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The Caring Doctor
Frontera assumes that healthcare professionals enter the healing art motivated at
least in part by a service ideal. All too often, however, the demands
of school and career preclude putting humanistic ideals into practice,
thereby curtailing the moral development of healthcare professionals.
Frontera
counteracts that trend with a systematic approach to healthcare education that
challenges students to act on their ideals from the day they enter a medical or other health professional school.
The program is unique in its integration of practical application and
humane reflection, emphasizing a constant dialogue between competence and
compassion, the experience of the clinic and the reality of care. As witnesses to
the suffering of the impoverished and the dispossessed, it is expected that
Frontera volunteers will mature into caring and responsible healers, and as
future professionals, strong advocates for the health of all Americans.
Frontera is devoted to encouraging the moral ideal of medicine, complementing the didactic component served by ethics courses with a practical outlet focused on patient service. The program works to increase students’ understanding of the moral and social dimensions of their profession by placing them in circumstances where they can deploy their ideals, and providing them the opportunity to enjoy the special satisfaction that service to others brings.
TOPOur mission is threefold:
- To address community health issues by delivering cost-effective primary care to communities in need;
- To further the clinical competency of Frontera volunteers by providing settings in which to perfect their burgeoning skills; and
- To encourage students to reflect on the profession of healthcare as a moral practice. While the project is aimed at aiding those in need, it recognizes that aid to be a statement of the humanistic ideal of healthcare.
The Frontera video is now available on streaming server; it requires the free Internet plug-in RealPlayer to be viewed.
If you need it, go to www.real.com.
Email to Kirk Smith, MD, PhD with questions or comments about this web site. · Site design by Fausto Meza M.D. and e-Medico, LLC