This was the first of three oaths that students take while in medical school at USA. In a year and a half, these students will take the Medical Student Oath at the White Coat Ceremony as they transition into clerkships.
Two short years later – in May 2019 -- this group of students will take the Hippocratic Oath at Convocation. The Hippocratic Oath is taken by all medical students as they graduate.
“In neither the Hippocratic Oath nor the Medical Student Oath do students have any input. They simply read the oath and commit to words that someone else wrote,” said Dr. Susan LeDoux, associate dean of medical education and student affairs. “The oath that the students took today is unique to their class. They created this oath. Thus, they are committing to something that they wrote."
To view more photos from the ceremony, click here.
The Oath, developed by the Class of 2019, is shown below.
"I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this oath and commitment...to dedicate my life to the responsible care and well-being of all of my patients regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identification and socioeconomic status, and to follow the ethics, laws and standards of the community in which I live and work. I swear to establish and sustain the utmost level of trust with my patients, protecting their confidentiality and remaining empathetic to their concerns regardless of the circumstances. I pledge myself to the tireless pursuit of medical knowledge, and to remain a student, always learning and honing the skills and traits necessary for the treatment of those I am charged with. I swear to have integrity, compassion and respect for my patients, peers and colleagues, always trying to empower them with the knowledge necessary to maintain an overall healthy life, both emotionally and physically. Lastly, we, as the students of USA College of Medicine Class of 2019, hereby give this oath to our teachers, colleagues and future patients: we will always embrace and uphold the tradition of altruism and understanding inherent in this honorable profession."
