The Whole Patient Program offers an early and meaningful opportunity to explore the patient-physician relationship through real stories and conversations. Students gain insight into the importance of compassion, empathy, trust, and communication in building and maintaining strong relationships with patients and their communities.

Each Whole Patient event features a physician and their patient engaging in an open dialogue about how their relationship has shaped the patient’s healthcare journey. These events not only promote reflection and learning, but also allow students to connect with peers, mentors, and guest speakers in a setting similar to professional networking at medical conferences. 

The Whole Physician Program offers PLME students across all class years the opportunity to engage with the lived experiences of physicians and medical students. Past programming has included panels on topics such as “a day in the life” of a medical student, physician side careers, and navigating relationships in medicine, as well as the popular Whole Physician Speed Networking event featuring local physicians from a wide range of specialties.

PLME students engage in a variety of clinical and experiential learning activities to gain hands-on patient experience and deepen their understanding, whether through serving as EMTs, volunteering in healthcare settings, participating in clinical research, or other community and clinical roles.

In the early years, we work with students to build a strong foundation in professionalism, emphasizing best practices and boundaries within shadowing and clinical environments. While shadowing physicians is available in the junior and senior years for those interested, it is just one of several ways to explore clinical exposure. Medicine in Action can take different forms depending on each student’s interests and opportunities.