The weight of a white coat

Today, while preparing to practice my clinical skills, I reached into my locker and took out my white coat. My first thought was “wow, this thing has gotten heavy!” I then chuckled as that thought sunk in, while my coat is increasing in weight with more instruments and such, have I really stopped and thought about its true weight as a symbol?

At the end of our orientation week, my medical school held a white coat ceremony where we were presented our white coats in a formal fashion, recited the Hippocratic Oath, and received a charge from our speaker. We learned some of the history and the symbolism of the white coat, but I haven’t spent much time thinking about it since.

However, today I paused for a moment to ponder the weight of the coat that I was putting on. While many other practitioners wear white coats these days, in my mind it is the symbol of a physician. That’s how I have always thought of it, as an identifier, but as I progress in my journey towards an MD and think about my future practice and patients, I think it is so much more.

The white coat is heavy because of what it bears, both physically and figuratively. It bears the various instruments of the trade and whatever else can be crammed in its pockets. Figuratively, it bears the expectations of both its wearer and their patient, the hopes and fears of a patient, the responsibility and obligation of its wearer, the trust between both parties in the doctor-patient relationship, the experiences of all those who have worn it before me, the future of a profession at a crossroads- my future.

Is it a burden?

Burden def.- a load, especially a heavy one.

I’d say so, but that does not make it bad.

Some days, when I am exhausted from studying, it feels like it. To the burned out physicians that I read about, I am sure it is. It is a burden that we have chosen to bear for our patients. How we bear it is our choice. Hopefully, when I put on my white coat in the future, I will choose not to get dragged down and to, instead, lift the burden with joy.

A beginning

I  never thought that I would start a blog, but here goes nothing!

As you can tell from the title, I am a medical student. I am currently in my second semester of my first year in medical school and I wanted to start this blog for two reasons: 1. To document my journey through medical school and hopefully beyond. 2. To share with others my insight into medical education and voice my thoughts on and dreams for the future of healthcare.

I don’t claim to be the authority on the medical school experience, and my experience may be completely different those of my colleagues. I can already tell you that attitude and outlook play huge roles in surviving this adventure. I hope you will join me as I offer my take on the process of making tomorrow’s doctors.