Summary: 🎉 Don't miss out on these exciting learnings for future healthcare professionals! In this article, we delve into the motivational aspects of being a medical student and physician, encouraging your professional development. From staying engaged to finding inspiration, these tips will help you excel in your healthcare journey!

Takeaways:

🔍 Stay curious and engaged: Continuously seek knowledge and challenge yourself to learn new things. Embrace opportunities like research and volunteering to expand your horizons.

💡Find your passion: Discover what truly inspires you within the medical field. This will provide you with the drive and motivation needed to succeed.

👥 Build a support network: Surround yourself with a community of like-minded individuals who uplift and inspire you. Collaborate with peers, mentors, and educators to enhance your growth.

🧘‍♂️ Prioritize self-care: Take care of your physical and mental well-being. Incorporate stress-management techniques, exercise, and relaxation into your routine to maintain balance.

📚Continuously develop your skills: Commit to lifelong learning. Stay up-to-date with the latest medical advancements and techniques, attending conferences, workshops, and participating in continuing education opportunities.

💪 Embrace challenges: Don't shy away from difficult situations. Embrace them as opportunities for growth and learning, knowing that every challenge you overcome will make you a stronger healthcare professional.

🌟 Cultivate empathy and compassion: Develop a genuine connection with your patients, showing empathy and compassion for their well-being. Treat them as individuals rather than just medical cases.

🗓️ Set clear goals: Establish short-term and long-term goals for your medical career. Focus on each step along the way, celebrating milestones achieved and constantly striving for growth.

🗣️ Communicate effectively: Master the art of communication. Learn both verbal and non-verbal communication skills to ensure effective interactions with patients, colleagues, and other healthcare professionals.

💼Embrace diversity: Embrace the diversity within the healthcare field, recognizing the value of different perspectives and backgrounds. Foster inclusion and equality in your professional journey.

NYC Protects Individuals Who Are Obese from Discrimination

Introduction

In late May, the Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, signed into law an ordinance protecting people who are obese from discrimination. In doing so, NYC joins a number of American cities and the states of Michigan and Washington that have provided similar protections. Other states are contemplating doing so. The Canadian federal, provincial and territorial governments should follow suit.

The Global Issue of Obesity

Obesity is a world-wide problem that threatens to continue to increase. Rates of it vary in different societies. Globally, it is estimated that a billion people could be obese by 2030. At present, no country is on track to comply with the target of the World Health Organization: stop obesity by 2025. Canada is not being spared: about 29 per cent of adults live with this condition.

Complex Causes of Obesity

The causes of obesity are complex. We should all be eating nutritiously and being physically active. But the sources of this condition extend beyond poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles ascribed to lack of will – genetic makeup, prenatal and postnatal influences, lack of sleep and an environment that is toxic to healthy living are just some of the other factors.

Discrimination Faced by Obese Individuals

What is clear is that people who are obese suffer discrimination in various aspects of their lives including education, employment and health care. Studies in the United States suggest that the bigger a woman of size is, the less likely she is to be admitted to college. One survey indicates that more than 10 per cent of human resource professionals think it acceptable to fire employees because of their size. There is evidence that doctors have given large patients shorter appointments, on average, than others they treat.

Obese Individuals Seeking Redress

There have been cases, both in Canada and the U.S., in which those who are obese and have suffered discrimination have secured redress by claiming they are disabled. (a protected ground in Canadian human rights legislation). However, demonstrating that obesity is a disability can be difficult. For example, there is controversy over whether obesity should be characterized as a [disease](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(23)00139-6/fulltext#:~:text=There is an underreport of,the international classification of disease.&text=People living with obesity can,attributed to stigma and discrimination.&text=The treatment and support for,obesity need to be tailored.). (and, therefore, as a disability).

Many of those who are obese object to being so characterized in order to enjoy basic legal protections.

Challenging Stereotypes and Negative Perceptions

At the same time, many of those who are obese object to being so characterized in order to enjoy basic legal protections. That categorization can underscore negative ideas about obese people, depicting them as incapable, lazy and whatever when they are simply large. Take the famous American instance of an exercise coach in which a 250-pound female aerobics instructor in California who was fit, had lots of students and no performance issues was turned down for a Jazzercise franchise. That company asserted that only "fit, toned" individuals were qualified; in contrast, the instructor wanted to be judged “on my merits, not my measurements." She was not disabled. She wanted to do the job. Her size should not have been an impediment. To the contrary, she could have inspired students dealing with body issues.

Lack of Protection in Canada

While legislated protection for discrimination against obese people is moving across the U.S., thus far no jurisdiction in Canada has followed suit. A private member’s bill to address such bias repeatedly failed to pass in the Manitoba legislature. Yet, there is evidence both in Canada and the U.S. that support for such protections is quite high even without concerted national campaigns to ban such discrimination. In the U.S. a nationwide survey found that 79 per cent support laws banning weight discrimination with no difference in the levels of approval based on political orientation. In Canada, the evidence is mixed but remains very high (76.9 per cent) for laws targeting discrimination in employment.

Enshrining Protection in Human Rights Legislation

Enshrining protection of people who are obese from discrimination in human rights legislation has complications. However, existing evidence indicates that when such legislation has been enacted in the U.S., there have not been numerous cases asserting bias. Those that have been initiated have been addressed through existing processes for resolving similar complaints of discrimination.

Affording those living with obesity explicit protection in human rights legislation will not solve all issues of discrimination and stigmatization. But it will be an important move in the right direction, signalling basic human dignity for all. A step toward the day when those who are obese are judged on their merits – not on their measurements.