p. 4), who emphasized that the most important part of patient care is caring itself and that a network of people—family and mentors—are necessary in any students' journey toward a doctoral degree. —Robert Neal |
