How to Teach in Busy Clinical Settings

Abstract

The opportunity to teach medical students and resident physicians is not only one of our highest callings as doctors but also a source of immense career satisfaction. Although the increasingly complex medical landscape threatens to diminish the opportunity and effectiveness of clinical education, focused preparation and flexibility are key strategies. Recognizing institutional “protected time” for educational activities and seizing the proverbial “teachable moment” serve to enhance learners’ experience. Prudent use of case-based learning, team-based learning, and available technologies is also effective. Perhaps even more critical to the student’s educational experience than the assimilation of facts is the observation of the attending physician’s professionalism and bedside manner. It is important to be ever mindful that we serve as role models for trainees, who are apt to pick up on our habits. Attending physicians’ demonstration of enthusiasm, compassion, and integrity is known to positively influence medical students’ educational experience. Excellence in clinical communication, in all its applications (physician–patient, physician–family, ­physician–staff, and physician–physician), demonstrates the highest degree of our professionalism.