Over the years I have received much positive feedback concerning my approach to teaching. In comments to my recent rant, I once again received comments suggesting that my students (in that I include residents as learners) are lucky.
But why should that be? Why is treating learners with respect not the norm? Why is teaching excellence not the most important characteristic of medical faculty?
What perverted medical schools? Why are the "heroes" in the medical schools the researchers and subspecialty clinicians? Why do we not have Deans and Department Chairs chosen for their teaching prowess?
Something is wrong when someone who speaks for students is considered special. We are medical SCHOOL faculty. Students pay big bucks to learn medicine. We should be certain every day that we are providing value.
One day we all need well trained physicians for ourselves and our family. Teachers matter. We need a revolution in medical schools, one that places the highest value on teaching. Research and clinical care are wonderful, but an adjunct not a primary mission (at least in my mind).
Many physicians talk about our social responsibility. I submit that our greatest social responsibility is to train students and residents well. This includes treating them with respect, yet challenging them to become the best physician they can become. Is that too much to ask?
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it is not the norm because medical school tuition is divorced from those who teach them; teaching excellence is not rewarded, but grant writing/publishing and generation of clinical revenue are, as those who pay faculty salaries only get revenue through those means. The teaching mission has become ancillary to medical schools, and education a second thought.
It goes back to Aristotle and Plato whose philosophy has been embraced by the culture of the western University. What is valued most is the creation of knowledge which is timeless and universal, not what most medical school teachers deal with at the bedside which is more in the practical realm.
See my blog at:
http://georgiacontrarian.blogspot.com/2010/02/medical-knowledge-vs-medical-know-how.html
Further thoughts - http://georgiacontrarian.blogspot.com/2010/08/our-dysfunctional-medical-school.html
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