As I have alluded to, I am committed to continuing medical education with specific interest in the field of paediatric gastroenterology. This work will never be complete for me, even when I have finished both programs. My ongoing development in both roles is very much intertwined; gaining expertise in paediatric gastroenterology will allow me to facilitate a richer medical education experience for others, while seeking ways to best collaborate with and educate learners for future challenges will ensure that I continue to develop clinical knowledge, skills, and attitudes to succeed in practice. Further, the fulfillment of roles determined to be most critical for success as a physician, laid out in the CanMEDS framework (Frank et al., 2005), require competencies that are similarly demanded of a medical educator.

 

The Masters in Education program has taught me, most of all, that one needs to clearly define one’s objectives to succeed as both a medical educator and a practitioner. In clarifying my objectives, I share the belief of Ronald Epstein (2007) that improving learner competence is merely assuring that students achieving milestones when considered as snapshots in time, but it is preferable to ensure such competencies become an accurate reflection of the student’s skills and attitudes needed to both habitually perform well, and to continually strive for better performance through a tradition of lifelong learning. As a paediatrician, I am frequently reminded of how development rarely occurs in a straight line nor is this process identical between individuals, and I incorporate this experience in my continual assessments of trainees, peers, and other health professionals in medicine.

 

Similarly, I believe that I need to regularly reflect on my own work and how I can improve medical education. There are several ways to do this, and seeking feedback from peers and students while combining this with self-reflection has been fundamental in my improvement as a teacher thus far. This portfolio has been a great opportunity for me to document this process. But if this alone were sufficient, I would be ignoring the evidence and reflections outside of my experience; in particular, the rigorous efforts that have been undertaken to improve medical education through research and the translation of this work to pedagogical alterations and innovations (Reed et al., 2014). Thus, it will only be through ongoing efforts to seek out new developments and evidence-based practices in medical education, followed by evaluation of these in relation to my own teaching goals and self-reflections that I can seek to become and remain an effective medical educator.

 

References

Epstein, R. (2007). Assessment in medical education. New England Journal of Medicine, 356: 387-396.

 

Frank, J. R., Jabbour, M., et al. (2005). Report of the CanMEDS phase IV working groups. Ottawa: The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

 

Reed, S., Shell, R., Kassis, K., Tartaglia, K., Wallihan, R., Smith, K., … Mahan, J. (2014). Applying adult learning practices in medical education. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care, 44: 170-181.