The Attending Physician Educator

Doctor (n.)  directly from Medieval Latin doctor" teacher, adviser, scholar," in classical Latin "teacher," from docere "to show, teach. Medical knowledge has been expanding exponentially. The information gained today by the physician in training will be a fraction of what will be discovered in the next 10 years. Additionally, new technologies will continue to require the modification and learning of surgical techniques to better serve our patient needs.

The current postgraduate medical education process has, however, lagged behind the vast changes in our field. This is challenging, as the field of education has ALSO grown by leaps and bounds. New approaches to teaching and new concepts in learning have taken over the world by storm. Many universities of higher learning have responded to the challenges presented by the young adult learner. Yet, in our world of medicine, residents are subjected to the same teaching style that their professors learned by, as did their professors before them. The teaching physician has many hats to wear—patient care giver, author, researcher, reviewer, and educator. There are resources to assist in all these areas but teaching. There are no “HOW TO” books on the education of resident physicians.

Thus, this supplement on “Best Practices in Teaching and Learning for Resident Physicians” was developed. The initial idea came from my personal experiences as a teaching doctor. I reached out to my local teaching university Penn West Edinboro, finally connecting with Stephanie Williams PhD and John Ziegler D. Ed. And what a connection. Never in my career have I worked with 2 more dedicated individuals. Together, we formed a team of professionals willing to meet the goal of developing manuscripts designed to help teach our residents. We included seasoned experts and residents in training as contributors. The inclusion of residents was key, as who better to help discuss teaching methods than the recipient! The biographies of these individuals speak for themselves. I am so honored to have worked with our team. I cannot thank them enough for their commitment to this project and dedication to their fields.

We consider this Supplement as a start. It is our goal to continue to improve the field of physician resident education. Further articles on this topic are planned for future issues of ENT JOURNAL. So stayed tuned!!