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Teaching is an ancient activity; it requires a predisposition and ability to transmit
one’s own knowledge to others. It is also an innate quality that tends to
strengthen over time, due to the interaction between teacher and pupil that
develops and intensifies during their association, and to the ready availability of
constantly improving teaching methods. Teaching is a predisposition to communication.
It is a constant commitment that becomes a way of life and offers the
capacity for self-renewal. In the clinical context, this desire to transfer and
receive information, together with the ability to summarise and authoritatively
reach decisions take on both professional and ethical significance.
Training provides an opportunity to deepen one’s foundation of knowledge
and to stimulate the development of a reasoned clinical approach that allows significant
elements to be emphasised, with a view to improving one’s ability to correctly
recognise and evaluate important clinical indications, both in routine and
in emergency situations. Clinical evaluation marks a key moment in the training
process, and knowing how to take note of all the relevant elements, including
paucisymptomatic ones, forms an integral part of a long process that, though
fully attainable, demands methodological meticulousness and the use of specialised
forms of teaching. These include teaching in small groups, establishing a
one-to-one relationship between teacher and pupil, taking advantage of computer
systems (micro-teaching), and a willingness of the teaching team to share
ideas while employing a practical, personalised approach. Finally, also required is
a close empathy between teachers and pupils, who must share the aim of gaining
excellence (mastery learning); this is best supported through multidisciplinary
collaboration. For example, if a diagnosis cannot be confirmed by standard
investigations, the doctor must call into play all available resources, so that the
clinical approach is newly focused and geared towards improving the patients’
quality of life. |
