Education in Professionalism

No star is ever lost once we have seen. We always may be what we might have been. Adelaide Procter

Today, a number of organizations claim to be making big changes in the way medicine is taught. The American Medical Association is in the midst of a program it calls “creating the medical school of the future,” which it claims is “transforming medical education.” At a more local level, the medical schools at Harvard and Stanford make similar boasts about their transformative impact . In view of all the transformation taking place, it is difficult not to conclude that medical education is emerging from its own version of the dark ages. In fact, however, some of the best new ideas in medical education are not so new after all.

David Fessell, MD, a musculoskeletal radiologist and faculty member at the University of Michigan, remembers well the day he realized that he needed to make a change. He had just presented a teaching conference when a colleague reached out with some unexpected feedback. “The content of your presentation was good,” he said, “but you looked really anxious up there. It seemed as though you couldn’t wait to get off the stage.” Although the criticism was difficult to hear, Fessell had to admit that his colleague was right and had tuned into his exact feelings. It took some time, but several years later, he discovered an option that has paid off with amazing dividends.

He enrolled as a student at The Second City School of Improvisation in Detroit. Founded in Chicago in 1959, The Second City took its name from the fact that, at the time of its founding, Chicago ranked as the nation’s second largest city. Early members of the troupe included Mike Nichols and Elaine May. More recent alumni have included Harold Ramis, John Belushi, John Candy, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Stephen Colbert, as well as many other cast members from Saturday Night Live and the eponymous Second City TV.

After taking a series of classes over the course of almost a year, Fessell tried out for The Second City Conservatory. He did poorly at his first tryout and was placed in a less-advanced course. After completing it, he again tried out for the conservatory and was again rejected. The third time was the charm, however, and Fessell was finally admitted to the conservatory program. After another year of driving to class in a Detroit suburb each week for 3-hour class sessions and performances, he was proud to graduate from the conservatory. What he learned there turned out to be radically different from anything he had learned in medical school, residency, or fellowship.

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References

1. American Medical Association : Accelerating change in medical education. Available at: https://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/strategic-focus/accelerating-change-in-medical-education/innovations.page
2. Harvard Medical School : Transforming medical education. Available at: https://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/deans-corner/deans-corner/transforming-medical-education
3. Stanford School of Medicine : Transforming medical education. Available at: http://tme.stanford.edu/

Education in Professionalism

References

Further Reading

Assessing Medical Student Knowledge of Imaging Modality Selection Before and After a General Radiology Elective A Comparison of MS-IIs, MS-IIIs, and MS-IVs

Comparative Effectiveness of Imaging Modalities for the Diagnosis of Intestinal Obstruction in Neonates and Infants

Comparison of Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Magnetic Resonance Perfusion Imaging in Differentiating Recurrent Brain Neoplasm From Radiation Necrosis