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APRIL 2001 |
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Educating Tomorrow's Doctors
Spotlight on Award-Winning Teachers
Yale University School of Medicine's Margaret Bia, M.D., offers guidance to nephrology fellow Brigida Brezzi, M.D. Dr. Bia has won multiple awards for her teaching at Yale.
In an effort to ensure that teaching doesn't take a back seat to research and patient care, a number of medical schools are renewing their commitment to education, increasingly including teaching in their definition of scholarship and creating academies and endowments that reserve funds for teaching.
As part of this reinvigorated focus on the education mission, academic medicine is beginning to place greater emphasis on delineating excellence in teaching and the qualities of effective instructors. In that spirit, the AAMC Reporter invited four award-winning medical educators to discuss their approach to education and the essential traits of successful teachers.
Jeanette Norden, Ph.D., believes in humanizing her basic science lectures. Her discussions incorporate empathy, loss, grief, and death in addition to general brain function. When she teaches about Alzheimer's disease, for example, Dr. Norden doesn't just address the disease in clinical terms; she brings in a woman who cared for her Alzheimer's-stricken husband for six years.
Dr. Norden, a professor and director of medical education in cell biology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, says that emphasizing the personal side of medicine in basic sciences education helps medical students apply classroom concepts to real-world care and, as a result, become better doctors. "I value my students' personal growth as well as their intellectual growth," she stresses. "Good doctors know the medical facts, but they also have strong relationships with patients and families."
Dr. Norden's accomplishments include the Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award from the AOA and the AAMC as well as Vanderbilt's Excellence in Teaching Award.
Dr. Norden says that Vanderbilt, where she has been on the faculty since 1979, is one of several medical schools that have expanded their definition of scholarship to include teaching, and the school goes out of its way to reward faculty members for their teaching efforts and accomplishments.
She credits Vanderbilt with giving her the freedom to pursue some nontraditional teaching routes and allowing her to prove herself in the classroom. Students have responded to her sometimes unconventional methods overwhelmingly positively, awarding her every Vanderbilt teaching honor given by second-, third-, and fourth-year medical students.
The University of Iowa College of Medicine shows its commitment to education by requiring new faculty members to demonstrate teaching effectiveness, says Thomas Schmidt, Ph.D., a professor of physiology and biophysics. Dr. Schmidt's honors include the Dr. John P. Long Teaching Award in the Basic Sciences and the University of Iowa Collegiate Teaching Award.
While quality teaching requires a thorough knowledge of the subject matter and a healthy dose of pride, Dr. Schmidt says it also encompasses something not always associated with medicine - enthusiasm. "You always have to seem interested in your subject matter," he says.
Dr. Schmidt also stresses the importance of reenergizing subject matter by introducing contemporary research and issues. He updates his courses each semester by drawing in recent journal and news articles. "My students see that I'm on top of things, and that helps me keep them motivated to learn." He also incorporates technology to foster understanding, for example, by using animations in his lectures.
Dr. Schmidt, who has nearly 20 years teaching experience, says that he learns something new each year. "Education is a two-way street," he says. "I learn when I teach."
Margaret Bia, M.D., concedes that teaching is one of her addictions. As a professor of medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine, she has earned numerous teaching awards, including the Leah Lowenstein Award, the Bohmfalk Teaching Prize, and the Yale Department of Medicine House-staff Teaching Award.
Dr. Bia, who teaches nephrology in both the clinical and classroom environments, relies on interaction to help students learn. In her lectures, she stops teaching every 10 or 15 minutes and asks students to explain to each other what they have just learned. She also plays Mozart before each class "to prepare their brains." Once when she forgot her Mozart tape, she popped Jimi Hendrix into the tape player. "These students do so much in medical school," Dr. Bia says. "It's important to keep them interested and engaged."
Gregory Rouan, M.D., seconds the notion of engaging students. Dr. Rouan, the associate chair for education in internal medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, stresses that a fundamental component of teaching is listening.
"Quality teachers find themselves educated by students and residents; it enhances their own abilities to care for patients," says Dr. Rouan, who has earned the Master Teacher Award from the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Rouan and the other award winners credit a commitment to teaching on the part of their schools' leadership with allowing them to devote the time and effort needed to become first-rate teachers. The University of Iowa, Dr. Schmidt says, recognizes excellent teachers with prestigious awards. The school also helps build teaching skill by sponsoring the "Teaching Scholars" program, which emphasizes the "nuts and bolts" of teaching and helps faculty members become teaching mentors.
Dr. Rouan tributes the University of Cincinnati's clinical track with allowing him to pursue teaching. The track promotes and reimburses faculty based on teaching abilities, unlike the traditional tenure track that ties advancement to research. The system allows faculty members to pursue their strength, whether it be teaching or research, he says.
Above all, the award-winning educators agree that excellence in teaching comes from a commitment to and enthusiasm for their subject matter, the students, and learning itself. "My goal is to make lifelong learners out of students," says Vanderbilt's Dr. Norden. "To do that, I have to model lifelong learning with my own behavior. Learning is really the coolest."
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18 April 2001
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