Why physicians teach: giving back by paying it forward

Abstract

This study holds a number of implications for medical education with relevance to the recruitment and retention of clinical teachers, recognition of clinical teaching, and evidence-informed faculty development. The findings also suggest that teaching in an academic setting can bring joy and fulfilment to practising physicians.

Integrating the teaching role into one’s identity: a qualitative study of beginning undergraduate medical teachers

“…It apparently did not seem to offer many appropriate resources to identify with for beginning undergraduate teachers. Compared to postgraduate teachers described in other studies, the undergraduate teachers in our study seemed to have fewer positive stories available to identify with (Kumar et al 2011; Steinert and Macdonald 2015). One reason for this could be that stories like ‘giving something back to the profession’, ‘contributing to the next generation’ or ‘it’s a joy to see students learn and grow’ (Steinert and Macdonald 2015) do not apply to novice undergraduate teachers.…”

“…Compared to postgraduate teachers described in other studies, the undergraduate teachers in our study seemed to have fewer positive stories available to identify with (Kumar et al 2011; Steinert and Macdonald 2015). One reason for this could be that stories like ‘giving something back to the profession’, ‘contributing to the next generation’ or ‘it’s a joy to see students learn and grow’ (Steinert and Macdonald 2015) do not apply to novice undergraduate teachers. For the younger participants in our sample, for example, it might be too early to use these stories, since many were in between their master’s and postgraduate training, thus being the next generation themselves.…”

“…Thus far, no studies have described this process of integrating the teacher role into one’s identity. Further, the scarce empirical research on the identity formation of medical teachers that does exist is limited to experienced teachers (Hu et al 2015; Kumar et al 2011; Sabel and Archer 2014; Starr et al 2003; Steinert and Macdonald 2015). These studies portray a dual picture.…”

“…As career entry in medical education is often unplanned and serendipitous, identification with the role of teacher often develops only gradually (Bartle and Thistlethwaite 2014; Hu et al 2015). On the other hand, experienced teachers also generally see teaching as an important part of their identity (Hu et al 2015; Kumar et al 2011; Sabel and Archer 2014; Starr et al 2003; Steinert and Macdonald 2015). Many see teaching as a responsibility or a moral commitment to give something back to the profession.…”

Identidad ocupacional en docentes de carreras de la salud y su relación con las prácticas pedagógicas

“…Sin embargo, el estudio de la identidad docente ha influido escasamente en estudios a nivel de docencia universitaria y aún menos en las prácti-cas de docentes universitarios del área de la salud donde el foco está puesto en la formación de la identidad profesional de los alumnos y el proceso de su desarrollo [5][6][7][8] .…”