LETTER
Recapturing Immediacy in Morning Report
Thomas A. Parrino, MD
1 March 1994 | Volume 120 Issue 5 | Pages 442-443
TO THE EDITOR:
"The starting point for organizing the program content of education ... must be the present, existential, concrete situation ..." [1].
Wenger and Shpiner's study on medical morning report [2] adds perspective to our understanding of the current realities of clinical teaching. Their findings reflect current practice in that patients are hospitalized mainly for technical procedures and interventions directed against catastrophic illnesses.
This analysis of an important medical conference reinforces previous observations made about the deficiencies of classroom-style teaching in a profession where hands-on, personalized care has always been central [3]. Although conference-style teaching provides some efficiencies [4], the principal feature of clinical education—aside from teaching—is lost when the team moves into the conference room. "New" teaching methods need to recapture the sense of immediacy that defines the patient-doctor relationship.
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Author and Article Information
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Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center; Providence, RI 02908
1. Freire P. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum; 1990:85.
2. Wenger NS, Shpiner RB. An analysis of morning report: implications for internal medicine education. Ann Intern Med. 1993; 119:395-9.
3. Parrino TA, Mitchell R. Diagnosis as a skill: a clinical perspective. Perspect Biol Med. 1989; 33:18-44.
4. Parrino TA, White AT. Grand rounds revisited: Results of a survey of U.S. departments of medicine. Am J Med. 1990; 89:491-5.
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