FEATURES FSUMED
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FEATURES FSUMED
Floyd Jaggears, a 1983 alumnus of FSU’ s Program in Medical Sciences, said he’ s glad to hear about the new emphasis – because burnout has long been part of medical tradition.“ Our joke in residency,” he recalled,“ was that the day we were healthy was when we went from suicidal to homicidal. It was our way of coping with it, trying to pull each other through. It was not‘ Promote wellness.’ It was survival of the fittest.” Fogarty, a West Point graduate, said that the“ suck it up, drive on” philosophy often is concealing secret fears:“ Do I have the right stuff? Am I good enough to be here? Do I deserve to be a doctor? Who am I fooling? I’ m an impostor!” And even though the College of Medicine embraces teamwork, competitiveness is never far away.
“ What have these students done, exclusively, until they walked in this door? Try to be the best, so they can get in,” Painter said.“ Then they come here and they don’ t compete anymore? For God’ s sake! They’ re jockeying for position the minute they walk in the door.” In some cases, they’ ve never even considered the possibility of another career. Graham Patrick, assistant dean for admissions, remembers reading an article on a national sampling of med students:“ It said something like 20 percent had contemplated suicide, and something like 6 percent had contemplated withdrawing from medical school. For apparently a significant number of students, medical school is the most important thing in the world.” Matt Wittman knew that feeling.
After Matt In February 2017, the College of Medicine’ s atmosphere was tense. Staff members were questioning the college’ s commitment to diversity and opportunities for advancement. Faculty members were wrestling with a new curriculum. Students blamed that curriculum for compounding their headaches … and their fears of the upcoming board exam known as Step 1.( See story, Page 19) Against that backdrop came tragic news: Wittman – a likable student who had begun with the Class of 2018, taken time off, then returned in the Class of 2019 – apparently concluded that the career of his dreams was out of reach. So, to the total surprise of his friends, faculty, church and family, he took his own life.( See story, Page 20) The medical school’ s morale sank like a stone.
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