Reflections on undergraduate teaching
Date
2019
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Health & Medical Publishing Group
Abstract
Introduction: After 18 years of largely being out of undergraduate
teaching of medical students, I am once again immersed. It is the
same as it was, but it is also very different. In trying to make sense of
this difference, I reflect on what I have experienced since returning to
the clinical learning environment.
I trained in a large impersonal teaching hospital in London in
the 1980s. All consultants were treated like gods. Professors were
above them. Matrons were just below them and, working down
the chain, medical students were to be seen but rarely heard, spoke
only when spoken to, and were used for tasks on the wards that the
student nurses felt were beneath them. The ward rounds were staged,
dramatic and to be feared. As students, we were expected to be smart
and presentable – I was chastised for wearing trousers.
I arrived in South Africa (SA) in 1994 and joined Stellenbosch
University (SU)’s surgical department as a registrar. I found the
medical students to be polite and slightly old fashioned compared
with their European counterparts. Then I moved to private practice
and for the last 18 years have had minimal involvement with
undergraduates. Now I am fortunate enough to have been given the
opportunity to return to a teaching position and find myself once
again engaging with medical students in the wards. So, what has
changed?
Description
CITATION: Edge, Jenny. 2019. Reflections on undergraduate teaching. South African Medical Journal, 109(3):136, doi:10.7196/SAMJ.2019.v109i3.13865.
The original publication is available at http://www.samj.org.za
The original publication is available at http://www.samj.org.za
Keywords
Undergraduate teaching
Citation
Edge, J. 2019. Reflections on undergraduate teaching. South African Medical Journal, 109(3):136, doi:10.7196/SAMJ.2019.v109i3.13865