BLOG time
JULY 2008
I am currently having the privilege of serving as a teacher for medical
students on their Emergency Medicine rotations. Specifically, I am a
Clinical Assistant Professor for Florida State University College of
Medicine students who have been assigned to the Daytona Beach
campus for their 3rd and 4th years of med school.
Of course, this recent experience has sent my brain to thinkin’ again.
It’s a rather strange thing to realize that I am serving as a model of
sorts for these young medical minds. OK, I’m not necessarily what they
all aspire to be when they finish med school, but I am fulfilling a
requirement in one small part of their medical education.
So, this has hit me from two sides: first, am I really what they need to
learn some Emergency Medicine, and, second, what other parts of life
require me to serve as a model?
I don’t know the specifics to the answer to the first question. I guess I
do offer my 20 years of Emergency Medicine experience, and I am able to
relate some of that to a student. I have certainly learned how to interact
with patients of all kinds…. literally, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
And, I have learned how to interact with the folks who staff the
Emergency Department. One needs to know that they must get along
with the rest of the team, or they will – absolutely – fail. And, of course,
I’ve learned a bit of Emergency Medicine as I continue to “practice”.
On the second question (what other parts of life require me to serve as
a model), it starts to get a bit complicated. By “model”, I could actually
mean teacher, or parent, or mentor, or guide, or counselor. So, this
mental exercise could get complicated.
I am a teacher: I teach Emergency Medicine to med students, but I also
teach and advise mission team members about what to expect when we
travel to South America to work.
I am a parent: I spent many years advising and encouraging and
supporting Mackenzie. She turned 22 recently, is married, and is now
buying a house. But I’ll always be her parent.
I am a mentor: I suppose, by example, I may be a mentor to med
students, to my daughter, to younger friends and relatives, and to some
co-workers. However, I’m not always sure when I am actually mentoring,
since the line between just being me, versus being something worth
looking up to or to aspire to emulate, is not always clear to me. I guess it
just happens, probably when I don’t even know it.
I am a guide and a counselor: in life, in ideas, in work, in personal
problems someone may have, in family matters.
Life goes on, and sometimes I am a model.
I hope that some small part of my modeling, my counseling, my
mentoring, or my teaching rubs of on someone in a good way, and that
they then can somehow be better off – or better at some specific thing –
because I was there.
students on their Emergency Medicine rotations. Specifically, I am a
Clinical Assistant Professor for Florida State University College of
Medicine students who have been assigned to the Daytona Beach
campus for their 3rd and 4th years of med school.
Of course, this recent experience has sent my brain to thinkin’ again.
It’s a rather strange thing to realize that I am serving as a model of
sorts for these young medical minds. OK, I’m not necessarily what they
all aspire to be when they finish med school, but I am fulfilling a
requirement in one small part of their medical education.
So, this has hit me from two sides: first, am I really what they need to
learn some Emergency Medicine, and, second, what other parts of life
require me to serve as a model?
I don’t know the specifics to the answer to the first question. I guess I
do offer my 20 years of Emergency Medicine experience, and I am able to
relate some of that to a student. I have certainly learned how to interact
with patients of all kinds…. literally, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
And, I have learned how to interact with the folks who staff the
Emergency Department. One needs to know that they must get along
with the rest of the team, or they will – absolutely – fail. And, of course,
I’ve learned a bit of Emergency Medicine as I continue to “practice”.
On the second question (what other parts of life require me to serve as
a model), it starts to get a bit complicated. By “model”, I could actually
mean teacher, or parent, or mentor, or guide, or counselor. So, this
mental exercise could get complicated.
I am a teacher: I teach Emergency Medicine to med students, but I also
teach and advise mission team members about what to expect when we
travel to South America to work.
I am a parent: I spent many years advising and encouraging and
supporting Mackenzie. She turned 22 recently, is married, and is now
buying a house. But I’ll always be her parent.
I am a mentor: I suppose, by example, I may be a mentor to med
students, to my daughter, to younger friends and relatives, and to some
co-workers. However, I’m not always sure when I am actually mentoring,
since the line between just being me, versus being something worth
looking up to or to aspire to emulate, is not always clear to me. I guess it
just happens, probably when I don’t even know it.
I am a guide and a counselor: in life, in ideas, in work, in personal
problems someone may have, in family matters.
Life goes on, and sometimes I am a model.
I hope that some small part of my modeling, my counseling, my
mentoring, or my teaching rubs of on someone in a good way, and that
they then can somehow be better off – or better at some specific thing –
because I was there.
ON BEING A MODEL....
