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Ceremony welcomes
62 UH medical students
Sixty-two students entering the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine received white coats last night in a traditional ceremony held at medical schools across the country.
The 39 women and 23 men in this year's class will inaugurate medical studies in the new John A. Burns Medical School in Kakaako if the education building is ready for occupancy in the spring.
In the keynote address, Dr. Neal Palafox, professor and chairman of the UH Department of Family Practice and Community Health, emphasized that "true healing comes through humanism."
"A lot of folks, especially physicians, think healing comes through the technical part of medicine," he said. But disease often is just one of many things going on with a patient, he said, describing political-economic effects on health as well as biomedical problems.
"Humanism has to be part of it," he said, stressing, "You have to be able to transmit that you care, that you are doing things in the patient's best interest."
The White Coat Ceremony, held in Orvis Auditorium on the Manoa campus, was sponsored and partially underwritten by the Class of 1983. Its 25th reunion will be in four years, when this year's class has commencement exercises.
The ceremony was conceived by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to foster humanism in medicine. Palafox received the 2004 Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award presented by the foundation.
The white coats, called "cloaks of compassion," were placed on each student's shoulders by Dr. Patricia Blanchette, Class of 1979, with Class of 1983 representatives.
The coat pockets have an embroidered logo of the John A. Burns School of Medicine commissioned by the Alumni Association and designed by former UH Regent Momi Cazimero for the school's 25th anniversary.
A "Humanism in Medicine" lapel pin was given to the students by the Gold Foundation to remind them of a physician's responsibility to care for, and cure, patients.
The ceremony emphasizes the doctor-patient relationship and encourages students "to be excellent in science, compassionate and lead lives of uprightness and honor."
Palafox said medical students enter the field with altruism and idealism, but the rewards go to those who are "extremely objective and technical, being able to accomplish the task in short time."
The way insurance is handled now, he said, "The whole environment of medicine actually stamps out humanism." He said medical school attempts to inject cultural and spiritual values into professionalism, "so you can't get away with being a jerk."
Students are graded not only on medical know-how, but also on how they treat nurses and patients and interact with peers, he said.
A lot of people are turning to alternative medicine because of lack of trust and communication with physicians, Palafox pointed out.
"They're not looking for a magic pill; they're looking for someone who will listen and care. ... That's what healing is," he said.
The students received stethoscopes from the Hawaii Medical Association and Hawaii Medical Foundation, presented by Drs. Herbert Chinn, Thomas Kosasa, William McKenzie, Neal Winn and Calvin Wong.
Dr. William Haning III, Class of 1975, presided, and Dr. Edwin Cadman, dean of the medical school, welcomed the class and guests. Drs. Baron Ching, Class of 1980, and Kalani Brady performed a Hawaiian chant.
The program closed with students and physicians reciting the Hippocratic oath, administered by Palafox.
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