Volume 181 - Issue 4
Teaching on the run tips: doctors as teachers
Author: Fiona R Lake
Med J Aust 2004; 181 (4): 230-232. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2004.tb06251.x
Published online: 16 August 2004
Published online: 16 August 2004
Fiona R Lake
Associate Professor in Medicine and Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA.
flakeATcyllene.uwa.edu.au
In reply: As noted by Majoor and Ibrahim, teaching and learning, as a mission, are not well regarded when compared with research. Not only that, but changes in healthcare are making it harder to teach. Shorter patient stays and more complex patients result in “survival” learning by junior staff, rather than in-depth learning.1,2
Experts in medical education will be increasingly important in teaching, guiding curricula, and assessing trainees.2 However, professional learning occurs while doctors immerse themselves in clinical practice. “On the run” teaching doesn’t mean substandard teaching, but relates to doing it while delivering patient care.3 Although there is room for improvement, many clinicians teach well. Most are keen to teach and would like to have formal training,4 and evidence suggests that, with support, they can improve.2,3 How much support? Short workshops have been shown to have an impact, as has the provision of a few simple educational ideas.5 By not supporting our clinicians/teachers in ways that could be very simply put into practice, we risk losing in-context learning and wasting an enormous resource.
Along with focusing on the teacher, I believe we need an important shift in the way health services recognise (provide time for) and reward (see as important) the mission of teaching and supervision alongside their mission of excellence in delivery of care.
References
- Hoffman KG, Donaldson JF. Contextual tensions of the clinical environment and their influence on teaching and learning. Med Educ 2004; 38: 448-454. CBBGBFDI
- Irby DM, Wilkerson LA. Educational innovations in academic medicine and environmental trends. J Gen Intern Med 2003; 18: 370-376. CBBBGBHJ
- Prideaux D, Alexander H, Bower A, et al. Clinical teaching: maintaining an educational role for doctors in the new health care environment. Med Educ 2000; 34: 820-826. CBBJIDGA
- Gibson DR, Campbell RM. Promoting effective teaching and learning: hospital consultants identify their needs. Med Educ 2000; 34: 126-130. CBBJDCEA
- Furney SL, Orsini AN, Orsetti KE, et al. Teaching the one-minute preceptor. A randomized controlled trial. J Gen Intern Med 2001; 16: 620-624. CBBECFIJ