Teaching

One of the best parts of the intensive care unit rotation is the privilege and opportunity to teach medical students. I have always loved teaching and feel that my passion for medicine was very much fostered by the mentors and role-models I had in medical school. Unfortunately, in anesthesiology, there's not as much of an opportunity to teach students. Few students rotate through, and rotations aren't long enough for a medical student to pick up more than the basics. But in the intensive care unit, there's so much opportunity to cultivate enthusiasm and curiosity. I love walking medical students through simple procedures, talking to them about landmark trials, and examining patients with them, especially when the story is still evolving and uncertain. There's something to learn for everyone - from antibiotics and EKGs for the medicine-bound to chest tubes and line placement for the surgery students to treatment of delirium for psychiatry students to evaluation of airway for those interested in emergency medicine or anesthesia. I also try to encourage students to step out of their comfort zones and learn about aspects of ICU medicine that frighten them: pressors and ventilators, end of life conversations, nutrition, lines and tubes. I learn things every day, and I try to make it a priority to teach something every day as well.