Teaching legacy: Future perspectives.

Sir,

Medical profession is amazing. The duties of this profession are vast varying from caring of ill patients, updating the knowledge and skills for professional competence, and, importantly, imparting their skills and knowledge to the next generation.[1] Because of these challenging expectations, this pious profession attracts many students to choose it as their carrier. After tough entrance tests, the students get admissions in medical schools where they sometimes face unexpected success and failures, which prepare them for future requirements of this profession.[2] The students clear their four professionals believing that this will mark an end to their ordeal; however, with the end of MBBS exams, there begin a new experience called internship. The internship is expected to provide an overview of various clinical specialties and helps students to acquire practical skills of treating patients. Somehow, long working hours and demanding responsibilities from seniors make this training a nightmare for most of the trainees.[34] And. at the end of one year of completion of their internship, students and their parents realize that the real struggle is ahead for competing for post-graduation. Some of the lucky graduates end up in getting post graduation of their choice, and some bury their dreams of carrying stethoscope by switching over from the medical profession.[5] This gambling continues, and these postgraduates are rocked and rolled in their final exam before awarding them with their degrees. The ordeal which began eight years before continues, as now they are most qualified doctors, but unfortunately, many of them still waiting for the satisfactory job.[6] Some of them specialize further for another three years to add to their existing misery, and some do senior residency and remain satisfied while looking for a teaching job in a medical school with a hope that this will end their struggle of settlement, which began 11 years back. The teaching of medical students is one aspect of the vast noble aspects of this profession. Doctors should not forget that their primary function is not to dish out pills but to teach and counsel, not just our patients, but also the next generation of doctors. Teaching the next generation is an important obligation of the professional. The accessibility to e-learning can help in acquiring knowledge of science much easily, but the art of medicine needs to be nurtured in the clinics, with the seniors acting as mentors.[7] Not only this helps the students to acquire the experience of teachers, but it also adds to the teaching experience of the faculty, which the faculty requires for further promotions. The newly opened medical college looks as a dream land for these qualified professionals where they are recruited initially as assistant professors. But, the unfortunate part begins if the new college is not recognized by the Medical Council, which is the governing body for every medical institute. The newly recruited doctors then have to wait for years for both, the students to teach and the experience to gain. The life of doctors is tough often complicated by psychological stress of studying at medical schools and struggling for a job settlement.[8910] The patience earned over the years by them help them to face such hardships in personal life and remain strong while treating patients in professional life. Further, the bylaws should be such as to encourage more doctors to carry the teaching legacy forward so that the noble profession does not lose its identity and the young doctors are not carried away by the corporate world.[1112]