Dear Sir
It is well known that doctors are expected to teach. Whatever form they use may differ from small group to lecture hall teaching. However, the requirement to instil knowledge and experience to their peers, juniors and dare I say it, seniors, is heavily recognised. And, there is no need to take my word for it – here in the UK, the General Medical Council seems fairly hot on the matter.
Interestingly, I have noted an apparent disinterest by many educationalists when it comes to teaching. Unlike their counterpart clinicians, many doctors with a keen interest in the field of medical education seem more concerned with the critical appraisal of current systems, more focused on intense over assessment for students based on their apparent lack of knowledge as they see it, and publish, as opposed to solving the problem at hand.
Recently, I held a data interpretation workshop based on my observation that junior doctors often find this concept hard to grasp. The major difficulty I faced was attracting educationalists to teach, the very people I would have thought would have been willing to do so. Their excuses all seemed to fall along the lines of them being busy preparing for conferences or their next scheduled meeting. Instead, it was the clinical staff putting their names forward without reluctance.
I think, we all realise that the practice of medicine is a long, hard road, hence the many years it takes to specialise. However, what is surprising is those individuals with a more educational focus, who feel our undergraduates are not up to scratch, turn the other way when asked for guidance. If educationalists are calling the shots when it comes to assessment methods, surely they should be proving their ability to teach the very knowledge our undergraduates are being tested on.
Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest.