Building Trust Essay Contest – An AMSA & ABIM Foundation Project
Medical students have lot to say about building trust with their schools, faculty, peers, patients, and communities. How can we discover what activities or projects medical students are engaged in that build trust?
Earning and maintaining the trust of our patients and peers is paramount in our ability to deliver the best care possible. It is the bedrock of medicine, and requires individuals to put their own physical and emotional well-being in the hands of someone else, while also having confidence that their vulnerability will be reciprocated.
Stories told from the heart can touch the very core of our being. We have all had personal experiences in health care as medical students, clinicians, or as patients in which trust was built, lost, or restored. And those experiences can be particularly poignant in characterizing the essence of trust in health care.
The Building Trust Essay Contest asks medical students to engage in a reflective writing exercise that illustrates an experience where they built, lost, or restored trust in a health care setting. Submissions must address the topic of trust and may touch upon students’ personal experiences of leadership, mentorship, health equity, faculty relationships, etc.
Submission requirements
The Building Trust Essay Contest is open to medical students at accredited schools of medicine in the United States. Submissions must be an original, unpublished essay of 750 words or less. Essays must be written in English and only one submission per student will be accepted.
Publication
Select essays will be published in the Sept/Oct edition of The New Physician, and on the AMSA website, social media, and in a monthly newsletter(s). Essays will also be published on the ABIM Foundation’s website, promoted on social media, and in newsletter(s).
Selection criteria
An independent panel of judges, to include a mix of medical students and faculty, will review and select five winning essays. Up to 10 honorable mentions will also be awarded. Essays will be judged on the following equally weighted criteria:
- Content and connection to the topic of trust
- Quality of writing and clarity of thought
- Novelty of the message
- Opportunity for others to learn
Submit Your Essay Here
Deadline June 1, 2022
Contest winners will be notified via email on July 25, 2022
Questions, please contact bmartin@amsa.org
Learn about the ABIM Foundation Building Trust Initative at buildingtrust.org
