To the Editor: The growing shortage of medical educators, accentuated by the 20% increase in the number of medical students in Australia in 2007–2008, as described by Joyce and colleagues,1 is a concern that demands attention. It is understandable that clinicians might prioritise the provision of clinical services over the “less urgent” demands of teaching. However, if nothing is done about the shortage of medical trainers, the recent increase in medical student positions will be in vain.

I propose that medical education should be taught as part of the medical school curriculum, with the aim of increasing the involvement of future doctors in teaching. Studies in other countries have shown that programs such as “Training Tomorrow’s Teachers Today” increase the competence and confidence of medical students as educators.2 Introducing peer education would also increase teaching opportunities for students; enlisting senior students to teach junior students has benefits for both, and has been shown to improve teaching technique over time.3 The inclusion of education in undergraduate curricula would provide students with valuable teaching skills and consolidate prior learning. By training students to be teachers, medical education would be promoted as the “norm”, which might help alleviate the growing shortage of clinicians involved in teaching.

Although few doctors today take the Hippocratic Oath, perhaps we need to be reminded that it includes a promise to “teach the art” of medicine, as well as (arguably) the familiar precept “first, do no harm”.