NOOB Question Inbound! Practicing Medicine, While Teaching a Course?

[Moosecakes]

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Forgive the noob here. I am interested to hear if it is a possibility to practice medicine and teach at a medical school as well. Say I teach one or two classes a week for 6 hours total, then work at the school affiliated hospital for however long is required. Is that possible? Do people do that? Anyone care to chime in with some pros and cons for that?

Yes, I am well aware that first I need to finish medical school before I worry about these kinds of things, but if it is a possibility then I would certainly like to think about it!

Thanks!

 

[silverhorse84]

Some of our anatomy professors were surgeons who taught at school and had a (smaller) practice. They obviously don't see as many patients as they're non-teaching counterparts, but they did still see patients.

Most of our other courses were taught by PhDs not MDs - the only other class taught by MDs that I can think of was psychiatry.

You can work in a teaching hospital if you want to teach and don't feel the need to do so in the classroom. It's more procedural/therapeutic teaching than basic sciences.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Many med school faculty do exactly that!

 

[NeuralNetwork]

Whenever I hear of this, its usually that the person teaches for the most part, and sees patients on the side. The physician I'm shadowing next week teaches/does clinical research for the most part, but every month or two he does rounds for a week and then gets back to his work at the school.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Forgive the noob here. I am interested to hear if it is a possibility to practice medicine and teach at a medical school as well. Say I teach one or two classes a week for 6 hours total, then work at the school affiliated hospital for however long is required. Is that possible? Do people do that? Anyone care to chime in with some pros and cons for that?

Yes, I am well aware that first I need to finish medical school before I worry about these kinds of things, but if it is a possibility then I would certainly like to think about it!

Thanks!

This is actually a really good question, and it doesn't seem to come up often. Yes, many physicians teach courses/give lectures and see patients. There are many avenues to do this, depending on your group and the medical school. Some physician groups essentially include every doc that works for the school's hospital, and the docs that enjoy teaching will be paid to teach in place of some of their clinical time. Lots of docs from affiliated programs and others from the community also either have the non-clinical time paid for by their group or they volunteer because they enjoy teaching and interacting with medical students.

 

[LizzyM]

Most of the faculty who teach lecture based courses are non-physician scientists (anatomists, histologists, physiologists). When they are not teaching, they are in the laboratory or handling administrative affairs.

Physicians generally teach by giving a series of lecture over a day or two (or as much as two weeks) in their particular area of specialization, in the hospital at weekly conferences, at morning report (where the residents review what transpired overnight), and on rounds. They also act as preceptors in PBL (problem based learning small groups) and in hands on teaching of physical exam skills. Many of these physicians support themselves through their patient care efforts and offer their services as teaching faculty in exchange for the privilege of practicing at a teaching hospital. Often physicians are "on service" for one month a year (or more) when they are expected to round with students, residents and fellows, supervise trainees in clinic, and be available overnight for phone calls. Faculty who draw a medical school salary generally have more "on service" assignments than those who are in private practice but holding clinical faculty appointments in the medical school (clinical faculty assignments carry no salary but are prestigious and draw patients to one's practice).

 

[Moosecakes]

Wow awesome responses guys and gals! Thank you so much, I appreciate the rare-for-SDN maturity!

 

[NickNaylor]

The human physiology professor at my undergrad (the only professor for that class) has a full-time private ENT practice and still manages to teach.

 

[BJJ]

Thanks for asking this. I was wondering about it as well.

 

[gatorman23]

Forgive the noob here. I am interested to hear if it is a possibility to practice medicine and teach at a medical school as well. Say I teach one or two classes a week for 6 hours total, then work at the school affiliated hospital for however long is required. Is that possible? Do people do that? Anyone care to chime in with some pros and cons for that?

Yes, I am well aware that first I need to finish medical school before I worry about these kinds of things, but if it is a possibility then I would certainly like to think about it!

Thanks!

The doctor I interviewed with spends half of her time seeing patients in a family med clinic and the other half planning curriculum and teaching courses at the university. She says that it is perfect for her, because her patient population is so small and she can develop relationships with them, but she also has the leeway (and TIME) to develop and expand programs within the medical school.

 

[Isoprop]

Hi OP. You might be interested in a non-research academic position. Depending on the specialty, the number of clinician-educator tracks at academic centers vary, but they do exist. Of course if you are interested in research, finding a faculty position where you teach will be much easier.

Take a look at the academic mentoring thread for a little more detail.

 

[Soulstice]

What about people who teach elective courses like Bioethics or something to that effect? Is it possible for an MD or an MD/MA to teach something like that?

 

[Moosecakes]

Hi OP. You might be interested in a non-research academic position. Depending on the specialty, the number of clinician-educator tracks at academic centers vary, but they do exist. Of course if you are interested in research, finding a faculty position where you teach will be much easier.

Take a look at the academic mentoring thread for a little more detail.

Will do right now! Thanks!

 

[LizzyM]

What about people who teach elective courses like Bioethics or something to that effect? Is it possible for an MD or an MD/MA to teach something like that?

Depending on the school's resources that might be taught by someone with a PhD in philosophy or religious studies or a MD/PhD or MD/MA or even a JD, or a team effort.