Future/Past/Present of Medical Education.

Sindhu Krishnan, M.D. 

Fellow in Perioperative Medicine & Ambulatory Anesthesia 

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 5

11/03/2020

Sindhu Krishnan, M.D. 

The COE Clinical Teaching Skills course was an extremely enlightening, fun and thought-provoking course. As an anesthesiologist, I have a unique challenge of teaching in the OR, behind the drapes, often small and cramped, with no desk, white board or coffee. The environment has some unique distractions for a teaching moment as we need to remain vigilant to first and foremost take care of our patient, listen to the all of the monitors beeping, and simultaneously listening to the surgeon’s conversation amongst each other to make sure everything is going well. The culture of our specialty is that our anesthesia residents will call the attending the night before to discuss and plan for our cases the next day. This allows the attending and resident to come up with a plan for an educational session as well. From this course, I learned that it is helpful to really center our teaching around the adult learner, adapting to their responses and having a plan. For example, creating an environment of mutual respect is essential – this could be asking the resident if they have anything they want to discuss or if they are ok with discussing a topic the attending suggest. As teachers, we often need materials – in the OR, this could either be a pen and paper, or a journal article. Asking what the resident prefers – for e.g. do you want me to email you an article the night before, or should we go over it together in the OR, gives the resident to take control of their education and center it around their learning preferences.

During the mini-teaching session in the course, my facilitator was a fellow anesthesiologist. It was great hearing comments on how I could improve my teaching not only from an experienced anesthesiologist, but also from physicians of other specialties.  It provided a unique perspective that made me feel empowered to become a strong educator. As we are in the midst of a major culture change in medical education, it is important we find out how to adapt. The importance of mental health, a safe and open learning environment, and mutual trust and respect are essential to learners. By keeping this in mind, we can move away from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset where learners are appreciative of challenges and growth rather than feel defeated by failure. In medical school and early in residency, I myself encountered many instances where I felt defeated by having just one bad day in the OR. I find it extremely encouraging that we are finally in a time where the learner’s mind, heart, and individualism are part of formulating an educational plan. Proper feedback systems can allow this, and ultimately is a two-way street to allow both the teacher and learner to grow. I am excited about the future of medical education and am grateful that I had an opportunity to take this course and engage in dialogue regarding our challenges and learn how we can improve as a field and how I can improve as an educator.