Speech

Student’s Name:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:
University of Miami Pinning Ceremony Speech
Introduction
I am honored to take part in welcoming you to this profession. Allow me to start by congratulating each and every one of you for making it to this class. Our duty as physicians entails providing comfort when people are in pain.
My journey into medicine began with a strong need to help people in the hospital. I was waiting patiently for my cousin as he made a phone call regarding a patient who was having a seizure. In my mind I wanted to be at the bedside of patients, offering my help where I could. Throughout my life as a physician, I realize that there’s a lot to learn in every experience. Like me, you will soon learn the most rewarding experiences and the most demeaning experience in your practice. In my the decades of practicing medicine, I never expect that some of the most rewarding “bedside experiences” would be in remote mountain villages and small cities in Honduras where people have little or no access to even the most basic of medical care. Surely you will learn from people like I learned from Bob that:
with every practice, you get better at it as time progresses
Never forget that the most important thing in the medical profession is to be kind.
At this moment you are on the frontline of your career. You have a lot ahead of you to learn, a number of decisions to make and various paths to take after acquiring relevant skills from University of Miami School of Medicine.

As from this moment, keep in mind that you are part of a noble calling which comes with privileges of saving lives. Most of you must be thinking that you will soon begin your journey after your last class in medicine but the truth is you have already achieved much just by being part of this class. It is common knowledge that the University of Miami accepted you because you were top of your previous classes. You must have worked hard in college to get to this class. Probably you must have felt like you deserved to be in Medical School. Whether you share the feeling or not the 200 of you are here based on your academic achievements, your achievements, your activities, gifts, and talents. That knowledge should humble you and at the same time ignite a sense of pride in what you do.
How you got here is important but not as much as what you going to do with this with this “golden opportunity” provided by the School Of Medicine. There is a sense honor in being recognized as a physician. Like any other scientist that title means nothing if you cannot live up to its expectation. The title Doctor will only be meaningful to you only if you live up to qualities of an Ideal Doctor. Such qualities include; compassion, understanding, empathy, honesty, competence, commitment, courage, creativity, a sense of justice, respect, optimism, grace, and humanity.
In most cases, if not all cases your audience will be your patients. Like any other audience you patients have some expectations from you. Throughout my years of practicing medicine, I have learned seven vital traits that my patients could relate to. These traits are from a patients point of view and I am not listing in any order; so don’t perceive one to be better than the other.
• Confidence: “The doctor’s confidence gives me confidence that I will make it through the operation.”
• Empathetic: “The doctor tries to understand what I am feeling and experiencing, physically and emotionally, and communicates that understanding to me so I know my doctor is dealing with me as he would on himself.”
• Humane: “The doctor is caring, compassionate, and kind I am confident that he means no harm in whatever he does.”
• Personal: “The doctor is interested in me more than just as a patient, interacts with me, and remembers me as an individual; I am sure he is interested that I get well.”
• Forthright: “The doctor tells me what I need to know in plain language and in a forthright manner; I trust whatever he says or does is what is best for me.”
• Respectful: “The doctor takes my input seriously and works with me; I can trust that he will never put his interest above my wellbeing.”
• Thorough: “The doctor is conscientious and persistent; therefore even if I don’t get well as soon as I expected, I know he is doing his best to help me out.”
Which trait didn’t make the list I gave you? (Technical skills)
Perhaps you could be wondering “how on earth will a patient trust any doctor without questioning their technical skill?” Well, that’s easy! They don’t question that because that’s the work of institutions such the School of Medicine, the government, Medical standards and the hospital to approve of our skills. Perhaps becoming that great doctor takes more than passing your exams.
I am more than certain that you are going to be the great doctor and you will be the type that tries everything in their power to help people. However, I would like you to keep in mind that not everyone who needs help resides within the borders of the United States. Remind yourself that not everyone who needs medical attention has the Insurance cover. Most importantly remember that not everyone who needs your help will afford to pay for their needs. The seven traits I talked about earlier cannot be attained the compensation you get for your skills but by understanding that your service of saving lives and not determining the worth lives you ought to save. Ideally, the people who will need your help the most are those who cannot afford you.
At this moment you might find it hard to believe that such duties will give you satisfaction but just a few years of experience will remind you of my speech today. That moment you will stretch yourself and find ways to help people, not to your job and you will find it an enormously rewarding thing to do. The only thing that will give that feeling of a superhero is when you save the lives people who are desperately in need of your help but cannot afford to compensate you for your services. Such are the people with the greater need for your services. I am telling you this because I know that it is the most rewarding feeling of my job throughout my time of practice. Apart from my own testimony I also know of 79 other collogues I have been in contact with in this path. I can only encourage you to learn good medicine and use it in addition to your job… Use it where there is the greatest need. Let people who live around you and people come across enjoy the fruit of your scientific skills that you will have gathered in the school of medicine. Do not limit your knowledge and ability in medicine to few people. Let your knowledge extend its boundaries to third world countries, let it fly to the ends of the world where people need it but cannot access it. We are easily identified by the color of our coats (Farraj and Baron, 43). so let the color of your coat be seen by the whole world.
If our need were to be ranked then we must score higher than robots. Unlike robots, you can see things that machines will never understand at a glance. For example being human, you can look into someone’s eyes and see atherosclerosis- Something a robot will require excessive processing to conclude. You can tell when your patient is in pain. Unlike the robots, you know more about pain not just by definition.
In the years ahead of you will realize that medicine is about healing people and not about curing all disease. Ideally, if you were to think as a robot curing the disease could as well mean eliminating the host. However, unlike a robot, you care more about saving the life of your patient and other human beings more than you care about putting an end to the disease. Medical practice is about healing people, biochemical and biophysical logical conditions. You are in a position to correct what Mother Nature got wrong. The biggest part of being a doctor is caring about other people. That’s a part of medicine that’s hardest to learn and is most valuable and can really have the greatest impact! You can never read about caring and suddenly become empathetic to your patients immediately. This is a virtue you will keep learning and this virtue will always be put to test each time you get to work.
We might all be in the school of medicine but at the end of our studies, your specializations will be totally different. Let it be known that I am only here to address a single specialization of medicine I am here for each and every one of you. Some of the people in this room are going to become medical mission team leaders. And I want to encourage that because of the experiences I’ve had and the difference I know you would make in the lives the needy. I can tell you that from my experience in the last 18 years, I’ve seen nothing in medicine that is more rewarding than
 watching a child who was once blind and can see their parents, friends, school book after you help
 seeing a child who once had strabismus and will no longer undergo psychological trauma after your assistance
 Taking a look at a catheterize man who is now able to ease out all after your intervention
 watching a fellow human being with prolapsed uterus – able to walk again with your help
 observing an individual who had gallstones with continuous pain – pain-free after making use of your medical expertise
Since you will be studying in Miami probably you all must be thinking about saving the lives of Miami residents and probably the rest of United States. Well, that is good and patriotic of you. This kind of feeling may blind you to forget that you help is limited to American citizens. Americans may be suffering but they are likely to get 200 of you or even more. Have you ever considered how much of pain children from developing nation may be experiencing given an environment with no access to aesthetics? Well, suffering from these conditions in the Third World is absolutely nothing like suffering from these conditions in the Miami or many other big cities where even without health insurance;
• your cataracts would be extracted
• Your strabismus would be fixed
• Your urinary obstruction from in a large prostate would be corrected
• Your painful gallbladder would be removed
• You may not have the best follow-up care but you’re certainly not going to go around with the urinary catheter in place because of obstruction. You would get the surgery free of charge (confirm that that is true)
When I was young it was very difficult for me to imagine that there is a world where people die of curable diseases because they cannot afford medication let alone accessing treatment. It took the experience to realize that even with the evolution of technology, people still die of malaria. There was the somewhat arrogant excuse that I kept myself that I cannot save everyone. I kept taking comfort in such arrogance until it downed on me that my knowledge is not limited to problems I chose to solve. One day it dawned on me that anyone could be caught up in the problems developing nations are facing today. What if someone I know let’s say any of my friends would be caught up in such crisis in third world countries? What if either one of us would be in need of surgery in third world state?
But in the Third World, there was no one to do that surgery. It is just not accessible. Would you risk transporting your friend all the way back to America? Would you take comfort in reporting that they died hallway of their flight because there was no help? Who then will provide the services in the developing nations? So if you as a member of a mission team are able to provide that service, you have literally changed that person’s life. That is something that gives you the feeling we call job satisfaction.
Conclusion
So then I urge all to put on that white coat as a reminder of the great calling you have as a physician. Do not let your coat to choose the color of stain that it can accept. Where your coat with the knowledge that science has a duty save lives and improve the human lives. The only question I would like to ask you is what kind of doctor are you? Are you the kind that extends his services to those with great need? Or are you the type that takes comfort in his title as a doctor but reserves his services like a piece of art in a museum where people go at the pleasure of their time?
Let this white coat reflect the meaning of science every time you wear it. I now wish to welcome you all to the school of Medicine. I wish you all the best on this path of physicians.
Thank you!

Work Cited
Farraj, R, and J H Baron. “Why Do Hospital Doctors Wear White Coats?” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 84.1 (1991): 43. Print.