Affirmations in Medicine

INTRODUCTION Build and Belong Students, especially those who are underrepresented in medicine, can experience a lack of belonging and a sense of social disconnection during their path to physicianship. As a way to address this issue, we utilized evidence-based strategies to cultivate the Build & Belong initiative at Georgetown University School of Medicine. The Build & Belong initiative was a peer-to-peer support program that included self-reflections, affirming video messages, discussion sessions, and future letters to peers. The initiative was a big hit among students, as it helped reduce feelings of social isolation while increasing feelings of mindfulness, trust, assurance, connectedness, and belonging. Studies indicate that medical students and residents often face burnout and emotional distress due to experiencing a lack of support. Risks for these adverse outcomes decrease among medical students who have increased support. This book is a personification of the Build & Belong initiative to uplift students by increasing their sense of support (McLuckie, 2018). We hope that our book serves as a guide for students of all backgrounds to navigate the challenges of medical school, helping build shared resiliency among students on the medical school journey and normalize doubts about feelings of belonging in medical school. As you read through the book, you will find a series of affirmations and short anecdotes. We hope that each affirmation and story contribute to your support network by providing examples of shared struggles and the growth that resulted from them. Stories of recovering from missteps shared with you can help fill up your resiliency reservoir and defeat the challenges that may arise on your path of professional identity formation in medicine. Ultimately, medicine is a career filled with promises of a culture of teamwork and cooperative learning. In an effort to engage learners through authentic affirmations, we curated this book of anecdotes and assurances from students, alumni, and colleagues to help create the spark of self-belief in you that will help you reach your life’s calling. We hope you enjoy reading our book as much as we enjoyed creating it, and we hope that you find the support and inspiration necessary on your journey to physicianship through the affirmations, anecdotes, and assurances provided. Welcome to your very own peer support network that you can revisit any time you need or want as you navigate your journey into medicine!   Section 1: Purpose Research shows that intrinsic motivation, which is one’s inherent drive to work towards and achieve a goal, is critical to succeeding academically and continuing with your medical education. Not only is there evidence for the benefits of high intrinsic motivation towards medical education achievement, but there is also strong evidence that individuals with low controlled motivation – which is incentives derived from external regulation such as a desire for rewards or fear of punishment – have higher success in their medical education journey. This evidence suggests that your internal drive, your purpose, and your Why for pursuing medicine are the critical factors towards achieving your goals and staying on track. The following chapters explore your sense of purpose, expand on why it is important, and how to sustain your purpose in the presence of challenges.