Using great movies to improve medical teaching

Watching moviesWhat do you think of when you imagine a great teacher?

Is it the commanding, charismatic orator at the front of the lecture hall? The great speaker who can captivate and entertain? How about the approachable figure who easily gets their audience actively involved in open discussion? Or do you think of the innovative maverick who constantly surprises with unexpected methods? These are some of the common responses we receive when asking this question at our Teach the Teacher Course for Doctors.

We all have our individual preferences. Teaching, however, regularly goes well beyond the large group context. The title of this piece is Using great movies to improve medical teaching. So let’s look in that direction for a few minutes.

Let’s consider a different format of teaching.

Where would Luke Skywalker be without Obi-Wan Kenobi or Yoda? Where would Frodo Baggins be without Gandalf, Harry Potter without Dumbledore or King Arthur without Merlin. Where would Daniel Craig’s version of the James Bond character be without Dame Judy Dench’s ‘M’? How about Batman without Albert or even Kung-Fu Panda’s Po without Master Shifu?

Yoda, a great role model for mentorsEach of these relationships have several common factors. They are all partnerships where one character is supporting the development of another. Each has a learner and a ‘teacher’. Throughout these movies a mutual understanding by both partners continually grows over time. Rather than trying to make replicas of themselves, (as in Dr. Evil’s approach with Mini-Me), the Yoda’s, Gandalf’s and Albert’s take a different approach. These skilled helpers take on the role of mentors.

The mentor aims to support their partner’s growth as an individual, enabling them to face their personal challenges and to fulfill their unique potential. They do so by employing a range of behaviours which regularly go beyond direct instruction. Rather than restricting themselves to the lecture hall, the mentors seek out and make themselves available for one-to-one interaction. They ask probing questions to explore concepts and techniques, promoting both self-awareness and personal responsibility in their student. They also do the reverse. Making themselves open to the pupil’s direct questioning, the mentor’s knowledge and experience becomes an invaluable resource for their apprentice’s self-directed learning. They challenge, commiserate and congratulate. They become a trusted source for the student to share their ideas, frustrations and ambitions along with any feelings which are helping or hindering their development.

Mentors in medical teaching.

Great mentors are more than just experts in their individual specialty. Some experts simply fail to develop the necessary skills for the task. And mentoring should not be restricted to the elderly sage. The mentoring behaviours described earlier can be well utilised by junior doctors to support development of less experienced colleagues. This can be on either a formal, or informal basis.

And a quick point for balance. Other than ‘M’, you may notice a lack of female characters in the list of mentors. Unfortunately , a typical list of great mentors in the movies tends to be predominantly male – unless you want to add Mary Poppins! This is more a reflection on the well-documented lack of quality roles for women in the film industry than it is on real life. We all know numerous highly effective female Consultants, Educational Supervisors, Medical Directors. Its unlikely that they achieve success in supporting the development of others through a one-track, parental Mary Poppins mode.

Expert lecturers will typically have studied their voice projection, body language and presentation structure along with many other skills. They will also have practiced these skills in a safe environment. The genuine skilled-helper, whether working in a formal or informal capacity, will recognise that good mentoring behaviours are the result of dedicated development of the skill-set required. This is the focus of our 1 day course Advanced Teach the Teacher: Mentoring Skills for Doctors.

What steps are you taking to developing your mentoring skills?

By Stephen McGuire – Head of Development