As a new member of the ALiEM team, I am joining Dr. Salim Rezaie as the second member to be board certified in both Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine. Since 2006, I have been asked numerous times, “Why EM/IM?” My answer is simple: I like both. But five years of residency and not be a surgeon? What can you do with this type of training?

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Talking to colleagues is an essential skill especially as we advocate for our patients. We should not only know what’s going on with our patients, but also how to communicate our thoughts effectively and succinctly with our colleagues. In a great article by Dr. Chad Kessler et al ¹ just published Academic Medicine, the authors state that although “communication skills may not develop naturally, [they] can be taught and fostered through evidence-based educational models.”

As I am getting into my 3^rd year of practice as a faculty in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine, I have begun to wish I had a better framework for success in academic medicine. Currently, almost on a daily basis, I have to answer about 100 emails, decide if I want to be on different committees, develop curricula, give lectures, do research, work clinically, mentor residents/medical students, and have a work-life balance. Does this sound familiar, and at the same time overwhelming?

Recently I read several articles on this very topic and thought maybe I would give some perspective on useful strategies to succeed in academic medicine, get recognized, and still have that healthy work-life balance.

There was a great article written by Dr. Brian Hodges (@BDHodges1) and published in Academic Medicine¹ in 2010. Dr. Cunningham (@amcunningham) provided the link via Twitter in a discussion about different models of competence in medical education.

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Andragogy refers to learning strategies which help adults to learn more effectively.

It is a term that was first used by Alexander Kapp in 1833 and later expanded by Malcolm Knowles to fit the needs of adult education. The concept is contrasted with pedagogy in which the child is lead through the learning process by the teacher. In andragogy most of the learning is self-directed and the teacher is a facilitator in the learning process. (more…)