The Purpose

The MedConference was born out of the desire of a group of physicians, nurses and med students attempting to identify a motivation strong enough to sustain medical practice.

Marc Chagall, The Fall of Icarus, 1975The conference attempted to answer through the experiences of health care workers who have been seriously engaged with their profession and who have been surprised by a ‘moment of beauty’ in the medical act, where caregiver and patient satisfaction can coexist with illness, suffering and death.

The organizers of this conference strongly desire to provide a yearly meeting place where health care professionals come to dialogue and gain professional credits to begin to rebuild more person-oriented health care. Toward this aim, they are planning the 2010 MedConference that will take place from July 16-18 at the Hyatt on the Hudson, Jersey City, NJ with the title “Medical care and the person: the heart of the matter.”

About the MedConference

There is a growing dissatisfaction among health care professionals. This is a time of crisis in which the very nature of medicine is at risk because the concept of human person is confused. Confronted with the drama of illness, suffering and death, we face questions that touch at the original level of the person: What is at the heart of a truly human health care profession? Why is it worthy to be a doctor or a nurse today? What is it that a patient ultimately wants from a caregiver?

The Human Adventure Corporation, along with Crossroads Cultural Center, and the Bioethics Institute of New York Medical College organized a three-day medical conference for physicians, nurses and med students. This project was made possible with a grant from the Arnold P. Gold foundation, a grant from Medicina e Persona and with the support of the “Angelina Gardner” scholarship.

The Theme

The MedConference focused on what is at the heart of the motivations for providing and for seeking medical care. Medicine is practiced by people and for people, and therefore cannot but pronounce on the original nature of the protagonists of the medical act: the patient and the care provider. We hold that adequate motivations can be sought only by exploring the original needs of the person, such as the needs for meaning, beauty and love.

CME Accreditation

New York Medical College, which is accredited by the Accreditation Council For Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians, designated this educational activity for a maximum of 9.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.