It has been postulated that an individualized, humanistic and mindful approach to patient care can not only serve a healthcare provider s patients with compassionate and holistic healthcare, but equally, a safer approach to the care of the patient.

Much attention has been given to the introduction of a humanistic curriculum into undergraduate medical education, yet it has been demonstrated that such humanistic and idealistic influences fade as medical students transition into their house staff roles and beyond.

In an age of advanced medical technologies, the Ephemeris Project promotes and provides a venue of introspection and self-expression among healthcare professional students ( and all others in health professions ) helping them participate in effective and compassionate care of their patients. Today s healthcare students must learn to balance the science of biomedical research and advanced medical technologies with the ethical implications and effects of such science on the patient and in particular on the physician-patient relationship. The implementation of tomorrow s technologies will require healthcare professionals to have an ethic-centered view of these technologies, cognizant of their science yet imbued with an appreciation of the enormous humanistic value inherent at their core. This is a most promising time to become a health care professional for we have in our immediate future enormous promise in human genomics, cancer therapies and other capabilities of advanced medical technologies. What I believe is needed is to assure that the benefits of these technologies are fully realized and that their expanding sphere of influence does not disenfranchise the patient nor depersonalize the physician-patient relationship. The inclusion and assimilation of art, literature, poetry, bioethics, law, thanatology, theology and at its core, humanism, into the education of graduate medical professionals should help them appreciate that their life s work is truly one of privileged human relationships. Frequent re-enforcement and renewal of these feelings is necessary.

The Ephemeris Project ( http://ephemerisproject.com ) named after the Latin word for journal or diary, is a program to promote and provide a venue of introspection and self-expression among medical students, physicians-in-training, and other healthcare professionals to better serve them to participate in effective and compassionate care of their patients. The Ephemeris Project is an Internet-facilitated BLOG intended to preserve humanism, values and ethics fundamental to the Healthcare Professional Student.

The Ephemeris Project provides a substantive Web-based portal, database and 24/7 email support / advocacy for Healthcare Professionals. Its platform provides a user-friendly, anonymous public online journal which is entered on the website where House Staff / Students and other Healthcare Professionals can publicly journal and share their stories, feelings and experiences. All public journal entries will be monitored and moderated / mentored and inappropriate or contentious entries will be immediately deleted.) Through the Maternl Search Portal, Links to publicly accessible commentaries and writings from leaders in the field of the History of Medicine, Biomedical Ethics, End-of-Life care, Philosophy and Literature complement the program.

There is great virtue and privilege of being a physician ( or other health professional) and a need and importance for constant introspection in order to help maintain the course of idealism, expectations and passion present when students began their professional studies.

http://www.academicmedicine.org/pt/re/acmed/abstract.00001888-200803000-00013.htm http://jdc.jefferson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1493&context=hpn http://www.humanemedicine.org/vancouver/wong.htm http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1112992 http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/120/7/609?ck=nck