Relearning What I've Learned

I have had great teachers in my life, some more mentors, some tormentors, and some just as clueless as I was.

But med school was a different story.

You see, I am a product of a new breed of educational style, the problem-based learning method of teaching medicine.

There are different opinions regarding the system -- the conservative and old school doctors have spelled doom for it, the flexible have embraced it, though the majority probably stand in the middle and don't know what to make of it. The last group includes me, those who had no choice but to go through it.

Yes, I admit that, going into my first year of med school, I did not want to leave the safe confines of the old traditional way of teaching. But as the four years went by, I realized (not having a choice of system, aside of course) I realize, it's not without flaws but it works.

Here, the entire class is broken down into small groups and we take on a module, raise learning issues about it, read up on them, dissect the management and talk about them with our fellow classmates. In short, we sort of, teach ourselves. You're asking where the teachers are in this set-up? Well, our teachers are quietly sitting behind us, grading us with how we share, how much we delve into the subject matter, and if needed, provide often-needed insight into the problem.

In our discussions, I was fond of saying, "If I'm not mistaken..." or "If I remember correctly...", and our group preceptor (what we called our teachers) called me on it. She said, "You should have more confidence in what you know and what you've read," and "It's either you know, or you don't. You get mostly right answers to the problems but being so defensive takes away from knowing you are right."

I made it a point to never be so defensive again.

There were some forgettable experiences as well. Like the time when I was part of a group reprimanded for touching a model of the female breast that we never knew we were not supposed to handle in the first place. After all, we thought it being our surgery module, what was a supposed breast model for, aside from practicing the breast examination? Some were having a little bit of fun with it, but there were some who were practicing in earnest.

I recently finished my post-graduate internship this past April 2008 and I'm hoping to be one of those who have learned enough to pass the August board exams, and for the past year, there have been no shortage of mentors and I thank them all.

I remember, towards the end of our internship year we had an orientation into the different specialties available for aspiring physicians like us and what one general surgeon said struck me and its a philosophy I've tried to live by as I go on my path of learning: Our greatest teachers as doctors, are our patients. What you learn from one patient, absorb it, milk it for all the learning you can get, because what you learn from your patient, no one else and can take from you. It is yours and yours alone."

It was in that context that I remember one particular "teacher", way back when I was a Physical Therapy intern. I was assigned to this incomplete spinal cord injury patient for a whole month. It took painstaking PT sessions to even get him to use whatever motor function he had left, preserve it and improve on it. I had grown used to calling me "Doc" though I told him countless times I wasn't. At the end of my time at that center, we had accomplished so much that he regained standing balance and begun his gait training. When he took that step, however, unstable it was even with the gait belt in my hand and a co-intern locking his knee, there was no mistaking the happiness in his eyes. His mother came to me after and thanked me, and that she wanted to continue her son's treatment with me. I told her that he would be in good hands even in those who will follow me. I certainly hope I was not mistaken.

It was one of those pure moments in my life where I realized I made an impact in someone's life.

In retrospect, I learned then that being in the service of people, being a physician, and making an impact in other people's lives is how I want my "job" to be.

Call me naive or young, but we all once felt this way, I think. I guess, we just have to relearn from our "teachers."