This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Look to teaching to enhance your practice
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
We hear so much about change and daunting issues in our profession — the health care reform bill that was just passed; diminished autonomy; increased red tape; and innumerable others.
It is crucial to tackle these challenging problems and seek constructive solutions, but I would like to ask: How can we enhance our career satisfaction right now, where we are? Put another way: How can we tap into more of what brought us to endocrinology in the first place? For me, one answer lies in our role as teachers. After all, the word “doctor” originates from the Latin word “docere,” which means to teach. How can we incorporate this into our practices on an ongoing basis?
|
|
Few experiences match seeing the learner undergoing an “A-ha!” moment, that flash of insight that comes when he or she makes a connection, forms a new question or applies something that he or she learned. I have the privilege of watching this spark, this growth and the accompanying excitement by teaching third-year medical students every Friday afternoon in my clinic. In addition, I have recently volunteered for weekly sessions at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, introducing first-year medical students to history-taking, and just completed a week of three half-day seminars with 12 fourth-year medical students on differential diagnosis.
On the way to one of the groups, I met another facilitator, a cardiologist in the community, who shared with me: “I’ve been doing this for over 20 years, because I love working with the students and their enthusiasm.” A third-year medical student proudly said, “I am happy that I’m feeling more confident about coming up with the leading diagnosis and thinking of others on the differential.”
Teaching costs nothing
Not everyone has an RO1 grant or, if a clinician out in the community, the facilities to conduct clinical research. But teaching costs nothing. (How often can we say that these days?)
Everyone has the means and should have the passion to teach. For many, the word “teaching” brings an image to mind of a team of medical students, residents, a fellow and an attending gathered to discuss a consult. However, teaching also takes place at other times, with other individuals.
Are we not teaching our patients when we discuss the perils of overcorrecting hypoglycemia? How about curbsiding a more experienced colleague about a tough case of thyroid cancer, for instance? We are teaching our nurses when they ask questions about addressing a patient’s telephone message. Teaching can extend beyond the physical confines of your office: It takes the form of meeting at lunch with internal medicine and family practice colleagues who send consults. Education can take the form of speaking with these providers about which labs to order before referring a patient with possible primary hyperparathyroidism and helping answer his questions.
Many options available
Opportunities abound — consider volunteering at a local free clinic to teach the medical students who run and staff it, as is the case at University of California, San Diego. Other rewarding options include speaking in front of a community group to conduct patient education or having interested undergraduates shadow you. I am sure there are scores of other equally enriching, enjoyable options.
We constantly strive to improve our knowledge by attending conferences, reading journal articles and interacting with colleagues. We (and our administrators) pore over and discuss various metrics, such as patient survey scores, number of days until a new consult patient is seen and countless others; but, how much time is devoted to thinking about educating those we have the honor and responsibility to affect?
Hopefully, I have contributed in some small way to igniting — or reigniting — your interest in examining teaching activities and how to further redefine and develop teaching efforts. Let’s inspire and inform our patients, colleagues, the next generation of physicians, and, in the process, let’s rejuvenate ourselves.
Edward C. Chao, DO, is Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Diego, and Staff Physician at VA Medical Center, San Diego.