The Jaded Value System of Medical School Students
As medical school students, we shouldn’t be asking: “How will this look good for residency?” Instead, we should be asking “what can I do now to make sure I can prepare myself as a physician who intentionally cares for patients from an anti-racism lens, acts from a place of cultural humility and provides trauma-informed care?”
In order to answer question 1, students usually immediately think of how to be the leader of different organizations, how to get their research published in the highest ranking journal or how to participate in a free clinic in order to look like a student that cares for underserved populations. None of these pursuits are inherently wrong, but the problem with these pursuits is that the intention is misplaced — the reason behind doing these activities are driven by self-interest instead of being patient focused. However, in order to answer question 2, students could read books that challenge their thinking, engage in the community from a Do-No-Harm approach instead of from a ’savior complex’ mindset, and explore other interests that they love — whether that be dance, music, or even fitness — that would allow them to relate more with their patients.
Pondering on question 2 encourages the development of physicians who are not cookie cutter and pushes students to stop thinking that they need to fit a certain mold. We don’t need more physicians who think the same, act the same and do the same things. We need more physicians who challenge the current systems and institutions in place, don’t make medicine their entire life and truly think more about lifting up others instead of lifting up their resume. In addition, unfortunately, every moment, patients are constantly being re-traumatized by physicians who don’t care for the social context or who aren’t trained in how to think about a patient’s trauma or cultural background.
I just began medical school approximately 1.5 months ago, but I am concerned that we are producing more physicians who approach medicine from this perspective. In addition, I am worried that students are more focused on how to get into their top residency program instead of focusing on how to care best for patients especially since classes and Step 1 are P/F. I am extremely glad that Step 1 is P/F, but I am saddened by the reality that it feels like more and more students are feeling pressured to pursue interests solely for their resumes instead of solely for their patients or even to pursue other interests outside of medicine.
I think what can help is to remember that patients care less about the prestigious residency program their doctor attended and care more about if their physician made them feel loved and cared for. At the end of the day, patients want someone to listen to them and who will not treat them differently because of their skin tone or socioeconomic status. For example, when I shadowed a physician for a couple of hours over the summer, he mentioned that a Native American patient told him that the nurses were giving her an attitude. This shows that patients can tell when you are treating them differently based off of their race, so why are we more focused on the top residency program instead of how we can address our own biases? In addition, when I tell people that I am in medical school, sometimes people have told me “Make sure you listen to your patients” because they have had experiences where their physician did not listen to them. They didn’t say “Make sure you get your degree from the highest ranked residency program”.
I am not saying that highly ranked residency programs are a bad thing or advocating for students not to think about residency at all, but spending your whole medical school experience chasing after what’s next instead of being present and reminding yourself that it’s about patients and not about you can shift your entire mindset. It takes a lot of intentionality to focus on question 2 instead of question 1 and it can be really easy to focus on question 1 especially when you are placed in an environment where others around you are mainly focused on residency.
But as medical school students — all of us (including myself) have to personally decide which question we want to answer “Yes” to. Every. Single. Day. Or else we will become physicians sucked into a system with a jaded value system that often times values prestige over patients.
