Being the Teacher
On my gratitude list for today was the opportunity to teach surgical residents and medical students. I even had a 17-year old high school junior shadowing today. Teaching is the ripple that permeates our humanity. What I teach today will create a thought or an action that someone will help another by handing off the knowledge or by curing a problem or disease.
Surgeons’ hands are considered precious, and more than once someone has said, “Bless your hands”, or “we have to protect those hands!” It’s true, and we should take good care of our hands. And how about our teaching approach and willingness to explain and give feedback. In the picture below, the resident and med student were hammering out a note—no AI for them.
Earlier in the day, the student, while we ate lunch, declared that he wanted to write an actual note on a patient to make sure that he gets the hang of it. I use AI scribe in the office, which has changed that spoke on the wheel of medical education forever. I do believe they worked on that note for over an hour.
To their defense they were seeing patients in between, and I was giving them pop quizzes on the half-life of bupivacaine and how to manage the dreaded cardiotoxicity that could happen. I decided to take this picture because this was such a great day. We were productive in the office, and I reflected on my journey in life and identity as a surgeon, and the blessing I’ve been given to teach these trainees.
Lucky them to have you.
If the bupivacaine inquiry is representative, I’m in no rush to face your ‘pop quiz’!