Preparing for the Marseille Experience – Napa

At the beginning of my second semester as a bright-eyed first year medical student, our M1 class received an email regarding a series of mandatory patient safety modules that we needed to complete through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Now, any time a medical student hears the word “mandatory,” all sorts of sirens go off; with our schedules already more congested than we ever imagined, the thought of an additional mandatory item on our to-do list always evokes more than a few grumbles from fellow classmates. However, as I worked my way through the patient safety modules, I found myself increasingly captivated, inspired, and also rather shocked by what I was learning. Medical errors that compromise the safety and wellbeing of patients occur far more than I realized, and this directly clashes with a doctor’s obligation to “do no harm.” This raises various questions and ethical dilemmas whose importance cannot… Continue reading →