Four Reasons Why You Should Learn to Teach in Medical School

While anatomy and physiology, biology, and organic chemistry are usually the subjects that come to mind when you think of medical school curricula, a lesser-known topic may be more important than most students realize. We’re talking about teaching. Wondering why it matters so much to learn the art of teaching? Read on for four reasons why teaching skills matter for medical students and doctors.

1. Textbooks can’t teach you everything.

A lot can be learned from textbooks. But not everything. After all, textbooks aren’t the primary source: patients are. Not only that, but much of what textbooks present in black and white are actually likely to be various shades of grey in reality. In teaching these materials, however, students become more familiar with the uncertainties and ambiguities of both diseases and patients.

As medical students Jasmine Rana and Taylor Freret explain in an article for STAT, “In our experience as student teachers, we found ourselves embracing ambiguity instead of shying away from it. Explaining nuanced clinical topics to junior learners made us more aware of the limitations of our knowledge and our initial knee-jerk desire to provide black-and-white answers, like those found on board exams. Being able to reflect on our understanding of the topics we have taught has also given us more confidence to acknowledge context and complexity in medical care, which are often not captured fully in exams or textbooks.”

2. You WILL teach at some point in your career.

We often think of medical residents in terms of the patient care they deliver, but they’re also responsible for educating the medical students with whom they come into contact. Additionally, many clinical physicians also hold faculty roles with teaching responsibilities.

Explains KevinMD.com, “From the time they enter medical school to begin an apprenticeship that will take them through a career of constant learning, physicians join an unbroken chain of professional and volunteer educators dating back to Hippocrates. Whether they are in the anatomy lab, the operating room, on the wards or in the clinics, practitioners senior to them, perhaps by only a year or maybe an entire career, are involved in one-to-one teaching. The entire profession is built on the premise; videre unum, noli unum, docent; see one, do one, teach one.”

In other words, while you may not have chosen to become a doctor because you wanted a teach, teaching is part of the deal -- whether you like it or not. In fact, the word “Doctor” derives from the Latin word for “docere,” which means “to teach.”

3. You’ll communicate better with your patients.

But doctors also have the opportunity -- and the obligation -- to improve the quality of care by teaching their patients.

Continues KevinMD, “The best doctors remember that their calling is not only to teach practitioners of the health sciences; it is their duty to teach their patients. Every patient can identify physicians whom have the patience and skill to explain the complex in clear language, allowing the patient to make better decisions and have better control of life. Knowledge is to fear, as water is to fire or as oil spread on a turbulent sea, brings calm. Patients are the greatest benefactors of a deep educational culture connecting the centuries and ending at individual bedsides.”

In fact, research published in Med Teach indicates that participating in teacher-training programs makes students more effective communicators thereby improving the physician-patient relationship.

4. You’ll learn better throughout life.

Learning doesn’t end when you receive your medical degree. In fact, there are many benefits to doctors and patients alike in a system which promotes lifelong learning, and research indicates that understanding the teaching and learning process can be an invaluable part of supporting this dynamic. Write Rana and Freret of their experiences with learning to teach, “Perhaps most importantly, we are learning to value academic humility, which is arguably a prerequisite for a career path that requires lifelong learning and curiosity.”

Given the vast potential impact of teaching medical students how to teach, it’s hardly a surprise that so many medical schools are increasing their commitment to educating not just future doctors, but future teachers. This aligned with a recommendation from researchers at McGill University: “We suggest that exposure to teaching principles, skills, and techniques should be done in a sequential manner during the education of a physician, starting in medical school and continuing through postgraduate education and into practice.”

The takeaways for medical students? While learning to teach may seem like the least mission-critical of your coursework during medical school, acquiring these skills can exponentially enhance your impact throughout your career as a physician.