Sea of White

The new first year medical students filled the auditorium floor, a sea of white coats.

The UCSF Alumni center president provided some interesting advice to this eager group of soon-to-be doctors.

"Now do not get khaki. Even butchers wear white coats."

I recently attended the white coat ceremony to celebrate the induction of the class of 2014. I had a unique perspective--that of a fourth year student and of a photographer capturing the key moments of the ceremony.

When our Dean stood on stage to introduce the 150 first year medical students, I was struck by what she had to say.

"You are just starting. And in about 45 months, you will be attending another ceremony--graduation."



It's interesting how graduation lurks ahead, and I feel like I just started--eager, excited, and ignorant, just like this new batch of students.

Three years later, I feel like I have grown a litte bit, but at the same time, feel like I have so much more to learn.

In addition, I find so much more meaning in the Oath of Lasagna, a modern-day version of the Hippocratic oath, that the newly coated medical students recite in unison to culminate the white coat ceremony and commence their journey into medicine.

I have included it below. I'll be reciting it again about nine months from now...



Oath of Lasagna

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_modern.html