Leadership in Medical Education: Advice for New Clinician Educators

By Michael A. Gisondi (@MikeGisondi)

I found myself giving unsolicited advice to a new clinician educator in my department recently. And I realized that I was remarkably passionate as I spoke. The same advice was given to me earlier in my career, and it was critical to my success as a junior faculty member. In reality, I was passing on the wisdom of a trusted mentor from long ago… it was hallowed. I really wanted to be sure that I was being heard.

It got me thinking about the advice I give, when and where, unsolicited or not. I provide a brief ‘orientation’ to new faculty hires in my department about all things medical education. It generally focuses on expectations… expected teaching hours, minimum number of trainee evaluations to complete, etc. … and it is sparse on true wisdom. What should I be telling these new faculty members instead during our brief time together?

I turned to #MedTwitter and asked for some crowdsourced advice of my own.

“Help wanted: What advice do you have for new clinician educators?” Below are some of the responses with attributions. Use the comment box to add your own wisdom or to agree with the sage respondents below.

GETTING STARTED

Seek Out Mentors and Sponsors in Medical Education.

Develop Your Medical Education Skills.

Learn The Science of Medical Education.

Apply Learning Theories to Your Teaching.

Get To Work

Let Your Passions Guide Your Research.

Leverage Social Media for Scholarship in Medical Education.

Focus.

Make It All Count.

Prepare For Promotion from Day 1.

Deliberately Gather Artifacts for Your Promotion Packet.

Keep Track of All Your Scholarly Work.

Update A Cloud-Based CV Regularly.

Reflect.

Appreciate The Value of Your Dual Roles as Clinician and Educator.

View Your Clinical Work Through the Eyes of Your Learner.

And Finally…

Find Your Community.

About the Author: Michael A. Gisondi, MD (he/him/his) is a medical education researcher who lives in Palo Alto, California. Michael currently serves as Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Education in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University. Twitter: @MikeGisondi

Picture source: Pixabay

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