Is “Nonteaching” a Bad Word?

By: Allen B. Repp, MD, MSc, professor and vice chair for quality, Department of Medicine, The Larner College of Medicine at The University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont For years I’ve been trying to eradicate a word from my vocabulary.  Yet, in my role as an academic hospitalist, I still find myself uttering it almost every day.   Everyone around me is saying it, too.  The word isn’t vulgar.  It’s “nonteaching.” What does it mean? Medicine services at many academic medical centers (AMCs) in the US are divided into teaching and nonteaching services.  Teaching services usually include a team of medical students and resident physicians led by a faculty physician.  In contrast, patient care on nonteaching services is often directed by an attending physician without the participation of medical learners. Over the past 15 years, I’ve witnessed the phrase “nonteaching service” become common parlance.   The increasing usage directly correlates to the marked growth in nonteaching services, driven predominantly by restrictions of resident duty hours and patient loads and the desire to enhance the clinical learning environment.  In this context, the word reflects the good intentions and potential for nonteaching services to promote the teaching mission of AMCs. So what’s wrong with saying “nonteaching”?  Despite noble goals, the structure of some nonteaching services has resulted in unintended consequences that may controvert the missions of AMCs.  Ou...
Source: Academic Medicine Blog - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Tags: Featured Guest Perspective competencies medical education patient care residency residents Source Type: blogs