This morning we had our weekly PRE-Tutorial Briefing, where the ENTIRE Cardiovascular Block team (PBL tutors, PBL Tutors in Training, CV Block Faculty, Director of PBL and Director of Medical Education) assembled for TWO HOURS in order to go through the PBL tutor guide for the upcoming week. Issues specific to this week’s case as well as more general issues of small group facilitation were discussed at length. In addition we spent the last half hour reflecting on how week 1 PBL sessions had gone. What really struck me was that so many people took two hours out of their busy days in order to prepare for the upcoming week.
In medical schools in Canada it is difficult to get all the PBL tutors to assemble for 45 minutes each week to reflect on the previous week and prepare for the upcoming week. Granted many of the tutors in our curriculum are clinical doctors who take time away from their clinical practice to tutor and time away from their offices means they are not seeing patients. I get that.
Nevertheless it can seem like an uphill battle to get faculty in Canada to prioritize teaching. In a busy academic world with so many competing responsibilities (research, clinical practice, administration), education can find itself on the low rung of responsibilities.
Today I looked around the crowded, hot room in Kathmandu and felt like teaching had assumed a loftier perch.
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