Louisville Medicine Volume 65, Issue 5 | Page 7

From the PRESIDENT Robert A. Zaring, MD, MMM GLMS President | [email protected] ENTHUSIASM IN ENGAGEMENT I had the privilege to speak to the in- coming residents at the University of Louisville about the Greater Louisville Medical Society (GLMS) at the end of June. I had worked on my brief talk and crafted what I wanted to convey hoping to give them a nugget of wisdom. What I found from the experience was that I gained a great deal of hope for the future of medicine and a much needed motivational charge. To begin, it was great to see all the young faces with that look of excitement and won- der that only starting an adventure quite enables. I noticed with their fidgeting that they were nervous and understood the gravity and significance of the moment. The group was diverse, consisting of dif- ferent ages and races and a definite mix of women and men. They listened attentively to Dr. John Roberts, who is in charge of the residency programs at the University of Louisville, and the other speakers: leaders from the various local hospitals, heads of programs to aid the residents, the President of the Kentucky Medical Association, Dr. Nancy Swikert, vendors and myself. One aspect which was interesting about the event was that a theme common to all the speakers developed, and yet none of us had worked together on our talks. During the talks, Dr. Roberts noticed the consistent beat of the various speakers’ messages and pointed this out in his statements to the residents. That theme was the importance of engagement. The speakers had mentioned over and over the need for residents to en- gage themselves, not just in the day-to-day work of a resident physician, but into the milieu of a healing medical community. Dr. Roberts emphasized this when he talked about avoiding the superficial conveyor belt of life and really diving in deep into the ex- perience facing them. You could sense they understood the call, and their enthusiasm was palpable and infectious. Hearing those pleas from the many speak- ers to our newest doctors got me thinking. For one, seeing and feeling the excitement in their faces gave me a needed jolt. Like a quick rush from my favorite caffeinated beverage, I started to feel recharged and more hopeful about the field of Medicine. When you stare at hurdles all day long, day after day, you can forget the reason you are even jumping them, let alone that there is an ultimate goal. The obstacle is all you see and, the more you look at it, the higher it gets. However, their excitement and optimism made me hopeful. It also made me think about the importance of physician engage- ment in general. Yes, we need our youngest physicians engaged. The only way we can be a better medical community is having their fresh ideas and enthusiasm. However, we need engagement from physicians of all ages into the medical community. Having heard from various physicians these last few months, I am amazed at the collective wisdom we have in this community and how much we can learn from each other. I know you are now expecting me to ask for extra amounts of your time by asking you to participate more in GLMS. Well, I would be remiss as President of the orga- nization if I didn’t, so if you do have extra time, please contact GLMS about one of our committees or upcoming activities. Now that that is out of the way, what I really want to say is to just be engaged in some manner. The engagement may simply be spending a little time in the physician lounge talking to a colleague, mentoring a student, or resi- dent. Whatever the activity is, just make sure to be engaged because you will be amazed at how much you gain by your participation and how much stronger a medical commu- nity we have when you do. Health care is hard, and we as a med- ical field face enormous challenges and differences of opinion. Sometimes those challenges or differences can cause us to withdraw. However, things can only be improved when we are all engaged and re- spectfully listening to each other. Everyone brings something to the table and you can never be quite sure what you are bringing that may have a profound effect on someone else. I am sure those new residents did not attend that assembly thinking they were going to reinvigorate me, but they did. We all want things in health care to improve, but the only chance we have to truly improve our community is for us all to contribute. In closing, I leave you with the words of the physician and activist, Dr. Helene D. Gayle, “Real, sustainable community change requires the initiative and engagement of community members.” Dr. Zaring is an anatomic and clinical patholo- gist with Louisville Pathology Associates and practices at Jewish Hospital. Editors Note: If you are interested in becoming more involved in GLMS, email [email protected] OCTOBER 2017 5