Metamorphosis of a Medical Student

Everything changes during the third year of medical school. Leaving classrooms for the clinic, students begin to apply lessons learned from textbooks, lectures and labs to real patients. And for the first time, future MDs begin to feel like doctors. Learn about this intense—and rewarding—year, known at Harvard Medical School as the Principal Clinical Experience, or PCE. Listen as students and faculty members share, based on personal experiences, how the approach fosters mentoring, communication and empathy. Interviewees include HMS student Kat Wakeham and her mentor David Hirsh, an HMS assistant professor of medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance.