Tag Archives: self-care

The Healing Power of Farmers Markets

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Rituals have great power, but some more than others. For me, going to the Farmers Market has become a ritual that is almost as important as the food I buy there. So I spent some time this morning pondering why…

It’s outside. Sun, clouds, breeze. Sometimes a little cool, sometimes too hot… but always the season that matches the fruits and vegetables being sold that day.  

There is music. And dancing… people dancing with children, children dancing alone, folks dancing in their wheelchairs.

Everyone is happy. Seriously. Not a dour face anywhere!

There is delight in the colors, odors, and tastes.. It’s beautiful… and that sensual beauty evokes all kinds of good emotions – delight, joy, and even awe. 

It anchors you to the season. We don’t have peaches in January at the farmer’s market. So when they show up in May it’s a day of celebration! Eating what is being grown in the season keeps you somehow anchored to life around you and, according to some traditions, is better for your body. It’s certainly better for the planet, since this is food grown within miles of where it’s sold… not half way across the world. 

You develop relationships with the people that grow your food. Lisa’s new tortoise gets a spectacular salad every day, so we chat about his salads and her goats. I get to practice my French with the Congolese farmers who grow their produce on an inner city farm developed to provide new refugees a place to farm. Some of the vendors know my name, most of them know and recognize me with a smile (even if they don’t know my name), and all of them are happy to share how to prepare their food and what’s happening on the farm.

And then there is the food. There is no question it’s often (but not universally!) more expensive to buy your food at the farmer’s market, but for the reasons above it’s worth it. But there is one other reason … which is probably the most important reason of all.

How to Harvest and Store Potatoes -- Harvest to Table
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One of the very first times I went to a farmer’s market, I bought potatoes. I remember distinctly thinking that it would not be worth the extra money because “it’s just a potato”… but I did it anyway.  Every potato I had ever bought in a store tasted the same as every other potato … so I didn’t expect these to be any different. Wow… I was SO wrong. A potato that has been pulled out of the ground the day before you cook it is absolutely amazing. A light went on. Fresh food raised in smaller quantities by people who are devoted to doing it tastes better. It just does. 

Plant It Forward CSA shares ready to be picked up

There is most likely a farmer’s market near you if you live in a city, but if there isn’t you have a other options (The USDA Local Foods Directory is a wonderful way to find farmers markets, gardens, and local farms near you if you need help. )

CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). Google “CSA’s near me” to find farms that make up boxes with small portions of anything they are harvesting that week to distribute to people who have signed up with them. 

Community Gardens. If you love to garden (and you can spare a few hours every once in a while) you might want to actively participate – it’s also pretty soul soothing to dig in the dirt and grow your own tomatoes. But it’s also worth asking if you can buy any produce that isn’t otherwise promised. 

A local farmer or neighbor who has a big garden. You don’t know unless you ask. Offering to buy some of their produce might end up being a win-win. They may have too much produce, need a little extra income, or both. And you end up with fresh produce and a relationship with the person who grows it!

A Hundred Words for “Tired”

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It has been said that the Inuit people have a hundred words for snow. When you live in a dangerous environment, it’s important to learn the variations of snow to survive. But, when you look into the origin of the “hundred words for snow”, it turns out it’s not exactly true – Inuits don’t have more words for snow than other languages…Their detailed understanding of snow is a lived, not spoken vocabulary. 

The same is true for those who spend nights awake working in a hospital. We, too, have a lived vocabulary that includes hundreds of subtle variations of fatigue, even though we don’t have words to describe them. (The closest I’ve come to being able to describe this fatigue is in “sleep equivalents”, specific events or things that makes you feel like you have had more sleep than you actually did. For example, a shower after being up all night can give you the equivalent of anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes of sleep depending on how tired you are. Brushing your teeth after a hard night of call is usually 5-10 minute sleep equivalent. A good strong cup of coffee can be as much as 45 minutes of sleep equivalent – although it’s important to titrate it so you don’t end up with anxious jitters instead of just being awake.)

Knowing how to manage this level of fatigue it is part of medical training. (Don’t get me wrong… I’m not advocating that trainees must get tired on a regular basis to “learn how to manage it”) Learning to successfully manage the fatigue of long days and nights on call hinges on two things and both have to do with deliberate choices.

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Learning not to trust your first instinct if you are sleep deprived is the first important lesson. Even if it’s a drug you know well, or the chest x-ray looks ok, stop and be deliberate. Consciously review the data, look at the options and, for really important decisions, ask someone to look at the situation with you.

The second lesson in managing fatigue is maybe even more important.  The bone deep fatigue of medical training is not solely the result of sleep deprivation. When you stay up all night you also lose the liminal spaces of waking and falling asleep, the threshold between night and day. In scientific terms, this means there is a major disruption of your circadian rhythms. But it’s more than just physiology. The drowsy moments between sleep and being awake take place in the liminal spaces of dawn and dusk. We lose more than orientation to daylight when we lose this liminal space. The Irish poet and priest John O’Donoghue, teaches that liminal spaces are moments and places where the spiritual touches the finite. By losing the profoundly important rhythm of rest – including these liminal spaces – we end up physiologically, psychologically, and spiritually unmoored.  

You have to be deliberate here, too. By trial-and-error work to find the things that ground you, the things that help you recover in a deeper way than just catching up on the sleep. Make lists of anything and everything that helps you recover from call for the times you are too tired to remember or choose. Look at those lists before you leave for your call day and choose something to do for yourself when you leave the hospital the next day. It might be going to the gym for a light workout, having a great cup of coffee in a cafe, a slow, grateful walk outside, playing with a pet, a hug from a loved one…or finding a way to “play” outside.

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May the sacrifice of time and sleep you make for others come back to you as joy … and may you find deep rest in knowing you make a difference in so many lives.

Making Sourdough Bread as a Resident (or anyone with a crazy work schedule)

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I just waved goodbye to a dear friend as she started the drive to her new residency – with a jar of “Tamar”, my sourdough starter* in her cooler. I was going to print some instructions to send with the starter, but decided it might be better to put those instructions here for her – and for all of you who have thought about making sourdough bread (but think you are too busy).

Why bother?

This is a legitimate question. What I’ve learned from making my own bread during the pandemic is that it’s more than just having delicious, warm bread to sustain you.  I won’t wax too poetic, but there are three reasons I think you should ponder baking your own bread:

  • A sourdough starter is a living thing who is there to help feed you
  • Making the bread is an act of self-care, a gift to yourself
  • This is a  profoundly slow and deliberate act. Mindfulness doesn’t get any better than this.

So, if you are intrigued, I’ve thought about this for a while and here is how I think this could work for residents – even during a crazy 80 hour week.

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Step 1: Get or make a starter

There’s a decent chance that someone where you work bakes sourdough bread. If they do, they will be delighted to give you some starter. It’s not a bad way to make some new friends and/or expand your circle of friends.

If you don’t find someone with starter, make your own. Sourdough starter comes from the bacteria and yeast that are in our environment so it’s a matter of mixing flour, water and time. If you want to help out some scientists while you make your starter, check out the NC State Sourdough Project.

Step 2: Understand the big picture

  • Sourdough starter is a living thing. You need to feed it once a week by adding some water and flour. Period. If you want to stop here and just have the starter around “in case” you decide to bake, this is all you have to do.
  • You are going to love the science of this. I’ll even predict you’ll end up using a scale to make sure your grams of ingredients are exact… but remember, as much as this will feel like science, its also how our ancestors made bread thousands of years ago. Don’t lose that perspective.. or that connection… when you bake.
  • It’s a four-step process with variations depending on the recipe:
    • Mix the 4 ingredients (starter, flour, salt and water) to make dough
    • Rise – long and slow. Overnight in the fridge, 2-6 hours on the counter. It varies by the recipe.
    • 2nd rise – usually. for 1-3 hours and in a container to shape the dough
    • Bake

Step 3: Find an easy recipe to start with so you don’t get overwhelmed…

Here’s a really easy first recipe:

  • Mix the dough (1 cup starter, 1.75 cups lukewarm water, 5 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon of salt)
  • Let it rise for about an hour then stretch it out and fold it onto itself several times. The recipe says repeat this once an hour for a total of three times, but you can skip the 2nd and/or 3rd times if you need to.
  • Put it in the refrigerator overnight.
  • Flip it over, seam side up into a bowl or loaf pan (to shape it) and let it sit for 2.5-3 hours.
  • Flip it back over (seam side down) into your pan, slash the top to provide a controlled way to expand and bake.

Step 4: Map out a schedule

Let’s say it’s Thursday evening and you are off on Friday. Here’s how this recipe might work for you…

  • Thursday when you get home, mix the dough. If you don’t have time to let it rise on the counter for an hour and stretch it, just put it in the refrigerator. (Trust me, it will work). Take the starter that didn’t go into the recipe, feed it, and put it back in the refrigerator.
  • Friday when you wake up put the dough in a bowl or loaf pan and let it sit for 2-3 hours on the counter. This will mold it into whatever shape you want.
  • Heat up your cooking container (dutch oven, oven proof pot, tray) as you preheat the oven.
  • Put parchment paper on top of the bowel and flip the dough out of the bowl onto the parchment paper.
  • Use the parchment paper to lower the dough into your hot cooking container.
  • Score the top and bake!
  • (Don’t forget to let it sit for an “hour” before you slice it… no matter how good it smells)
When you overproof dough (too long with too vigorous a starter) is gets REALLY liquid and REALLY sour. It isn’t worth trying to salvage it.

It’s an art. Everyone has bread that bombs.

Don’t worry! Just keep the starter alive, regroup and try again!

If you find you are having issues with getting a good rise, it’s ok to put some dry yeast in as “insurance”.  Poilâne’s famous sourdough includes it as part of the recipe, so it can’t be a “failure” in the sourdough world!

Comparing stater activation between white flour (dotted line) and whole wheat (solid line)

What to study next

If you are reading this, there’s a good chance you are Type A. You’ll probably get a notebook and treat this like a science experiment … like I did. Go for it! It turns out that even though sourdough bread has only 4 ingredients (starter, flour, water, salt) there are lots of variables that can affect the loaf e.g. temperature of the water, humidity in the room, etc. There is real joy in paying this much attention while creating something that is so sustaining. On the other hand, if this doesn’t make you happy, just make the bread!

Did I mention?… it’s not just bread…foccacia, pizza dough, pancakes… just wait until you find all the cool things you can do with sourdough starter and discard!

Blogs and websites that have helped me a lot

King Arthur Flour – Sourdough Baking: The Complete Guide  (Check out their blog, too)

The Perfect Loaf

Here are some of my favorite books so far (all links are to independent bookstores)

Artisan Sourdough Made Simple, by Emilie Raffe

Do/Sourdough/Slow bread for busy lives by Andrew Whitley

The Tassajara Bread Book

Poilâne by Appolonia Pouilâne

Starter Sourdough: The Step-By-Step Guide to Sourdough Starters, Baking Loaves, Baguettes, Pancakes, and More 

I wish you mindful baking and joy from your sustaining and delicious bread!

*There is a tradition of naming sourdough starters.

The Importance of Ritual in the time of #COVID19

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If you are a healer (which I think is much better than ‘provider’, right?) you are going to work afraid, and you come home afraid… which is completely normal. Being brave doesn’t mean being fearless, it means doing what is needed despite the fear.

But in this fearful time and with the incredibly important work you are doing, it’s important that your home becomes a sanctuary, a safe place where you can let go of a little of the fear.

Let’s start with banishing #COVID19 from your home.

I know that the chances you have any virus in your house is slim to none, but let’s start with a (literally) clean slate. If you don’t have one of the commercial products known to be effective against COVID19, mix up a dilute Clorox solution (4 tsp bleach in a quart of water). Put it in a spray bottle, use a rag, but clean all the surfaces in your home. Be deliberate, be excessive, be sure that you’ve gotten all the surfaces that you might have touched.

Then the ritual

When you come home from work, the first thing you should see is a sign on the door you enter. It should be a reminder that you are loved, that you are appreciated for your bravery and your work … and that the first thing you should do is wash your hands!

Take off your shoes

If you have on the shoes you wore in the hospital, take them off in the garage before you go into the house. You may want to consider having a pair of shoes you leave at the hospital, but what ever pair is on your feet when you get home, leave them in the garage or at the door.

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Wash your hands

Without touching anything in the house, go to the closest sink and wash away the day. 20 seconds. Soap. All the surfaces of your hand.

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Turn on some music

Whatever inspires or soothes.

Take a shower

This really isn’t about decontamination, it’s more about ritual. Wash off the day – literally.

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I’s important that your home feels safe to you when you come in from doing the hard work of caring for others.  Following this ritual (or your own variation) will help sustain you.

Stay safe friends, and keep looking for joy. #EyesOpen

Resolve To Be Kind

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I’m not a great fan of New Year’s Resolutions in general.  Like all of you, I’ve made them and broken them more years than not.  But that being said, I do think the new year is a time we should pause and take account of where we’ve been and where we want our journey to lead us.  Or, put a different way, we can use the transition to a new year to think about who we are and who we want to become.

So instead of the usual resolutions to lose weight, drink more water, exercise, etc – here are three “resolutions” for medical students, residents and physicians that may be easier to keep this year. (If you aren’t in medicine, I think they still apply.)

Be kind.

Deliberately reset your intention to be kind with every encounter you have with patients or colleagues. Don’t forget to be kind to yourself, too.

 

Keep up with every day tasks so they don’t weigh you down.

Clean out your medical records, record your cases, prepare food for the next day… whatever it is that will free up time and emotional energy. Make a list of these tasks with check boxes and keep it on your phone so you can see it often.  Clear the list every night to start over for the next day.  Celebrate what you accomplished during the day and have self-compassion for the things you weren’t able to do.

 

Take care of yourself – physically, emotionally, spiritually.

Be deliberate in the choices you make to take care of yourself. Don’t get overwhelmed by the pressure of wanting to do it all.  Know that some days will make it hard to exercise, eat right, be still, etc.  That’s ok, but don’t give up.  Make sure you do something for your own wellbeing every day.

The gift you give to others through your career is special – remind yourself often of the amazing work you do.   Take measures to sustain your career so you can continue give to others and have joy doing it.

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I wish for you all a New Year filled with kindness, peace, and joy!

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Top 10 Holiday Gifts for Busy People (including medical students and residents)

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What’s the best gift for a medical student or resident (or any really busy person)?

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Seriously, anything that frees up time for them is the best present you can give them.  If it supports their health or decreases stress, it’s even better!

Here are my top ten choices for best presents for medical students and residents – or any really busy person:

  1. A service or person to help clean their home.  Once a month?  Once a week? Any time they don’t have to vacuum or clean the bathrooms is a true gift.

Portrait of man with cleaning equipment

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  1. An Instapot. I’ve long been a fan of pressure cookers, but the Instapot takes it to the next level.  This is my new favorite kitchen tool and it’s high on my list because it both saves time and increases healthy food consumption!

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  1. A subscription to Headspace. This might seem counter-intuitive since it adds a 10 minute task to their day… but there are data (and lots of testimony) that a daily mediation practice “expands time” by decreasing stress.

Link to Andy Puddicombe’s TED talk (the founder of Headspace)

 

  1. If they live close enough to walk or bike to school/work, think about something that might help them combine that commute with getting some exercise. How old is their bicycle?  How about panniers to store gear on a bike? Would a great backpack help if they are likely to walk?  How about a gift certificate to a bicycle shop?

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  1. A gift certificate for Whole Foods or any place near them that has good, healthy prepared food.

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  1. Cookbooks with quick but healthy recipes like Thug Kitchen or Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Fast.

 

  1. A Roomba vacuum cleaner. Plus, they may go viral with a cat on a Roomba video if they have a feline roommate.

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  1. A gift certificate to have their car washed and vacuumed every few months.

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  1. If they are a coffee drinker who spends time stopping at Starbucks, think about a really good coffee maker. I prefer Nespresso because the pods are recyclable (and the coffee is delicious).

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  1. Your time. Can you cook some meals once a month and put them in their freezer?. Do laundry? Bake cookies and mail them? Get their car washed? Make an elaborate certificate with something you could do for them and wrap it as a present.

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What’s for dinner? How to eat well if you are too busy to cook….

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I wish someone had taught me this when I started medical school.  Seriously, I would have loved it…  Let me walk you through what I did today to prepare for my week, and I think you will understand.

So, first… it’s summer… In Houston.

The weather makes a difference in how this unfolds, since I’m talking about cooking… i.e. (usually) adding heat.

So here’s what I did today..

  1. I spent about 20 minutes looking through what is my current favorite cookbook for three recipes that a) I liked b) were easy and c) were summer appropriate.

2. I entered all the ingredients I needed into GroceryIQ, … plus stone fruit (that is so ripe and delicious right now), a watermelon (because it’s summer and I love them), bread and ingredients for sandwiches for lunch.

(how can you not love a cookbook that says “Heat a big glug of olive oil in a skillet”?)

3. I went to the grocery store and bought everything on the list. When you have a list, it’s really fast, so you make up the time you spent looking up the recipes and making the list. Also, you are much less likely to buy more than you need (which leads to interesting microbiology experiments in your refrigerator) or things you really don’t need (i.e. junk food).

4. I took a nap. (I was on call Friday, up all night, so I’m still catching up). Plus, Sunday          naps are amazing… so don’t think you EVER have to justify them!

5. I spent about 20 minutes preparing the ingredients for Joshua McFadden’s recipe for the tuna melt “casserole” and for one of my summer favorites, ratatouille. Every time I make ratatouille, I think of Maryvonne, Monique and Maddy, my French “mothers” who taught me this recipe when I lived in France as an undergraduate.

6. Here’s where the Houston weather comes in. To minimize stove top and oven time, I roasted the squash for the tuna melt and the vegetables for the ratatouille at the same time – while they were cooking, I sautéed the onions and garlic for the ratatouille and added the tomatoes (canned). (In case you were wondering, the sweet potato is for snacks or something else TBD.)

So, we’ll have the tuna melt tonight, with some store made coleslaw (Brussel sprout and kale), and there is enough for the same meal another night, or lunches if we choose.  The ratatouille can be sides to our sandwiches, or can be another meal with a protein (we are mostly “pescetarian” so probably fish… but you can choose what you want).  Ratatouille is also delicious cold on it’s own or with cottage cheese, or you can add it to broth with chicken meat and make a great soup/stew.Bottom line… maybe an hour today for a week’s worth of amazing food… which is what I wish I’d been taught when I started medical school.

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 p.s. Since you were wondering…  The other two recipes for this week are cooked seafood salad with fennel, radish basil and crème fraiche (p115) and crunchy mixed bean salad with celery, tarragon and soft boiled eggs (p260).

p.p.s Do not get intimidated if you don’t know how to cook. YOU CAN LEARN.  (and you should).  Find someone to help you.

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Good advice I have gotten over the years…

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Dr. Jennifer Dietrich, who is the Chief of Pediatric Gynecology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine recently showed me a list of advice she’d been given in the past. It’s a great list, so I thought I’d share it! 

  • Give important emails 24 hours for a well thought out response.
  • Say yes to the things you want to do and that make a difference in your career.
  • Find time to protect yourself.
  • It is ok to say no sometimes.
  • Ask for help if you have reached your limit.
  • Try not to bring work home or at least confine work to the weekdays and weekends you are assigned to be on call/on service.
  • Make an appointment with yourself to exercise, relax, go out to dinner, etc.
  • Plan each year to go to the dentist, doctor, address medical needs and protect that time.

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Top Ten Tips on Starting Medical School

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Starting medical school is one of the most exciting moments in a physicians career… but it can be a little daunting!  This talk is one I gave recently to the college students in the Baylor College of Medicine Summer Surgery Program.  In addition to talking about how medical school is different from college, I also included my top 10 tips for successfully making this important transition.

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We All Need a Compass

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I was delighted to be asked to be the AOA visiting professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine this week.  The following is the speech I gave at the induction banquet.  For those who are not in medicine, Alpha Omega Alpha is the “Phi Beta Kappa” of medical school, an honor society that recognizes students who are at the top of their class… but who have also demonstrated service, leadership and professionalism. 

 

What an honor that I have been asked to be here tonight for this celebration!  I am in the company of superstars and great friends, both new and old … what could be better?

I want to start by congratulating the junior AOA, resident and faculty inductees.  For the junior AOA inductees, you are clearly on a strong path to excellence which will serve you well.  Although I’m going to address my remarks to the graduating seniors, please know that I haven’t forgotten you or what it took for you to be here tonight.  For the resident and faculty inductees, you have been singled out for this very particular honor because you are amazing clinicians, educators and role models.  Thank you for what you do.

I thought I’d start with a short description of what it means to be inducted into AOA from the AOA website.

“Election to Alpha Omega Alpha is an honor signifying a lasting commitment to scholarship, leadership, professionalism, and service. A lifelong honor, membership in the society confers recognition for a physician’s dedication to the profession and art of healing.”

Induction into AOA is a major milestone in your career and, based on your predecessors in the organization, it also represents the beginning of a remarkable journey.  It’s a journey that you won’t take alone.  If history is a guide, you represent the future leaders of medicine, which means you’ll be guiding others on this journey as well.

That’s the reason I decided I should talk about how to use a compass.

 

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I suspect that you have all used a compass before but, like me, you probably haven’t given it much thought.  A traditional compass works by aligning a needle to the magnetic pulls of the north and south poles.  Although we really could use either north or south as a reference point, by convention we use north. I’m not going to get into the differences between true north and magnetic north*… suffice it to say that because a compass lets us know where north is, we can calculate the difference between “true north” and where we are heading, which in nautical terms, is called our “absolute bearing”.

So where am I going with this?  Why is it important to have a point of reference, a “true north”, as you start your journey through residency into the practice of medicine?

I know you’ve already been on services where the focus seemed to be more on checking the boxes on the scut list than on caring for the patients… and you had the feeling that there was something missing.

That’s why you need a “true north”.

You’ve also been on committees or in organizations that seemed to worry more about policies and procedures than how to use those policies and procedures for the better good.

That’s why you need a “true north.”

And I know that you have experienced days where you manifested one or more of the three cardinal symptoms of burnout, days when you lost enthusiasm for your work, felt that patients were objects rather than people and/or decided everyone around you could do a better job than you could.

That’s why you need a “true north”.

Unless you know where your “true north” is, you can’t navigate… you can’t make the adjustments that keep you on course.

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The single most important piece of advice I can give you as you start on this journey is to make sure you know where “true north” is for you.  As each of you define your own personal “true north”, you will share things in common.  For example, loving your family and friends, being kind, and trying to make a difference.  But even though there will be common themes, “true north” will be a little different for each of you.  This is not as abstract a concept as you might think. It is not only possible to articulate your goals, what gives you meaning and how you define your own integrity, it’s important to do so. And, yes, I mean write them down, think about them, and revise them when necessary.  When you hit the inevitable days of stormy weather, having a compass that it true is critically important.

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In reading about compasses, I also learned that the traditional compass has to be held level to work.  I learned that “when the compass is held level, the needle turns until, after a few seconds to allow oscillation to die out, it settles into its equilibrium orientation.”

What a great image.  You have to be still to let the compass equilibrate.  You have to be mindful to look at the needle to calculate your absolute bearing.  And then you have to take that information and apply it to correct your course.  And to do so, you have to hold the compass level, which I think is a great metaphor for taking care of yourself – physically, emotionally and spiritually.

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There is not a lot in the day to day life of an intern, resident or practicing physician that teaches us the skill of focusing on that still point, on getting our bearings to make sure we don’t veer off course.

It’s not a trivial problem.  Veering off course can result in doing something we don’t want to do or, more importantly, becoming someone we don’t want to be.  More importantly for those of you just starting on this journey, a small error in navigation at the beginning of a journey results in a very large error when you arrive.  That’s why, as you start this journey, it’s so important to know what “true north” is for you.

As you articulate what your “true north” is, I would also urge you to translate it into something that is easy to remember for those times that you are making a decision in a difficult moment.   For me, my “true north” as a physician has been distilled into three rules that I try to follow and that I teach my trainees.

Rule 1:  Do what’s right for the patient.

Rule 2:  Look cool doing it.

Rule 3:  Don’t hurt anything that has a name.

Let me expand just a little…

Rule 1 means always do what’s right for the patient.  Even if you are tired, even if others disagree, even if you don’t get paid, even if it’s not technically “your” patient – do what’s right.  It also means developing an life-long method to deliberately read and study so you know the right thing to do.  And it means doing all of this with compassion and integrity.

Rule 2, “Look cool doing it”, means practicing your art until you look cool.  If you are surgeon, make sure your movements look like Tai Chi and that you have no wasted motion.  If you are a pathologist, learn all the variations on the themes that cells can create. No matter what your specialty, read about each of your patients, prepare for all cases, procedures and conferences deliberately and diligently. “Look cool doing it” also means don’t lose your cool.  Be professional, which at its core is just another way of saying kindness and integrity matter.

Rule 3, “Don’t hurt anything that has a name”, certainly means don’t cut the ureter if you are doing a colectomy, but it means more than that because…

You have a name.

Your significant other has a name.

Your institution, your friends, your family all have names.

You are about to embark on the amazing and challenging journey of residency… I know you have a sense of trepidation and also a sense of incredible excitement.  Everyone in this room who has been there remembers and, to be honest, is probably a little jealous. What an amazing time to start a career in medicine.

Congratulations on all you have accomplished so far. I wish you smooth sailing and a compass that is true.

 

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*Because I am using “true north” as a metaphor, the scientists will have to forgive me.  There is a difference between “true north”, which is the actual north pole and “magnetic north” which is what a compass shows.  Here’s a great link that explains this further:  Magnetic North vs Geographic (True) North Pole