PhD's that teach med school classes...

[DrOctagon]

I find that when PhD's teach certain classes, they might be EXPERTS on the material but sometimes fail to collerate properly interms of the medical aspect of things.

Maybe im just bitter cuz I jus did piss poor (along with the rest of my class) on the last biochemistry exam, but it just seems like.. why not just have a DO teach the classes.. granted he/she might not have such an extensive expertise in the subject area beacuse thier knowledge base is much broader... BUT.. I just feel like they would be better suited to teach more emdically correlated material and not just the gigantic amount of detail and material that might not even be useful in clinical medicine.

Did I ramble? Maybe.. but i think you get my point.

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[docquaker]

our biochem prof always points out the clinically relevant stuff...the other stuff is what ph.d's have to know. it's pretty cool...

 

[DrOctagon]

yes our's does to.. but whats NOT cool is that we are resposible for everything that comes out of his mouth.

thats what i meant.

 

[docbill]

I find that when PhD's teach certain classes, they might be EXPERTS on the material but sometimes fail to collerate properly interms of the medical aspect of things.

Maybe im just bitter cuz I jus did piss poor (along with the rest of my class) on the last biochemistry exam, but it just seems like.. why not just have a DO teach the classes.. granted he/she might not have such an extensive expertise in the subject area beacuse thier knowledge base is much broader... BUT.. I just feel like they would be better suited to teach more emdically correlated material and not just the gigantic amount of detail and material that might not even be useful in clinical medicine.

Did I ramble? Maybe.. but i think you get my point.

Yes you are rambling on ... I do get your point.. and disagree. You can not have DOs experts in every class to teach you. Are you willing to finish your DO degree and go into PhD program and learn biochemistry to come back and teach Bioch to students. Prob not.

I am sure once this class is over... and you learn this stuff, and it comes in handy on exams (COMLEX or USMLEs) you will thank this annal teachers need to memorize details.

 

[raptor5]

Yes you are rambling on ... I do get your point.. and disagree. You can not have DOs experts in every class to teach you. Are you willing to finish your DO degree and go into PhD program and learn biochemistry to come back and teach Bioch to students.

You would hardly need a PhD in biochem to teach it. At first it would require quite a bit of work to teach it, but after awhile (a few years) you would know the material really well. The PhDs who teach our classes give us what they think is important to know, as a clinician, a researcher, or pathologist. The same PhDs are also conducting research that I doubt most clinicans would be at all interested in doing.

 

[Ratch]

you are going to be a doctor, you want to learn from whomever is best oriented to the field. clinical relevance comes from a solid understanding of the basic scientific principles, not just memorizing the disease states. technicians are people who merely identify a problem and fix it, a professional is someone who understands all the relative points to a problem. sure PhD's often digress to info that is probably not incredibly relevant, but overall i think it usually provides a pretty good foundation to build your clinical knowledge upon.

 

[box29]

you are going to be a doctor, you want to learn from whomever is best oriented to the field. clinical relevance comes from a solid understanding of the basic scientific principles, not just memorizing the disease states. technicians are people who merely identify a problem and fix it, a professional is someone who understands all the relative points to a problem. sure PhD's often digress to info that is probably not incredibly relevant, but overall i think it usually provides a pretty good foundation to build your clinical knowledge upon.

I completely agree...the PhD is a terminal academic degree whereas the DO/MD are terminal professional degrees. I would prefer to learn as much as I can from "the expert" as well as get pertinent clinical correlates as much as possible from DOs/MDs.

 

[sophiejane]

Foundation schmoundation.

What you need is enough biochem to pass the boards, and no more.

I know I rationalized a lot of the BS you learn in first year by saying it was giving me a "good solid foundation" to learn disease process...and some of it is relevant...but really, you could get by with a heck of a lot less biochem and still understand what you need to for 2nd year and boards.

Get yourself BRS Biochem, look over the relevant biochem in First Aid, and know those pathways inside out. Otherwise, don't sweat it if you don't get every picky detail that the PhD's think is important. They ARE important for PhD's...but not so much for the rest of us.

 

[DrOctagon]

you are going to be a doctor, you want to learn from whomever is best oriented to the field. .

well, i agree with how u started it... so i still would rather be taught by a medical doctor.. not a doctorate.

I'm curious to hear a PBL (problem based learning) student's opinion on this..they learn on a very clinical track from day one and are able to gauge their own learning.. and still make great if not superior docs.

 

[me454555]

PhDs are useless. They never seem to knoow whats board relevant and whats extraneous. I think they should be forced to take some board prep to taper their lectures and make them more medically/board relevant than what they do now. These guys are all smart people, they just need some focus and a course on how to write a good test question.

 

[Elysium]

All I know is that at our school, there's a clear difference between the PhDs and the DOs/MDs that teach us. Our MD biochem professor is AWESOME. Our PhD biochem professor is smart and knows a lot about biochem, but she certainly doesn't have the clinical knowledge (and knowledge of the boards) like our MD professor does. Also, PhDs are, in general, not as sensitive to our plight as students, whereas the doctors definetly feel our pain and try to be relatively gentle with us.

 

[Chronotropic]

Maybe it's because I spent a year in bio grad school because I really like the PhDs at my school.

 

[BklynWill]

I don't think the degree of your teacher has anything to do with the quality of their teaching. The presentation of the material is the important factor and only reflects the attitude of your teacher combined with your school's curriculum. Most of your learning objectives are similar to the curricula at other schools and are geared to help you pass your boards while learning as much as possible. This is the reason why BRS books often parallel your courses no matter where you go to school.

 

[jgrady]

I can't say which is better, PhD or DO/MD Profs, but I am happy with most of our PhD Profs. I think it's their personality (i.e. helpfulness), organization of lecture notes and interest in keeping up on what the Boards question writers are focusing on that is most important - not the initials behind their name.

 

[Amy B]

Sorry you have had an unpleasant experience with your PhD profs. I love our PhD biochem prof at VCOM. He is the best. So is our genetics prof. They both know their subject and know how to apply clinical learning as well as the academic stuff. I don't think it is the degree that makes a great prof.

 

[box29]

I see the point that some of you aren't happy with PhD's teaching class...and I am a Ph.D. However I also think some of you have forgotten that you are going to be a Doctor....doesn't matter whether it is a Ph.D., MD, OD, PharmD.....a doctor is supposed to be a Scholar in their subject matter. For example, if someone has high blood pressure you should have an understanding of the underlying causes of the disease and the molecular and cellular mechanisms of treatment drugs. You really don't want to prescribe atenalol or lysinopril just because your collegue down the hall did.

Will you use everything you have been taught....no. But then again I know a number of medical professionals who also run basic science research labs at large medical teaching institutions as well as practice.

Your supposed to be a scholar....get in the spirit of it!

Completely agree here! Additionally, it's not just the DOs/MDs that write the board questions but also the PhDs. I think it really depends on the professor at hand as to approaching the material. To say that one is superior to the other is absurd and narrow-minded, in my opinion.

 

[tupac_don]

our biochem prof always points out the clinically relevant stuff...the other stuff is what ph.d's have to know. it's pretty cool...

Yea what a NASA engineer knows is way cool. But who gives a rats ass if you are not in that field.

 

[docbill]

Here are some reasons (there are more):

Research is what is missing in DO schools. This is bringing the level of DO schools down. So having a PhD at your institution that teaches you his expertise, and if you are lucky.. S/he will do research --> leading to a win (School) win (Research) win (to students YES) situation.

You are being ignorent when you beleive that Biochemistry prof as not needed to teach you about clinically relevent drugs/biochemistry and gene regulation... With new smart drugs coming out... that are self tailored based on genetics... A PHD PROF CAN BETTER EXPLAIN THIS TO YOU than an MD or a DO.

SO the RATS ASS is a member of your field.

BA, MSc, PhD, Soon to be DO.

 

[docbill]

I see the point that some of you aren't happy with PhD's teaching class...and I am a Ph.D. However I also think some of you have forgotten that you are going to be a Doctor....doesn't matter whether it is a Ph.D., MD, OD, PharmD.....a doctor is supposed to be a Scholar in their subject matter. For example, if someone has high blood pressure you should have an understanding of the underlying causes of the disease and the molecular and cellular mechanisms of treatment drugs. You really don't want to prescribe atenalol or lysinopril just because your collegue down the hall did.

Will you use everything you have been taught....no. But then again I know a number of medical professionals who also run basic science research labs at large medical teaching institutions as well as practice.

Your supposed to be a scholar....get in the spirit of it!

sorry my post is similar.. I guess I should of read the ones that made sence.. before responding. I agree with youuuuuu.