Alan McGlennan, Consultant anaesthetist at the Royal Free Hospital, London

Abstract

At preclinical level, we were never lectured by clinicians. Nowadays, many medical schools are electing to have them teach at this stage. The Royal College of Anaesthetists encourages anaesthetists to volunteer for teaching in physiology and pharmacology as they have thorough knowledge as well as real world experience. Academics are good, but the lectures can become stale. When a student puts up her hand and asks, “Is that really important?” a clinician can respond with experience. The relevance would then be better emphasised and appreciated. Although I am relatively newly qualified, clinical teaching has changed and continues to change. Training is much more closely supervised now and trainees have “managed education,” competences to be signed off, logbooks to provide experience detail, and very rigid timetables containing clinical work …