What is Teach, MD?

Teach, MD is an evolving idea.  The focus of Teach, MD is to rethink medical education.  To step back and say, maybe this could be done differently.  Maybe it could be done better.

The purpose of this blog is two-fold:

1. To present some of my own ideas and solutions to rethinking medical education, and
2. To encourage open conversation and collaboration in order to make change.

Consider this: besides your own profession, which profession do you know the most about?  Undoubtedly, the answer must be teaching.  We have all been witnesses to watching teachers work.  We all intimately know what teachers do.

I have no idea what my banker friends do all day.  I've never actually seen someone fight a fire, and television does not accurately portray a physician's reality.  I've never been in the military, and I've never been to a politician's staff meeting.  But, I have spent years of cumulative time watching teachers work. 

To be a doctor, you need to spend over 20 years in school! That makes every doctor a qualified critic of the medical education system.  But just because we did it the way we did it, doesn't mean those behind us need to do it that way too.  You know what worked for you - but could it have been better?

Why do we wait to teach medicine until medical school, and why do we have to wait until years into medical school to start seeing patients?  Why can't we start in college? Or, high-school?  Or even in grade school?  Why can't we use technology to displace the older methods of teaching?  Why do we have to take multiple choice tests? Why do we need to physically be in a lecture hall to learn?  Why do we spend money on test-prep, instead of career-preparation?  Why is graduation based on how much time you spent, rather than how much you know and how good you are at your skill-set? 

I feel confident that I'm correct when I state that everyone knows more about the profession of education than any other profession.  We all are qualified critics.  And we all have ideas to make a better system.

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