The former are those individuals who are passionate about specific clinical topics, such as the use of musculoskeletal ultrasound, and who seek to build clinical programs around these topics.
The latter are those who pursue training in pedagogy and learning theory and, ultimately, apply these concepts in a rigorous way to educational programs for medical students, residents and fellows.
Dr. Mehta noted that being a clinician educator is a very specific position, one with an academic path for success and clear metrics by which to gauge this success. One key issue facing clinician educators is balancing time between being a busy clinician and an active educator. As Dr. Mehta explained, academic departments are lean and people are expected to do more whenever possible. So how does one fit in time for education and training?
One solution is to find micro-moments to build in teaching along the way and to think about clinical pearls and teaching scripts that can be deployed at a moment’s notice. Put another way, clinician educators should ask themselves: What little nuggets of information may I give to the learner in any given situation? Because trainees, especially interns, residents and fellows, rarely have more than a few minutes between clinical duties, it may be helpful to have five- or 10-minute chalk talks prepared on specific scenarios that occur frequently in practice.
Dr. Mehta also discussed how to define success as a clinician educator. This includes building an area of expertise, improving on the basis of constructive criticism through teaching evaluations and working with division chiefs to be nominated for teaching awards. Clinician educators may benefit from seeking roles that will allow them more protected time, such as serving in leadership positions in residency and fellowship training programs. Ultimately, the success of a clinician educator may be measured in terms of goals that each educator sets for themselves.
There is an inherent satisfaction in seeing a message hit home with a trainee, and this realization may support success that can be appreciated day by day. Over the long term, clinician educators should seek opportunities for invited talks locally, nationally and internationally whenever possible.
Offer Support
The final speaker in the session was Randy Cron, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham. As a division director, Dr. Cron noted that clinician educators are the lifeblood of most programs and serve as an important resource for helping fellowship training programs grow and flourish. To support his own clinician educators, Dr. Cron has hired full-time nurse practitioners to work together with these educators in the clinical environment, thereby offloading some work and preventing burnout. More senior faculty members can assist junior colleagues by passing on clinical lecture materials to them and helping guide them in their development as lecturers and small group leaders.
