A Summer Practicing The Art of Medicine

Of all the skills a physician-in-training needs to learn, how to talk with patients is at the top of the list. Through a family medicine preceptorship over the summer, second-year College of Medicine student Jonathan Seok seized the opportunity to build those skills.

Seok participated in a preceptorship designed by the Ohio Academy of Family Medicine Foundation to introduce family medicine to students early in their education, in order to help develop interest in the field. In conjunction with NEOMED, Seok was placed at Jackson Family Practice (JFP) under the preceptorship of Stanley Anderson, M.D.

He displayed a poster at NEOMED’s largest-ever Poster Day, held Monday, Aug. 19, in the NEOMED Education and Wellness (NEW) Center Ballroom to highlight summer projects by 96 students.

Read on for Jonathan Seok’s reflections about his summer experience.

At Jackson Family Practice, an independent practice in Canton, Ohio, I was able to observe many different health issues. I got to see patients that had plantar fasciitis, diabetes mellitus 2, asthma, bipolar disease, and more. At a family practice, you truly need to be a jack of all trades to handle anything from chronic health care issues like Alzheimer’s to mental health issues like depression.

This opportunity was an amazing experience and allowed me to learn more about family medicine as well as tie my education to real-world experiences. More importantly though, I really learned from one of the best doctors in the area how to honestly but effectively talk to patients. Dr. Anderson knew when to push patients and when to hold back to get the best outcomes for patients. I call this the “art of medicine,” and learning about this will make me a better doctor going forward.

I also got to participate in procedures like removing precancerous cells, helping with physicals, and counseling patients. This was an amazing summer opportunity and I would recommend this experience to anyone at NEOMED.

Read more here about summer research opportunities at NEOMED. Deadlines for next summer’s events will be posted on the website.