Dooley Noted: 1/23/2017
You would think it would be easy for a medical student to learn.
It’s not.
It’s not easy for anyone to learn.
But they are brilliant, right?
Absolutely they are.
But because they are bright, they probably walked through junior high and high school with relative ease.
They likely even got through college without having to learn.
That was the case for me.
It’s not until you are really challenged with something like professional education that reminds you of this fact:
You can get full degrees without ever learning how you learn.
Today, I walked some frustrated students through the pre- and post-ganglionic parasympathetic and sympathetic pathways of lacrimation.
Rather, we discussed how to stop and start crying.
We all felt the resistance and the difficulty of these networks.
But we took one piece at a time, until the students saw the connections between pieces.
I reminded them that doctor means “teacher,” so they need to learn how they learn.
That way, they can teach someone else how to learn – namely, their patients.
If you can’t figure out a difficult concept, feel the wall of resistance.
But don’t walk away from the wall.
Discover how you learn.
Seek out people to catalyze and ease the learning.
But know the work will be on you.
It’s the only way for you to own the material.
If you walk away when you meet resistance, you will never fully learn it.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley