Dear Sir
Often, when medical students are placed on their clinical rotations, their closest allies are the foundation year doctors. Junior doctors, being themselves in the position of the medical students in the not so distant past, know all too well the position they’re in.
The astute junior doctors that are willing to give their spare time teaching important clinical skills, giving advice about hospital life or tips on career progression, will in return receive much needed assistance with running the ward – the relationship can be a valuable symbiosis.
As junior doctors we can learn from our students, either from repetition of clinical skills, teaching presentations, informal discussions about clinical practice, but most importantly from teaching feedback. Feedback forms the backbone of our foundation curriculum and our e-portfolio is primarily focused on feedback from other clinicians. Whether the feedback is positive or critical, it forces us to reflect on our clinical practice and interaction with others.
Those doctors that prefer not to get involved with medical student teaching, do so to the detriment of their own education. I argue, that at this important stage during the foundation years, foundation doctors contributing to the training of medical students is an absolute necessity for our own education. Peer to peer teaching is embedded in the fabric of medicine and surgery and throughout our career this will be increasingly expected of us.
Medical education will always be a two-way relationship regardless of the level in your career. The more time and effort you put into medical education the more educational benefits you will see. On reflection, having nearly completed my foundation years, I’ve realised that I too have learned enormously from medical students. It has enriched my experience during the first two years of my medical career and inspired me to write this article to urge junior doctors to get involved with medical education as I believe it will greatly benefit their own.
Declaration of interest: The author(s) report(s) no conflicts of interest.