Terrible Teaching

[Medicineman2008]

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I recently heard that the teaching (lectures) at top medical schools are awful, similar to how lectures at many top universities are awful, bc faculty are there to research, etc.

Seems like this system propagates bc they get such talented/top students in that it doesnt matter how poor the teaching is; the students will excel.

It's fairly well accepted that the best places to "learn" are the small liberal arts schools across this country. Is it the same for medicine?

Thoughts?

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Pretty much all medical school 1st and 2nd year lecturers are there primarily for research, but unlike UG medical school is highly up to the individual(self-directed learning)

 

[greg1184]

Over here, a significant amount of our instructors for the organ modules, especially the course coordinators, have been purely clinicians. It probably helps that my school is integrated right into a teaching hospital. The PhD's I have had for the basic sciences/organ system physio have been generally very good, especially the ones that have been teaching the same subject matter to medical students for many years. There are always exceptions of course.

Usually, based on my experiences, the worst teachers are the transient MD teachers that do only 1-2 lectures because they are the "experts on their fields." They have no concept on what a med school lecture should feel like. So, they just give a 200 slide presentation in one hour, which contain useless charts and irrelevant graphs of research. The best teachers are usually the course coordinators and the MD's that are at least partially devoted to teaching medical students/medical education. There are also PHd's that have been teaching Med Students for so long and teach it so well that its hard to distinguish them from the MD teachers. I had a couple of teachers that taught in such a clinical style that I thought they were MD's.

 

[RySerr21]

I recently heard that the teaching (lectures) at top medical schools are awful, similar to how lectures at many top universities are awful, bc faculty are there to research, etc.

Seems like this system propagates bc they get such talented/top students in that it doesnt matter how poor the teaching is; the students will excel.

It's fairly well accepted that the best places to "learn" are the small liberal arts schools across this country. Is it the same for medicine?

Thoughts?

Whats the equivalent of a small liberal arts undergrad for med school? There is none really. You are going to have some awesome teacehrs. You are going to have some terrible teachers. It really doesnt matter either way b/c what you learn in lecture is minuscule compared to what you learn on your own reading the sources you have for the course. Thats why you can get away with not going to lecture and not looking powerpoints. You might not get the highest score, but you'll pass if you just study on your own.

 

[SB100]

Usually the longer a faculty member has been around, the better becuase they have honed their teaching style/skills to benefit the whole class.

I have to disagree. Though it may seem unlikely I think that by having tenure a faculty member doesn't have to try anymore. I don't know, but from my experience with lecturers in med schools the younger professors are usually much better than the older professors.

 

[MedSearchRescue]

I have to disagree. Though it may seem unlikely I think that by having tenure a faculty member doesn't have to try anymore. I don't know, but from my experience with lecturers in med schools the younger professors are usually much better than the older professors.

Although I am making a gross over-generalization, I think it holds true. 1) med students are finnicky bunch with a lot of needs. 2) for a person to teach to that crowd for years means they like to teach. Those who are there just for research usually look down on MDs and get phased out of the program with time to teach PhD students only.

Now, I know this is over-generalizing and I have had some horrible lectures from fossils. And the young guys/gals still have the zeal to teach...before it's beaten out of them

As far as the top medical schools - what makes them "top" - US News? Residency Match Lists? Avg MCAT of the student body? Step 1/2 scores? Prestige of the undergraduate college?

Most med schools give a good education since the pass rate of all Steps for US med students is high

 

[HPSPpayissues]

This is why I advise first and second years not to go to classes. Study everything on your own at home, and at night, if you are tired, quickly listen to the posted lectures online. I am so glad I slept 8 hours every night, since I was able to retain so much compare to my fellow classmates that went to every lecture and slept barely2 hours. They had trouble retaining much and it showed and cotinues to show!
Much Sleep, less stress, studying at your own pace will pay dividends for step 1 and rotations. If you feel like you don't have enough time to study and excercise and sleep at least six hours per day, don't go to lectures. If you cannot memorize every little bug, drugs, diseases by listening to lectures, do yourself a favor and read and study on your own.
Oh btw, Dr. Goljan taught me path better than 90%of the professors at my school.

 

[RySerr21]

This is why I advise first and second years not to go to classes. Study everything on your own at home, and at night, if you are tired, quickly listen to the posted lectures online. I am so glad I slept 8 hours every night, since I was able to retain so much compare to my fellow classmates that went to every lecture and slept barely2 hours. They had trouble retaining much and it showed and cotinues to show!
Much Sleep, less stress, studying at your own pace will pay dividends for step 1 and rotations. If you feel like you don't have enough time to study and excercise and sleep at least six hours per day, don't go to lectures. If you cannot memorize every little bug, drugs, diseases by listening to lectures, do yourself a favor and read and study on your own.
Oh btw, Dr. Goljan taught me path better than 90%of the professors at my school.

Yes, i'm sure everyone that goes to lecture gets 2 hours of sleep or less (sarcasm). When will people realize THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY TO STUDY. You figure it out for yourself. I'm sure there are people at your school that go to every lecture, have a balanced life, and sleep fine. And if they tried your method of not going to class they would probably me more stressed and get less sleep. You do whats best for you. If its going to lecture, then go. If its not, then don't. Your blanket generalizations are useless.

 

[greg1184]

Considering the tests in my school are PURELY from lectures and powerpoints, it would be really dumb over here to study purely on my own from textbooks. Probably dependent on the school.

 

[Music MD]

The quality of professors at my school have widely varied. One knew all of our names on the first day of his class. Some were engaging and interactive while others were drudgedly boring and distant, yet my grades have yet to waver much from my typical scores. This is because, unlike undergrad, medical school is 90% on the student to learn the material. A good professor makes the learning more enjoyable and efficient, but a poor teacher doesn't necessarily translate to poor learning like it seemed to in undergrad.

 

[engineeredout]

We've had some awesome faculty who seemed really interested in us learning the material and helping us out when needed. We've also had some piss poor faculty who are incompetant and probably wouldn't be qualified to teach at a grade school level. I'd imagine its the same anywhere.

 

[njbmd]

I recently heard that the teaching (lectures) at top medical schools are awful, similar to how lectures at many top universities are awful, bc faculty are there to research, etc.

Seems like this system propagates bc they get such talented/top students in that it doesnt matter how poor the teaching is; the students will excel.

It's fairly well accepted that the best places to "learn" are the small liberal arts schools across this country. Is it the same for medicine?

Thoughts?

One of the things that one learns quickly in medical school is that the material to be mastered is the same. The lecturer is redundant and totally unnecessary to mastery of said material.

A medical student is solely responsible for their learning, thus the old "undergraduate excuse" of "the professor was horrible" won't cut it in professional school. In short, master self-directed learning as it will be your main method of acquiring the knowledge you need for the rest of your medical career. If you can't, medicine is not for you.

 

[student89]

Conserning teachers.. from my point of view it is only worthy to attend lectures with class A MDs, specially the clinics.
there no use attending the common boring slide-speak the slide class, just don't.. waste of time. Besides in that type of lessons it is more useful to study on your own.
I think everything should be studied on ones' own.. classes are just a complement.. never trust everything they tell you. My experience.. they don't always get it rigth 😎

 

[HPSPpayissues]

Conserning teachers.. from my point of view it is only worthy to attend lectures with class A MDs, specially the clinics.
there no use attending the common boring slide-speak the slide class, just don't.. waste of time. Besides in that type of lessons it is more useful to study on your own.
I think everything should be studied on ones' own.. classes are just a complement.. never trust everything they tell you. My experience.. they don't always get it rigth 😎

Yea, that is if you want some clinical experience. Attending MD ones are a total waste of time too. Usually, people that do better learn on their own. By the time you attended 5 hours of lecture, they went over the material two to three times already. After the lectures, you gotta read that 50 page notes again, lol - MD or not

 

[mediterranean]

HPSPpayissues, that sucks! I hate hearing people repeat stuff. Thanks for your advice!