To the Editor: The articles by Hu and colleagues1 and Silbert and colleagues2 highlight the imperatives for medical educators. The future requires the ability to teach as a distinct set of skills that need to be identified early and then encouraged throughout one’s career. Silbert et al advocate a comprehensive, vertically integrated student teaching program using peer-assisted learning (PAL).2 The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) strongly supports this approach to teaching theoretical information as well as clinical examination and procedural skills.
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- 1. Hu WC, McColl GJ, Thistlethwaite JE, et al. Where is the next generation of medical educators? Med J Aust 2013; 198: 8-9. <MJA full text>
- 2. Silbert BI, Lam SJP, Henderson RD, Lake FR. Students as teachers. Med J Aust 2013; 199: 164-165. <MJA full text>
- 3. Frank JR, Danoff D. The CanMEDS initiative: implementing an outcomes-based framework of physician competencies. Med Teach 2007; 29: 642-647.
- 4. Collins JP, Gough IR. An academy of surgical educators: sustaining education — enhancing innovation and scholarship. ANZ J Surg 2010; 80: 13-17.
- 5. Medical Training Review Panel. Medical Training Review Panel: sixteenth report. Canberra: Department of Health, 2013. http://www. health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/work-pubs-mtrp-16-toc (accessed Nov 2013).
We are all members of the RACS Academy of Surgical Educators.