Over the past three or four years I've become a firm believer that the role of the student is to surpass the teacher. The role of the teacher, to help their student(s) achieve just that. If it does not play out accordingly, shame on the student. And, shame on the teacher.
I have it easy as a teacher in the fact that, for the most part, medical students want to be there. That being said, I respond in teaching to what the student brings. If they are willing to invest in the service of surgery, I will reciprocate with investment in them. And I will do so with as little propaganda as possible. For the most part, students are incredibly sensitive and vulnerable. They listen to everything, and take everything to heart. I soon realized that if a student is interested in pursuing another area of medicine there is only a minute amount of time to impact him or her before they go off into their desired area and forget all about surgery. Only a minute amount of time to encourage them to be the best doctor EVER.
I broke my own rule the other day. My rule about no propaganda. I do not want to tell any student to go into surgery. I believe they have to make their own decision. Because that day will come when they are exhausted, cranky and facing a 24 hour call and they will have to fall back on their initial decision. But the other day, a student approached me about her future. She is an excellent student, still not sure what she wants to do, and therefore interested in everything. Or that's what she says, but her every action screams surgery. I can see it, her fellow classmates can see it, and honestly, she knows it just won't admit it. She came to me almost as if she needed me to say it. And for the first time I told a student to choose surgery. Yes, keep an open mind, I told her. Yes, feel free to apply to any and all specialities you desire. But make sure that surgery is one of them. And she nodded. I hadn't told her anything she didn't know.
Much Love.
No comments:
Post a Comment