Surgeons as Educators A Guide for Academic Development and Teaching Excellence

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Preface

“Let each become all that he or she is capable of being through education.” – Anonymous

The average surgeon may operate on 5000–10000 patients if he or she is lucky
enough to have a healthy and fruitful career. But a surgeon educator who teaches,
trains, and mentors medical students, residents, and fellows easily influences an
exponentially greater number of patients. Thus it is paramount that surgeons have
the skills to teach the next generation of surgeons – not only on how to tie a knot,
but also how to handle the unexpected, how to remain calm under pressure, how to
be professional, and when and when not to operate.
Yet, many surgeons have had no formal training in how to teach. Further, current
surgical educators are dealing with ever-increasing challenges to teach more in less
time. A few of these challenges include the restriction on resident duty hours, edu-
cational core competencies, ever-changing science and technology, generational
differences, electronic health records, patient safety, and pay for performance
criteria.
This book is designed to help the reader (surgeons, program directors, or anyone
involved in medical student, resident, or fellow education) understand the principles
of contemporary surgical education and skills and is laid out into 3 main sections.
Section 1 “Foundations of Teaching” provides the reader with an introduction to
teaching and lays a foundation for subsequent chapters on which the reader can
build. From basic principles of how we learn to how we assess complex medical
procedures, the reader gains insight on the basics of teaching. Section 2 “Program
Optimization” describes how to assess and assure quality in both clinical practice
and in teaching. Section 3 “Lessons and Insights of Surgical Education” details how
to actually teach and provides examples of the art of teaching in the surgical field.
The ultimate goal of this book is to prepare the reader to excel in education and
thus be able to positively influence patient care well beyond that of any one indi-
vidual and hopefully perpetuate the teaching and learning culture in our field for
generations.

Rochester, MN, USA Tobias S. Köhler
Springfield, IL, USA Bradley Schwartz