2018 Wisdom Book Quotes
I hope you will use your medical degree as background and the pressing issues of health and wellbeing as your foreground in your career. May you embrace the toughest problems that the country and world are facing now. The idea of letting your curiosity, passion and interests in humanity be your guide rather than taking the safest, most predictable path in your career will enable you to look back on your Geisel DMS graduation 50 years from now, as I am doing this year and say to yourself, “Yes, I helped make a difference.” Karen Kramer Hein '68
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It is a great honor to be a physician. Patients expect good care from their doctor, but they also want to be heard and understood. It is the physician’s responsibility (and reward) to listen, no matter how busy he/she may be, because patients can teach, they can offer clues leading to better care, and they can simply inspire by relating their life stories. Take the time to listen to your patient’s stories—they are gifts to you in what I believe to be one of the greatest of all the humanities—a career in medicine. Jim Snapper '72
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Today, we name it “burnout” and if that term existed more than 35 years ago, I cannot recall but I did know that it could negatively affect the quality of my patient care and I could not and would not allow that to happen. In addition, I loved what I was doing and was not about to quit. So I pondered that dark night until an idea came to me.
Physician burnout is a serious issue, and now is considered to be a public health crisis. The literature states that rates of burnout of physicians-in training and practicing physicians exceed 50%.
Organizational and institutional efforts to remedy this situation are underway, yet making changes from the top down will take time. From my experience, grassroots solutions are also possible and can be career and even possibly life-saving
So go forth and help build supportive, caring and flexible medical communities.This is one of the most important things you can do for you and your patients’ well-being. Cheryl A. Viglione HS 1979-80
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My advice:
Engage your patients in decision making and healthy behaviors.
Engage your communities in population health.
Engage your policy makers in the need to align incentives between the patient population and the health care system. Michael J. Pramenko '95
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“When you are in that kind of situation, when you feel it in your gut, stop and call someone. And if you call me, I will take your call, and I will know that you are asking me to share the burden with you.”
Throughout my training at DMS as I faced many situations I could not have prepared for; ethical, emotional, and cognitive challenges. In the rich environment of DMS I had roommates I processed much with, friends and classmates to share it with, several faculty members who would listen through email or an office visit and share their advice: “take my call.”
My advice to any new doctor developing her or his own practice is to seek out colleagues who will “take your call”. It will lighten the burdens you cannot prepare for, and enrich your practice more than you can measure. Find a team you can trust, to share your commitment to caring, best care, and best people, not perfection. Sharon Johnston '03
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In Pirkei Avot, a section of the Mishnah (the oral law of Judaism), the Sages teach that “In the place where there are no leaders, strive to be a leader” (2:6).
As graduates of Dartmouth, you are possessed of invaluable knowledge and insights into the principles of geographic variation in healthcare utilization and its effects on population health, and you remain uniquely informed on these topics compared to the myriads of medical school graduates across the country. I urge you to take to heart the responsibility attendant to such knowledge and never to forgo an opportunity to educate, advocate, and lead the peers and faculty at your respective places of employment. William-Bernard Reid-Varley '15