We recently signed an MOU with the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences for collaborating with them to train postgraduates. A lot (!) of effort happened and time passed before this landmark event occurred. Some would ask (and have asked in the past) – why bother? Why not just do the reads and be done with it?
The answer is in a nutshell: For us, training is part of our DNA. We see it as an extension of our work. Without continuing education, clinical medicine would never improve or evolve. Certainly our organization wouldn’t improve, and our radiologists, including myself, would quickly fossilize.
Bernard Shaw wrote, tongue in cheek – He who can does, he who cannot, teaches.
I believe today that he who can, both does and teaches, and in the process, learns as well.
Let’s put it this way, we have a healthcare situation on our hands where workloads are increasing exponentially, which translates into very little time or energy left at the end of the clinical workday for physicians to communicate their skills to less experienced students or juniors.
For this reason there must be a conscious effort to make medical teaching/training happen, or it just won’t. This needs a pusher. Academic departments the world over have them, in the form of Chairmen, Deans, and Provosts. In commercial organizations, the ‘academic pusher’ must of necessity be a functionary, one who sees the organization from the inside out, or from the bottom up, for the academia to be effective and focussed. And the commitment must be relentless, or it very quickly falls through.
My colleague Dr Dharma Prakash, one of the most talented, yet self-effacing people I know, is a man who loves to teach, but refuses to take any credit for it. He keeps our academic program going, along with Robin our coordinator, by following the Nike philosophy – Just Do It.
Dr Mini Pandit, our cardiopulmonary radiologist, is another academic who is a superlative teacher, who can teach an entire chest curriculum by herself. Passion like hers is rare.
And many others of our team give wholeheartedly when the occasion arises and the opportunity is provided…. to spread the word – or should I say to radiate the knowledge?
Our most recent teaching activity was a scintillating MSK evening at our center by our evergreen visiting faculty Dr Suma Wable, Director of MRI at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia PA. Like Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open, this is Dr Wable’s 3rd in a row superb January session at our Radgurukul auditorium, held this time to a full house of postgraduates and online attendees . We are happy to welcome this returning Bangalorean to her city and connect her with an audience that greatly appreciates her teaching efforts. Look forward to many more!