On Physician Identity and Advocacy
Our Department of Professionalism, Medical Ethics and Humanities at the St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine – William H. Quasha Memorial had a double-header of a day today for the Introduction to the Medical Profession (IMP) subjects for first and second year medical students. IMP 1 (for first year students) focuses on identity formation as a physician, while IMP 2 expands this thought into being a physician for others.
We’ll start with IMP 2’s workshop today on Social Accountability. We had the students draw their advocacy, and create a hashtag for their advocacies accompanied by a short explanation. They shared this among themselves in groups of 5-6 people. This was followed by a plenary session facilitated by myself and Dr. Jamie Agbayani, in which a few students talked about their group’s advocacies. A sudden change of plans found me talking about PAMANA PH – thank goodness for the website, I was able to use that as a last-minute visual aid! Two students who attended the World Health Organization’s World Health Day 2024 about 2 weeks ago shared their experience as well.
After lunch, students from IMP 1 (first year medical students) took over the Angelo King Auditorium for their Batch Pledge Ceremony. This is the culminating activity for the class of 2028 in which they recite a pledge that they themselves wrote about being the best physician they can be, including lines about self-care, community, adhering to evidence-based treatments and being ethical in their diagnosis and management as they care for patients. The pledge will be recited again at or near their graduation day; I think it is meant to complement, rather than replace, the HIppocratic oath. The ceremony included musical numbers from the class, school administration, and an inspirational talk by Dr. Allan Carpela about his journey from Lukan medical student to specialist physician (otolaryngology-head and neck surgery).
