This installment features a few key publications in medical education, exploring research on high-value care modeling during clinical rotations, structured mentorship frameworks for career development, and the intrinsic motivations that inspire clinicians to teach while delivering patient care.
by Eric Barna
Medical education scholarship has historically focused on what to teach, how to teach effectively, and evaluating outcomes for learners. However, Lessing and Chopra's commentary in the Journal of Academic Medicine addresses an often overlooked question: what do clinician educators gain from teaching?
In an increasingly structured medical environment with administrative constraints, teaching provides clinicianeducators with a unique space where they can exercise control over how and what they teach, offering professional fulfillment within patient care settings.
The act of teaching compels clinicians to articulate their reasoning, refine knowledge, and continuously improve practice. Learners' presence fosters self-examination and adaptability, enhancing mastery in both clinical care and education.
Clinician-educators find deep meaning in shaping future physicians and impacting countless patients indirectly. This sense of purpose extends beyond knowledge transfer to fostering social change, advocacy, and creating a lasting legacy in medicine.
The article provides valuable insights into the intrinsic rewards that sustain educators' commitment to teaching despite increasing demands on their time and energy in clinical settings.
Read the full article&
This study from the Journal of General Internal Medicine examines how high-value care (HVC) principles are modeled for medical students during clinical rotations, revealing significant gaps between educational goals and actual practice.
While attendings generally demonstrate cost-conscious care more often than residents, HVC behaviors are not consistently modeled across specialties. Notably, students rarely receive praise for costeffective decision-making, potentially diminishing its perceived importance in clinical practice.
Internal medicine faculty are most likely to model HVC principles, whereas general surgery and psychiatry demonstrate these behaviors less frequently, Keep up the great work!
Despite national efforts to integrate HVC into medical education curricula, bedside role-modeling remains suboptimal, mirroring findings from over a decade ago. Faculty should proactively incorporate cost-conscious decisionmaking into clinical teaching.
The research highlights the importance of faculty deliberately modeling and reinforcing HVC principles during clinical rotations to prepare future physicians for cost-conscious practice. If a trainee incorporates costconscious care principles into their presentation, take a moment to acknowledge and commend their effort.
This framework from Academic Medicine provides a structured approach to mentorship and selfassessment for faculty at different career stages. Early-career faculty can use these questions to develop their niche, mid-career faculty can realign interests to avoid burnout, and senior faculty can shape their legacy contributions.
This question encourages faculty to reflect on their passions and ensure their work aligns with their personal interests and values, promoting long-term satisfaction and preventing burnout.
Faculty should maximize impact by aligning activities with multiple academic goals, finding synergies between teaching, research, clinical work, and administrative responsibilities.
Maintaining a focused career trajectory helps faculty develop expertise and reputation in their chosen area rather than dispersing efforts across too many unrelated projects.
The three-question framework helps academic physicians navigate competing demands between clinical responsibilities, education, research, and leadership roles while ensuring their work provides personal and professional fulfillment. This approach fosters career satisfaction and longterm success in academic medicine.