Jade Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 I noticed that in a couple of OMSAS questions this year, they ask things like who your mentor is and who inspired you to go into medicine. Are we suppose to put their name and contact down as verifiers for this info? Should we let them know that we are mentioning them? Will this be an issue of confidentiality? What about people we mention in our autobiographical essays (e.g. let's say a person I met while volunteering at a homeless shelter-their real names will not be used, of course)? Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuantum Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 For questions like that, I don't really think they are going after the name as I am sure you understand. I would think that they would want you to describe the type of person you look up to which I guess may be inferred to be the type of person you aspire to be. So, if you describe a good person, chances are you want to be like that. If you describe a jerk...you get the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayne67 Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 I don't know about the confidentiality issue. I have seen personal statements that do use names of doctors, mentors, and even patients. Adding a name usually gives the writing a more personable vibe. In my personal statement, I write about a family that I frequently interacted with in the hospital. I am not so sure whether to mention their name (i.e. "the Smith family"). I do want to mention the name, but would it be a breach of confidentiality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satsuma Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 Mentioning names of the patients and their families with whom you interacted as a hospital volunteer is absolutely a breach of confidentiality. If you have a copy of the confidentiality agreement you likely needed to sign when you started at the hospital, looking over it could clarify. I have to wonder why you feel it necessary to mention names? As a physician would you go around telling stories of your patients using their names? I think you can probably get your point accross without using names. I cannot think of even one reason why you would need to include a name in a personal statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayne67 Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 Yeah, I know what you mean. However, I have seen personal statements (on the net and of some people that I know that have been accepted to Canadian medical schools) which have mentioned patient names quite a bit. But I'll refrain from using any names in my essays - except for the names of doctors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uofthopeful07 Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 in the queens question on why you chose your referees, i was planning on mentioning names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayne67 Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 I would think that you should mention the names of the referees (i.e. professors, supervisors, etc.) in the essay question. Think about it. They are going to know the names of your referees regardless (i.e. reference letters and confidential assessment forms). JMO. BTW, was your post a question or a statement? If it was the former, just ignore my more than obvious remarks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jade Posted September 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 I think for questions such as who is your mentor, I will have to use a name. Luckily, the mentor is one of my referees, so I don't think it would necessarily be a breach of confidentiality... To the poster who talked about the "Smith" family (sorry can't remember who you were right now), I think that you can just say that you met a family while volunteering and this is what you learned from the experience. I wouldn't go into details... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayne67 Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 I won't be using patient names, but I have seen quite a few personal statements that do use them......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucy98 Posted September 22, 2006 Report Share Posted September 22, 2006 I talked about an experience with a patient in one of my responses, but I simply referred to him as "Mr. B.", which still makes it seem personal without breaching the patient's confidentiality. Not to mention the fact that it saved me from using extra characters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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