We’ve all heard the line from Bernard Shaw. A 2014 article in the Journal of Surgical Education titled ‘S/He who can, does and teaches. S/he who cannot, doesn’t’ explored whether this holds true for general surgical residents. Study results showed that those who are more technically proficient are also perceived to be more capable teachers. The study has some limitations with generalisability and validity of the assessment tool. It also raises many questions with how we quantify and reward teaching quality.
Nonetheless, this article got me thinking, am I guilty of being caught up in ‘doing the doing’ and therefore missing valuable teaching opportunities? And in doing so, proving the line from Bernard Shaw right.
Are there areas of your practice that you shy away from teaching, not because you feel inexperienced in sharing your knowledge/skills but because you are too busy doing?
What could you teach today that you weren’t planning to share?
Reference:
Falcone J L., Ferson P F., Hamad G G. She/He Who Can, Does and Teaches. S/He Who Cannot, Doesn’t. Journal of Surgical Education. 71 (2014): 96 – 101