In school, I was taught the importance of communication, transparency, and informed consent, but I was always left wondering, “Well what can I do about it? How can I improve quality and patient safety? ” I struggled with these questions because I felt like the answer was “nothing.” Afterall, I’m just a medical student.

But I held on to the idea that there had to be something. And that’s why I came to Marseille. As we near the end of this wonderful experience, the question now becomes “When can I share the tools that I’ve learned to improve quality and patient safety?” I feel empowered, inspired, and confident that the answer now to the first question is “A lot! Even a medical student can make a difference.” I can’t wait to go back home and start. 

John Nance ended the day with an amazing personal story of how teamwork prevented a possible airplane collision. Before flying, he made it a point to create an atmosphere of collegiality. He shook the crew’s hands, made eye contact, and took the time to talk to them. He made it unambiguous that he wanted people to speak up if they had questions or if they were concerned. And the team agreed. Taking that extra few minutes to set the tone and establish the presence of a team empowered a junior member to question the altitude clearance as the plane unknowingly almost ascended past its limit. Ultimately the junior member was right and a collision with the plane above them was avoided.

This story resonated with me because I’ve been in situations where I was told “you are part of the team now. You need to contribute.” However, that environment of… Continue reading →

As the day ended, it was clear there was a consensus that inter-professionalism and patient safety needed to be taught early on in our careers. Each person’s exposure varied. Some received no training while others received a week. Some had it in their first year and others in the second year. Talking with other students, I learned there were a variety of ways that they were taught including small group sessions and code simulations. However, these sessions were felt to be ineffective. They pointed out stereotypes of professions or highlighted that they didn’t know how to run a code but no true dialogue was created. It raises the questions, what would be the most effective curriculum for schools to use? How should we introduce these concepts and when? How often should these concepts be revisited?