The physician resident as teacher

Abstract

Introduction: The educational and clinical care process in healthcare institutions involves several stakeholders, one of which is the physician resident. Medical residents simultaneously have two different roles, as students of university specialty programs and as healthcare professional workers employed by medical institutions. It is necessary to reflect on the advances and obstacles that the resident-as-teacher role has in the current scenario of medical education and practice.

Objective: To provide an update and critical reflection about the “resident-as-teacher” (RaT) concept.

Method: Narrative review of the literature and critical essay of the theme.

Discussion: The RaT concept has evolved recently and has been incorporated in several educational programs at the international level, but its dissemination in our environment has been of a lesser degree. In this document we review the RaT concept role in current educational scenarios, describe relevant efforts to introduce it formally in the medical specialties curriculum, analyze strategies to implement educational interventions in the healthcare and educational environments and finally reflect on its future perspectives.

Conclusions: The “resident-as-teacher” is a fundamental element in the healthcare and educational process of hospitals, ambulatory care centers and universities. It is necessary to promote the professional development of this facet of physician residents, to develop educational interventions about this subject and to design appropriate instruments to measure its  impact.