I just finished up my first year at one of the top ranked primary care medical schools in the country. This ranking means two things: 1) My peers and I are among the best out there 2) Most of us want to work with people, with you, rather than do research.

So I urge you to tell us, your future doctors, anything and everything you want to before we aren't able to hear it through the deafening amount of information which will be forced into our heads during the grueling years of medical school. Perhaps, you can help us avoid becoming the detached, officious doctors that we really don't want to be.

Below are links to a survey I created where you can answer 3 questions I came up with and say anything else you want to say. When school starts in August I will gather these words from all of you and share them with the students at my medical school, as well as 2 other medical schools I happen to have email access to.

Please give us your advice, share your stories good or bad, tell us what kind of doctor you want us to be. We are willing and ready to listen.

Because I'm the classic penniless med student I have to use the free survey services. So if one link you click on doesn't work, it just means I used up the free spaces and if you try another link it should work.

If you are a medical student, please feel free to include your email in the survey so you can share these thoughts and stories at your school as well.

Also, lots of people are going to be reading what you write so it's probably a good idea to not use real names in what you write.

Thanks so much!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=QERfSRXdv6m00pS9Hlol2Q_3d_3d

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=8_2bGUaTzor1DPEammtEQg_2fQ_3d_3d

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=NzvCOJVXy9r9zV1mB6Gupg_3d_3d

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=M0hIEStndJZar2nAh2ECnQ_3d_3d

Here's more on why I think we need to hear from you:

I have been utterly impressed with the other students in my med school class. I just can't believe that these compassionate, altruistic people are the future white coat power wielding doctors that I see doing 10 minute appointments with barely a smile all day long.

If I told you about the entirely student-run free clinic, the student groups that collect medical supplies and money for the underserved or strive to increase awareness about the plight of healthcare, the effort to keep big pharma out of our school, the students which have chosen to spend the only free summer of medical school volunteering with medical initiatives in Africa and South America, if I told you about all this would you believe that we are the future doctors of America?

Actually, I'm not sure I believe it either. What happens in the next 3 years that tries to suck all the compassion out of us? What should I hold on to that will keep me from falling into the white coat emotional wash out?

The next few years are the most developmental in a med student's career. It is the time when most of us decide the kind of doctor we want to be. At my school we have contact with patients several times in the first 2 years and then non-stop the 3rd and 4th years. We are forced to wear white coats and stethoscopes in these encounters, and already I can see that I'm not as approachable from the patient's point-of-view.

Yet, I feel that it is incredibly important for my peers and me to be approachable in these first few years. More than ever we need to hear honest and open opinions from our patients. What do you really want from us?

Right now it is humbling for my peers and me to be around doctors because we realize that we don't really know anything. But I warn you, as our future patients, that in a few years time when we place our medical degree on our wall we may think we know everything. So, please, talk to us now while your words have the ability to make a difference in our lives.