College of Medicine

 August 2015

The White Coat Ceremony keeps expanding. At the Aug. 14 event, the first-year students in the Class of 2019 learned the significance of the white coats that they donned onstage to the cheers of family members and friends. In addition, 17 members of the Class of 2016 were inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society, signifying that they’ve displayed the characteristics you’d want in your own family’s doctor.

And this year, for the first time, the White Coat Ceremony also included a salute to two alumni: Frank Walker (Program in Medical Sciences, ’74) and Robin Albritton (College of Medicine, ’07).

But, as always, the evening belonged to the first-year students, who filled up the first six rows of Ruby Diamond Concert Hall’s center section.

“You look so much more professional and mature than you did on 26 May when you first arrived,” Dean John P. Fogarty told them after they put on their white coats. “And we are very, very proud of you.”

Not only were the first-year students being welcomed into the profession after completing their summer semester, but also they were being introduced to role models and urged to follow in those footsteps.

They heard Gold Humanism speaker and fourth-year student Carson Rodeffer’s definition of humanism, a composite of his classmates’ comments: “Displaying a humble and selfless attitude in one’s interaction with others; maintaining a servant’s heart toward others, especially those whom society has deemed hold little value; loving your neighbor as yourself: caring for others as if they were a family member.”

They heard main speaker Zita Magloire (Class of 2011), now practicing family medicine in Cairo, Georgia, describe how well her College of Medicine education had prepared her: “The genius of the FSU model is that we get to see and work with physicians up close and personal. It is medicine, unfiltered.”

They also heard Magloire eloquently acknowledge the support and understanding she received from the College of Medicine when, two days before her graduation, her sister unexpectedly died. “I couldn’t have imagined that the biggest lesson I would learn in medical school,” she said, “would come from my own personal experience with illness and death…. My sister’s experience as a patient taught me more about how to help others than I could have learned from a lifetime of watching others go through the same thing.”

They heard Albritton described as someone who exemplifies the College of Medicine’s mission statement every day, serving Marianna’s rural, minority and geriatric patients in outpatient, inpatient and nursing home settings. They heard Walker described as a member of the college’s admissions committee from the very beginning to the present — and heard that some patients drive hours to visit him because he cares the most and gives their children the utmost attention.

For the families in attendance, of course, the highlight was the actual coating ceremony. One by one, the first-year students were introduced and helped on with their white coats by a faculty member – or, in special cases, by a family member. For example, alumnus Garrett Brown (Class of 2013) coated two new students: his brothers Jackson and Stuart Brown.

As always, Dean Fogarty expressed fatherly delight with the progress of his newest students, and thanked them for the feedback they’d given him as he made his rounds.

“[You told me] you’ve loved working with the second-year TAs who were with you this summer to provide advice, guidance and mentorship and help you in your transition to start medical school,” he said. “You said they are awesome and have added immeasurably to your education and your transition to the profession. I know they are very proud of you.”

And so was everyone else in the room.

(The Gold Humanism inductees were Joah Aliancy, Shlermine Aupont, Casey Burnette, William Carraher-Stross, John-Anthony Coppola, Gregorie Elie, Sarah Evans, Marielys Figueroa-Sierra, Cielo Gnecco, Sasha Kaiser, Hanna Lee, Heather Lopez, Todd Nanni, Jesse O’Shea, Carson Rodeffer, Makandall Saint Eloi and Tamra Travers. Two others, Clinton Dunn and Clarissa Lomonaco, were unable to attend and will be inducted later.)

COMPLETE TEXT: ADDRESS BY ZITA MAGLOIRE, CLASS OF 2011
Thank you so much for such a kind introduction and good evening to the students, family and friends of the Class of 2019 and Gold Humanism Society Inductees, as well as our distinguished faculty and honored guests. It is hard to put into words what a privilege it is to be among you this evening, and have the honor of giving tonight’s address.

It is amazing to think that it was eight years ago when I was in your place, about to walk across this very stage and don my white coat. I want to, above all things, encourage you and tell you that not only can you survive medical school, residency and beyond, but you can grow and become a stronger, more caring person in the process.

Starting this past May, you embarked on a journey that is going to shape the rest of your lives. For many, touching your first “patient” in the anatomy lab helped you begin to understand the enormous privilege it is to learn and practice medicine. Receiving the white coat is a special milestone for medical students. It is symbolic of your entrance into the profession of medicine, as well as the significant role you will have in the life and health of your patients.

When you chose to be a physician, you also were making a commitment to join one of the most fundamental and noble professions in society, and therefore it is essential that your medical training ready you for the challenges ahead. I can tell you as an FSU College of Medicine graduate, your training is going to prepare you to practice the full breadth of medicine in whatever specialty you choose, and equally important, you will be prepared not only because of what you know, but because of how you communicate what you know to colleagues, other health care professionals and patients and their families.

More, the College of Medicine’s focus on not just academics but also character building, cultural competence and interpersonal skills makes graduates better prepared to relate to colleagues and patients. In residency, and even out in practice, most physicians don’t struggle because of lack of knowledge, but because of challenges in effectively communicating with others, dealing with stress or stressful situations, managing time effectively or being able to empathize with their patients.

Your SOFTEN skills you will learn in your Doctoring course may seem like rote memorization now, but these are the kind of skills and attributes that distinguishes medical students from Gold Humanism Honor Society medical students; residents from chief residents; and a physician from the doctor that you would send your mom to. These are the things that matter most, and the white coat embodies all of them.

As you go through your training, however, you may notice that many of our physician colleagues do not routinely “don the white coat” when seeing patients in the hospital or office. Is it because the white coat has lost its meaning or significance? I don’t think so. Instead, what I have found is that as we grow and mature in our profession, the true meaning of the white coat is internalized, and is something we carry inside us, and not just something we can easily slip on or off.

I first realized the importance of this during a very busy fourth-year ER rotation at Archbold Medical Center. A man in his mid-60s was brought in by ambulance after collapsing at his family’s home during Thanksgiving dinner. After he was shuttled quickly through the standard tests and evaluations, it was determined he was having a heart attack, and would have to undergo a procedure where an interventional cardiologist would hopefully be able to reestablish blood flow to the muscles in his heart.

Having done the majority of my third-year rotations at this hospital, I’d already had several opportunities to participate in the care of very sick patients. As a result, I was allowed to perform certain interventions, including placing a breathing tube into the patient’s airway under direct supervision by the ER physician, a task usually reserved for upper-level residents who have finished medical school. When the interventional cardiologist arrived he allowed me to “scrub in” with him, which enabled me to be just inches away from the skillful and very serious work of performing an emergency heart catheterization.

After almost an hour of dozens of people working on the patient, he went into cardiac arrest and was not able to be resuscitated. I could see the heaviness in the cardiologist’s eyes as he prepared himself to inform the patient’s family. I still remember and appreciate how he encouraged me to go with him to speak to the family, because it was an invaluable chance to learn how to deal with grief, both other people’s as well as my own. Though very few of the physicians involved in this patient’s care were actually wearing white coats during this experience, they all were embodying the principles that the white coat stands for by being competent, caring and putting the patient and their family first.

It’s hard to think of a medical school that could allow you to have that type of experience so early in your training. However, that is what makes the FSU College of Medicine what it is. From the moment I graduated, I felt ready to be a physician.

The genius of the College of Medicine model is that we get to see and work with physicians up close and personal. It is medicine, unfiltered. We have a true sense of what it is like to do what they do, and it facilitates us in making the most informed choice when we decide on our specialty.

For me, choosing family medicine as a specialty was actually not so much a choice, as a decision that came quite naturally. I am still very thankful to our faculty for giving medical students a chance to experience what an amazing specialty family medicine is and the diversity in practice you can enjoy. Before I started medical school I couldn’t have imagined that my average workday would consist of performing a screening colonoscopy on a patient, seeing patients anywhere from age 0 to 100 in a busy office practice, rounding on even more patients in the hospital, and end the day delivering a baby, or maybe two. To be this integral in the life of another person and their family is both a blessing and a challenge that is well worth the investment.

No doubt, I am still learning. This journey is not without its ups and downs. Having a strong support system, and making time for your families, and time for just you, is essential to maintaining a healthy balance in your life. Every faculty member, support staff and administrator in this college wants to see you succeed, not just as a physician, but also as a mom or dad, as a son or daughter, as a whole person.

Two days before my medical school graduation, my sister unexpectedly passed away. No words can describe the weight of this loss. While I was not able to attend my graduation ceremony or other activities, the support and understanding from everyone at the college was very important for my family and for me. I’ll always remember our Tallahassee Regional Campus coordinator Wilma Fields, who surprised our family with a beautiful collage of pictures of my sister that we used to honor her memory. That was just one example of many acts of kindness and rallying of support that the College of Medicine family bestowed upon us. It goes without saying that we were, and still are, humbled at the overflow of grace we were showed. I couldn’t have imagined that the biggest lesson I would learn in medical school would come from my own personal experience with illness and death, but I believe that in so doing, my sister’s experience as a patient taught me more about how to help others than I could have learned from a lifetime of watching others go through the same thing. I now know with the utmost certainty that what matters most in life are our relationships with one another, and how our purpose is found in the way we serve those around us.

In spite of all the marvelous things I learned in medical school, learning that we can be both brilliant and selfless, exceptional yet humble; that we can be better by serving others, this is the awesome challenge and legacy we have inherited as physicians and physicians-in-training. I look forward to hearing how each College of Medicine student and alumnus is continually raising the bar for our profession as we each embody what it means to wear the white coat in how we study, how we practice medicine, and how we live our lives every day to make a difference. Thank you, and God bless.