Teaching in residency

[Arctic Char]

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what kind of teaching opportunities can one reasonably expect at a university based path residency? i really love teaching and wonder what i can expect to be able to do during residency . . . ?

thanks to all

 

[CameronFrye]

what kind of teaching opportunities can one reasonably expect at a university based path residency? i really love teaching and wonder what i can expect to be able to do during residency . . . ?

thanks to all

We run med student labs a few times a year.

 

[docbiohazard]

When I was interviewing, most programs associated with a medical school either had required or optional TA type activities. Also many programs brought up that there was upper level resident to lower level resident teaching, at least informally. Some places pair lower levels with upper levels for a few weeks in the gross room to get them up to speed.

I, too, would like to teach, but then I wonder how many residents feel like its a burden on top of their other responsibilities? I figure focus on residency now, with whatever resident-to-resident teaching there is, then pick up med student teaching on the fly later, when I'm an attending...

BH

 

[pathdoc68]

I think it's really up to the individual. At my program senior residents lectured in the M2 path course. I really enjoyed this aspect of my training and it was a great review. If you express an interest in teaching - I'm pretty sure you can give a few lectures no matter what program you are in. We also presented morning didactics to our resident group.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

On our autopsy and elective rotations at the main hospital, we help run the 1st/2nd year med student labs along with other residents and an attending (usually 1-2 attendings and 2-3 residents/room). You are simply too busy while on surg path too be trotting off for 2 hours to help with a lab. I was able to help out w/ a leukemia/lymphoma lab while on CP as well. You can volunteer for some of these, but you are expected to participate while on autopsy service or elective.

 

[paleman]

pathologists should teach but i get annoyed when i see schmucks coming straight out of med school not knowing crap teaching stuff they don't know much about. it is an ego thing really. there are great teaching opportunities in all of medicine. when you're a senior resident/fellow/attending is when you should start IMHO. spend the majority of your residency learning!

 

[deschutes]

Here residents teach MS2 Pathology labs while we are on CP rotations (except heme). You get the Instructor version of the lab course manual 🙂

It's a really good course - quite different from where I went to med school.

I'm also doing the pre-exam reviews this year - those who sign up get paid a little extra for our time and effort. I've experimented with it quite a bit - turned it around and done Powerpoint "What is this lesion? What is this bug?"-type quizzes instead of droning on for 3 hours, for instance.

And as you advance in residency, you'll probably find yourself teaching junior residents informally too.

 

[Arctic Char]

pathologists should teach but i get annoyed when i see schmucks coming straight out of med school not knowing crap teaching stuff they don't know much about. it is an ego thing really. there are great teaching opportunities in all of medicine. when you're a senior resident/fellow/attending is when you should start IMHO. spend the majority of your residency learning!

i can understand what you mean, but you have to admit that teaching basic 1st/2nd year pathology - basic pathology - can be taught by lower level individuals other than just fellows and/or attendings. i mean, i'm a 3rd year, TA'ing an MS1 path lab and i think i do a pretty good job. the fact is, 1st/2nd medical students just know SO little, that i can always teach them something. granted, i cannot elaborate and offer an amount of insight into particular topics as someone with more experience could, but that level of depth i don't think is necessary most of the time when teaching at this level. i think i am able to do a good job not because i know so much, but because i am pretty well attuned to what they don't know, and because of this i can make things interesting for them. i mean seriously, these students are so fresh they've never even heard of the concept of organomegaly, or what an adenocarcinoma is . . . and its not about ego (at least for me), i just enjoy sharing the things i find interesting and fun to discuss

 

[DarksideAllstar]

i can understand what you mean, but you have to admit that teaching basic 1st/2nd year pathology - basic pathology - can be taught by lower level individuals other than just fellows and/or attendings. i mean, i'm a 3rd year, TA'ing an MS1 path lab and i think i do a pretty good job. the fact is, 1st/2nd medical students just know SO little, that i can always teach them something. granted, i cannot elaborate and offer an amount of insight into particular topics as someone with more experience could, but that level of depth i don't think is necessary most of the time when teaching at this level. i think i am able to do a good job not because i know so much, but because i am pretty well attuned to what they don't know, and because of this i can make things interesting for them. i mean seriously, these students are so fresh they've never even heard of the concept of organomegaly, or what an adenocarcinoma is . . . and its not about ego (at least for me), i just enjoy sharing the things i find interesting and fun to discuss

I agree with you. There's nothing wrong with 1st years TA'ing labs. You get the lab before hand, go through it, make sure you understand it, etc. I think going through this facilitates your learning. Its not like there isn't a senior resident or attending you couldn't defer to for questions you can't answer. And most med students aren't looking at the finer points of differentiating x from y. They just want to know "what this cell is".

 

[paleman]

I agree with you. There's nothing wrong with 1st years TA'ing labs. You get the lab before hand, go through it, make sure you understand it, etc. I think going through this facilitates your learning. Its not like there isn't a senior resident or attending you couldn't defer to for questions you can't answer. And most med students aren't looking at the finer points of differentiating x from y. They just want to know "what this cell is".

ok point taken. you can definitely learn from teaching and the basics are ok to be taught by a first year. that being said i can pretty much guarantee that you'll cringe from time to time (when you're an attending) at junior residents dribbling all over the med students, asserting all kinds of authority, and talking straight up garbage.. mark my words!

 

[b&ierstiefel]

ok point taken. you can definitely learn from teaching and the basics are ok to be taught by a first year. that being said i can pretty much guarantee that you'll cringe from time to time (when you're an attending) at junior residents dribbling all over the med students, asserting all kinds of authority, and talking straight up garbage.. mark my words!

Unfortunately, residents are often in the position to come across as experts way too early in their careers. When it comes down to teaching med students, this isn't much of an issue though since we all know the basics. Plus, med students don't know histopathology as much so harm by teaching something wrong at the scope is minimal. The situation where this can be dangerous is when residents are assuming the responsibility to discuss the case with actual clinicians. Sure, one could take this opportunity to learn about every case they have but that's not realistic when you are in charge of managing a whole lot of cases. Instead, a resident may feel justified to "shoot from the hip" and to spill out drivel and garbage to clinicians when discussing cases. Fortunately, clinicians aren't dumb in the majority of cases.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

ok point taken. you can definitely learn from teaching and the basics are ok to be taught by a first year. that being said i can pretty much guarantee that you'll cringe from time to time (when you're an attending) at junior residents dribbling all over the med students, asserting all kinds of authority, and talking straight up garbage.. mark my words!

At least where I've been TAing labs, the residents haven't been doing this (and some of these were R3s and above). There is a tendency amongst us junior people to be more conservative with the info that we divulge for fear of saying something that is incorrect. But yeah, I am sure that there are residents out there who think that they know a lot more than they really do-- just glad that I haven't seen it here. Plus its nice to at least convey some of your experiences, like what will be important on the wards, for step 1, etc.