DO MEDICAL LECTURERS NEED TO BE SPECIALLY TRAINED IN TEACHING

Abstract

Over the years, the emphasis on research practices in healthcare has received more recognition than the emphasis on teaching practices. Also, in contrast to the strong focus on aligning care-giving practices
with evidence of effectiveness; aligning educational practices with evidences of effectiveness has continued to be neglected. This creates a chasm that hinders the delivery of effective health practices.
Many challenges in the current healthcare delivery system warrant a call for a revamp of health professionals' education, and for a greater focus in effective teaching, assessment and supervision. This paper highlights the current challenges in health professional education (as revealed by the Institute of Medicine, IOM, 2003). It focusses on ' ve key issues for promoting teaching excellence, and supports the move for new lecturers to be educationally trained so that 'teaching for learning' becomes current, effective and enjoyable. More importantly, the vision for health professional education that 'all health
professionals are educated to deliver patient-centred-care as members of an interdisciplinary team, emphasising evidence-based practice, quality improvement approaches, and informatics' can be attained. This vision has important implication for medical lecturers as it means they have to be better educated to teach in order to be prepared to meet the demands of a reformed healthcare system.(