By Darrell G. Kirch
We face a crisis of well-being in medicine. From the acceleration of science to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, rapid change has become the “new normal” for our profession. While many of the changes have the potential to revolutionize health care, they also create stress and uncertainty within our community about our personal futures and the future of academic medicine. At its worst, this stress contributes to the high levels of burnout, depression, and even suicide we are seeing in health care professionals. As a psychiatrist who has treated physician colleagues, I have seen depression interrupt promising careers in medicine and science. As dean of two medical schools, I saw the impact of burnout along the entire continuum, from students to senior clinicians…
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Good afternoon, my name is Kamaal Jones and I am a first year medical student here at Stritch. I first would like to briefly acknowledge all those involved in making today happen, specifically Chizelle Rush, who really took the lead in mobilizing and organizing us for this event. Today we, along with over 1000 medical students across the nation, are here to stand in solidarity with the recent protests which have captivated our country. For those who may lack some familiarity, these demonstrations have been born from a long history of issues with racial profiling and police violence in our society, and specifically, the grossly disproportionate levels at which the lives of Black and Brown people are taken by officers in this nation. The tipping point which has served as the catalyst for these most recent events was the August 9th killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, as well as the July 17th killing of an unarmed man named Eric Garner by an NYPD officer in Staten Island, NY. In both of these incidents, Grand Jury’s decided not to seek any charges against the officers…
Reflective MedEd 