{"id":39124,"date":"2011-02-22T14:13:38","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T18:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=39124"},"modified":"2011-08-03T16:47:57","modified_gmt":"2011-08-03T20:47:57","slug":"medical-student-recounts-experience-as-amsa-health-justice-fellow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/02\/medical-student-recounts-experience-as-amsa-health-justice-fellow\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical Student Recounts Experience as AMSA Health Justice Fellow"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dan<\/a>
Dan Henderson speaks at a rally outside the U.S. Capitol Building. Henderson, a fourth-year medical student, spent a year in Washington, D.C., as health justice fellow for the American Medical Student Association. (Photo provided by Dan Henderson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like a fine wine, the journey of becoming a physician should be savored.<\/p>\n

That was my view when, during my third year of medical school, I decided to try something unconventional\u2014risky, even. Leaving UConn for Washington, D.C., I would spend a year exploring. Serving as the health justice fellow of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), I aimed to convince myself, and my peers, that medical students can change the health care system for the better. I wanted to understand how leadership takes root among physicians and physician-trainees. Here, I hope to describe a surprising and wonderful year away from the classroom and clinic; and how it has changed my outlook on becoming a doctor.<\/p>\n

In May 2009, I sat down for the first time at an empty desk in a glass office outside Washington, D.C. Except for a 15-minute orientation to the office, my schedule was completely empty, along with my inbox, calendar, and voice mail. It was scary. I began planning, guided by a single question: Why do doctors\u2014and especially doctors in training\u2014choose to \u201cget involved?\u201d<\/p>\n

This inquiry came from a growing body of research into \u201cprofessionalism\u201d in medicine. In a sweeping 2002 article, \u201cMedical professionalism in the new millennium: A physician charter,\u201d a consortium of physician organizations called for a \u201ccommitment to the promotion of public health and preventive medicine, as well as public advocacy on the part of each physician.\u201d In 2002, Russell Gruen, Eric Campbell, and David Blumenthal (now President Obama\u2019s director of Health IT), writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), showed that while more than 90 percent of doctors across specialties viewed civic engagement\u2014in this case, \u201ccommunity participation, political involvement, and collective advocacy\u201d\u2014as important, only 25 percent had engaged in political involvement (other than voting) or collective advocacy in the last three years. The finding seemed unlikely, that a profession so explicitly driven by altruism could behave so reservedly, but the data were real. They also reflect the experiences of many amateur organizers in student groups. I wanted to find out more, and perhaps even develop a leadership \u201cplaybook\u201d that could sketch the route to successful engagement of professional students as leaders.<\/p>\n

\"Dan<\/a>
In his role as AMSA health justice fellow, Dan Henderson facilitates a student planning session. (Photo provided by Dan Henderson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the summer approached, my job began to resemble that of a traveling salesman. Driving and flying across the country, I visited campuses and conventions to talk to students about problems facing health care: soaring educational debt, the controversy over resident physician work hours, stark disparities in health along racial and ethnic lines, and a staggering burden of preventable harm caused by care itself. Often, after speaking to a room of 100 or so students, I had the chance to listen to a dozen or so over dinner. What were they passionate about? What had brought them to medicine? What experiences as students had shaped their notions of professionalism? The answers provided material for consideration on the long drive to the next campus or convention.<\/p>\n

That fall, after a long and reflective sojourn through the Midwestern U.S., an opportunity for a further step presented itself, in the form of a patient safety innovation. Atul Gawande, the noted surgeon, author, and health policy scholar, had published the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist. His article in that January\u2019s New England Journal of Medicine had shown dramatic reductions in complication and death rates globally with the checklist. As a simple, concrete, and ready-to-use solution, the checklist seemed an ideal nucleus around which students could lead change.<\/p>\n

\n

Video<\/strong><\/p>\n

Henderson gave a presentation about \u201cCheck a Box\u201d following a screening of the Discovery Health CME program \u201cChasing Zero: Winning the War on Healthcare Harm\u201d January 19 at the UConn Health Center.<\/p>\n