Student Clinician Ceremony Marks Crucial Medical Training Milestone

The event, developed by students and faculty, aims to reinforce the confidence felt by students entering their clinical years by discussing fears and expectations, providing insight and revisiting the oath taken during the White Coat Ceremony.

The intention of the ceremony is to initiate medical students into their clinical years with a support system.

In his opening remarks, Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president of health sciences and dean of the medical school, noted the ceremony “recognizes one of many milestones in the pathway to becoming a physician.”

Cain told the students he believes the third year of medical school has three main objectives:

• “To train you to skillfully use and integrate the extensive fund of knowledge you now possess to care for human beings who entrust their lives to you. You will learn to be a detective, educator, healer, counselor, advocate, politician and most of all, a compassionate human being who will share with your patients both the joys of favorable outcomes and the pain and sorrow when you must deliver tragic news.”
• “To enable you to objectively select, through direct experience, the area of medicine that best fits your skill set, your passion and where you feel you are most likely to contribute. One year from now you will know the fundamental area of medicine you wish to pursue.”
• “To learn the magnitude of, and how you respond to, the frustration created when you are forced to make decisions based on the art — and not the science — of medicine. Some of you, when confronted with this circumstance, will be comfortable with managing patients based on your best educated guess. Some of you will take advantage of this frustration to pursue careers as physician-scientists and seek to discover new knowledge. American and international medicine needs both breeds.”

Keynote speaker Archana Mishra, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine, began by reflecting on the magnitude of the moment.

“The fact that we are having a ceremony to celebrate this event just like birthdays, weddings, funerals and graduations signifies that this is a life-altering moment,” she said. “This is the juncture where you start your transition from being students of medicine to becoming clinicians.”

Mishra trains and mentors medical students and teaches residents as well as trainees in the pulmonary disease and critical care fellowship and the sleep medicine fellowship. She is involved in designing humanistic curriculum, and she facilitates sessions with second- and third-year medical students to support and foster humanism.

“There is magic in medicine, and I implore you to reflect and be present for those meaningful moments,” she said.

Mishra told the students that even without additional training they were all capable right now of being healers.

“The challenge is not to lose this incredible power as you get inundated with information, technology and diagnostic tools,” she said.

Mishra also told the students to always remember “the art of medicine is realizing that disease is a biologic process that can be understood in scientific and objective terms, but illness is a human event.”

“Don’t listen to your patients to simply understand and fix them, but to share the life experience,” she said. “As you do this you will be amazed at how many heroes there are in this world.”

Mishra urged the trainees to never stop learning. “Be open to learn and be open to teach because teaching is the best way to learn.”

She said it is also important for the students to take care of themselves during the rigorous routines that lie ahead.

“You cannot help others if you are physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted,” she said.

Lastly, Mishra implored the students to live in the moment.

“Life is bigger than any one experience,” she said. “However, it is made up of moments, and please don’t miss them as you get lost reminiscing the past or anticipating the future. Be present!”

Students in the Class of 2017 nominated five residents to receive the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Awards.

The awards are based on their demonstration of commitment to teaching and compassionate treatment of patients, families, students and colleagues, explained Ariel Engelman, Class of 2018, and chair of the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC).

Each award winner was presented with a certificate, specially designed gold lapel pin and a financial award, prepared by The Gold Foundation.

The honorees were:

• Lauren Zohler, DO, Department of Psychiatry
• Anushka Bagga, MD, Department of Surgery
• Jessica Zive, MD, Department of Family Medicine
• Ayesha Turner, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Mario Macias, DO, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Cain led students, and all physicians in attendance, in reciting the oath of medicine before closing remarks by David A. Milling, MD, senior associate dean for student and academic affairs.

Funding for the ceremony and a reception that followed was provided by the John A. Wendel Endowment Fund, established by Virginia Wendel; the Arnold P. Gold Foundation; the Medical Alumni Association; and the Parents’ Council.

The event was presented by the PCC, established in 2000 when the Code of Professional Conduct for UB medical students was ratified. It consists of three student representatives from each class and three faculty members.

The ceremony was held June 27 in the David C. Hohn, MD, Lecture Hall in the Research Studies Center at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.