Call for Submissions: the Dear Future Doctors Project

One of the things I am most passionate about is working to find a better way for American healthcare professionals to practice medicine. Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers are suffering. A new study reveals that 79% of primary care physicians are struggling with symptoms of burnout. And we all know the statistic that, in the United States, we lose a doctor every day to suicide.

One of the ways I’m working to alleviate my own suffering and that of my colleagues is to become more clear about my hopes for the future of medicine. The Dear Future Doctors project was created in order to distill these hopes so that we might pave a concrete path forward, creating a better, healthier way to practice medicine— for ourselves and for the next generation of healthcare professionals.

We have already started compiling letters addressed to those who will choose to dedicate their lives to medicine so that we can become clear about what we can do today. You can read my letter here and those already submitted. Now it’s your turn.

If you work in healthcare in any capacity, I want to hear from you. Submit a letter to the project and add your voice to the Dear Future Doctors archive, either published with your name or submitted anonymously.

Visit my website for more information about the project—  including some writing prompts—  and, most importantly, join Dear Future Doctors by submitting your own letter to the next generation of healthcare professionals.

Add your letter to the archive now.