Those Who Teach, Do

Those who can, do.Those who can't, teach."These words echo in my mind often.I first heard Shaw quoted in jest by a mentor who watched me struggle to memorise oncology trials, while picking up teaching techniques and research strategies with ease.Yet the sentiment is repeated more often by those around, and not always with kindness.As a medical educator, it is easy to lose sign of the path, the purpose, of our work amid bureaucracy, institutional politics, and medical culture.As a medical oncologist, it is even harder, homed in a world comprised of statistics, pharmacology, and dollar signs, yet persistently shrouded in death.All too often, I wonder what it is all for.At a recent medical education conference, I had the honour of witnessing two of my junior medical students present a project I had coached them through.The idea was their own, and they had meticulously worked through several PDSA cycles, culminating in a conference abstract, poster, and even a manuscript.I was delighted to see the interest their project generated, including questions and praise from several high-profile international educators.During the session, one of my students texted me, "Wow this is very cool."She was also thrilled by the response to their work, and I realised I was witnessing, for the first time in my career, a medical learner's academic awakening.All too often, we can get distracted or weighed down by the pressures of the work we do.