{"id":135890,"date":"2025-06-30T12:15:49","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T16:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=135890"},"modified":"2025-08-19T10:33:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T14:33:25","slug":"sixth-annual-stanfield-lecture-emphasizes-importance-of-doctor-patient-relationship","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/medicine\/articles\/2025\/sixth-annual-stanfield-lecture-emphasizes-importance-of-doctor-patient-relationship\/","title":{"rendered":"Sixth Annual Stanfield Lecture Emphasizes Importance of Doctor-Patient Relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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The stethoscope draped around her neck meant a lot to first-year medical student Rohini Kambhampati as she posed for a photo with classmates at the sixth Annual Lorraine Stanfield, MD, Memorial Doctoring Lecture, held on August 28. The lecture aims to help new students understand the healing role of patient-physician interactions, especially how the physical examination contributes to diagnosing and caring for patients.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m finally entering the field that I\u2019ve always wanted to enter,\u201d said Kambhampati, whose family emigrated from India. Her father is a Houston-based physician. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s become a tradition for first-year medical students to receive the tools of their profession\u2014 a stethoscope donated by alumni, a patella hammer, and the tuning forks, an ophthalmoscope and an otoscope\u2014following the Stanfield Lecture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the keynote lecture, Stephen Tringale (CAMED\u201990), an assistant professor of family medicine, told the 175th entering class that the doctor-patient relationship is one of the most important healing tools they will have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I walk into the [examination] room, I think in my head that I\u2019m shoulder to shoulder with the patient, that I\u2019m on the same side of the table,\u201d said Tringale, who also serves as the Codman Square Health Center medical director for quality and patient safety, performance improvement & research. He is a resident and student preceptor and a family physician. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key principle guiding his patient interactions is how he can help them. Medicine involves continuous learning, and ideally, a doctor experiences tremendous personal and professional growth during a medical education and throughout a career. The doctor- patient relationship is, at its core, a selfless experience in which knowledge is partnered with the human relationship shared by a doctor and patient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Keynote
Keynote speaker Stephen Tringale (CAMED\u201990), assistant professor of family medicine and Codman Square Health Center medical director for quality and patient safety, performance improvement & research.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Medical student Justin Kong receives his medical equipment while Shreya Mahapatra (in blue scrubs) waits in line.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Medical students write thank-you notes to alumni for their generous donations of stethoscopes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe are meeting the patient where they are, not where we are,\u201d Tringale stressed. \u201cUnderstand why you want to be a doctor, and this will sustain you through the tests, the down times, and the difficult relationships. It will sustain you through the hardships that you will be present for and bearing witness to. It will be your North Star, your compass,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stanfield, who died in 2017 from breast cancer at age 56, spent two decades taking care of medically underserved patients at Dorchester House Health Center (now known as DotHouse Health) as a primary care provider. She was one of the first physicians involved in the Center for Community Health, Education & Research program, which offered medical students longitudinal experience at a community health center, and for 25 years she strove to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare through the education of health professionals and by improving services to underserved populations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Assistant
Assistant Dean of Medical Education for Curriculum Molly Cohen-Osher, MD, addresses students gathered for the Stanfield Lecture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cThe qualities that people use to describe Dr. Stanfield
are the qualities we want you to take away from your time here and bring into your future practice.\u201d<\/div>