I'm on my surgery rotation (first one), and I can't help but wonder if surgery residents are especially unhelpful or if this same percentage don't care for all rotations. Most won't give me feedback when I ask, saying "Oh yeah, I have some pointers, but let's do it after x." After x, we never discuss it. Or I'm looking up a question an attending asked me, and the resident offers to help. He'll say, "Okay, first let's start by going to pubmed." One second later, as I type
www.pubmed.com, the resident just turns and walks off without saying another word.
I'm not asking for an hour-long discussion on my strengths and weaknesses, but it's surprising to me that only one resident so far has shown any interest in helping me learn anything useful. Is this on par with all rotations, and I better learn to suck it up?
First realize that most people are just getting through residency so they can enter private practice or their fellowship. Its the wrong attitude, but thats the way it it. Even if people are interested in helping people grow, there are some barrier to it...
No one is taught how to teach. Which is quite sad. Mostly people are bad at it. What they think is teaching, is blathering idiocy to you. What they think is an awesome learning experience, is homework to you. Its a product that they want you to learn the way they learned, because they just don't know anything else. So, most of the time, you want the teaching, they want to give it, they are just terrible at it.
Imposter Syndrome. You know what the difference is between May 1st and July 1st? Two months. Just because you get an MD doesn't all-of-a-sudden mean you are dowsed with cosmic knowledge of anatomy and physiology, and it certainly doesnt make you immediately up to date on the standard of care. The point is, that not only does no one teach you how to teach, the people doing the teaching might themselves feel they don't know enough to teach. Worse as an intern than a resident, but still true as a resident.
These are reasons why teaching DOESN'T happen, and its often justified by excuses like "we don't have enough time" or "medical students aren't interested.
BULLSH
IT
Make time for teaching. Does it really wound the resident to leave 15 minutes later in a day? Certainly not. While the first thing to be sacrificed on a busy day is education, it most certainly should not be. Do you really need to leave the hour night float comes on? Should it really be your goal to get out as early as possible? I think the contrary. Obviously there will be exceptions (busy call days are an example), but I personally beleive that
mandatory teaching time need be set aside; time for the resident to teach the interns, interns to students, attending to students and interns, whatever. Someone higher up should be spending time, on almost every day, teaching the people below them something.
Teach outloud. Just by speaking what you're thinking; why you chose a beta blocker and not a diuretic, why you're doing a total colectomy vs a hemi, why this ASCUS patient is going to colposcopy while the last got rechecked in 3 months, just speaking your mind (even if it isnt a coherent lecture or chalk talk) IS TEACHING.
It is the responsibility of the leader to motivate. You should not have to motivate a student to learn, but often you must. Students are as interested in what you have to share as you are interested in them. This has never failed me. Take the purposeful time to get to know your students. Show them you care. Sounds care-bare my-little-pony purple rainbow nonesense, but its legit. Show interest in them, and you bet they'll show interest in you, and what you have to say.
1. Most people just don't want to teach, if they do want to, they don't know how.
2. Teaching is the first thing to be sacrificed. It shouldn't be
3. Leaders motivate, leaders teach, leaders lead. It has to be top-down to work; bottom up is begging, top down is leading