Tales of Medicine

Welcome to Tales of Medicine!

Medicine is a fascinating specialty in all that that word could mean! And throughout human history, there wasn’t a time when it was more exciting to be a doctor than it is today. The clinical practice and its education have come along way since the iconic Flexner report came out over a century ago. Having said that, this journey is still far from perfect. And through the stories I will share with you here, I hope to take you on a journey to the future of medical education as seen by a millennial who is in love with medicine and its education but who is at the same time disappointed about its progress and how far it is today from the millennial dream! Through the pages of this personal journal, we shall discover new territories, and shed the light on areas not commonly explored. Together we shall investigate areas you hear about their progress every day in medical academia, but we shall revisit them wearing different lenses that offer a new and fresh perspective.

My Story!

Several years ago, I was a young and enthusiastic millennial who loved biology and was absolutely fascinated by human beings. I wanted to understand them more so I went into medicine. After several years of hard work and sleepless nights, I graduated from one of the top schools in the middle east. Instead of taking the residency route most medical graduates traditionally take, I opted in for a different path. I obtained a masters in biomedical sciences and went on to be a faculty at medical school. You see, since my early days in med-school, I was fascinated by medical education, which is not a popular area that a lot of medical students or graduates care much about. Having said that, and despite my unconditioned love for medical education, a lot of times it seemed to me that “simple logic” was lacking from many daily educational practices. That has always struck me hard, and logic always seemed to be the missing piece from current educational formulas. So I went in full time into investigating why that was the case. More importantly, I wanted to see if there was a way to fix this agonizing problem that managed to spoil the joy and glory of medicine to a lot of young doctors like myself who genuinely love medicine but equally heated how it was taught and practiced.

At first, I thought it was only me who seems to have an issue with the current system before or after graduating med-school. But this didn’t turn out to be the case since a lot of millennials agree something is just not right about medicine and its current teaching and practice. Then I thought the problem might be the place or the part of the world I was in and its related practices. So I took my questions and concerns from the east to the west and to experts across the globe, just to discover that these problems were global. Not only that, but these systemic shortcomings were chronic and in a lot of cases stemmed from the core fundamentals that current medical education is built upon.

As a millennial, a lot of what I read in our current medical education literature or that I observed firsthand as a student or even as a faculty seemed odd and not from this century. Now don’t get me wrong! I absolutely love teaching and love my college and take great pride in my profession and especially in my students, and I am grateful that my destiny ended up here, but I do believe that we still have a long way to go to come close to the medical school millennials dream off or deserve.

The good news, however, is with more logic, and here I mean much much much more, and a lot of dedication and collaboration, we can make medical education much more than what it is today.

Why Tales of Medicine?

Great question! You see, the keys to a brighter healthcare future lay in the hands of medical educators. We have to make a choice between being brave enough to admit our current embarrassing shortcomings and to work hard on fixing them so we equip the coming generations with what they need to face the daunting medical challenges of the future or to run away and act as if nothing is fundamentally wrong the with the current system and that all is well. In both cases, these generations will hold in their hands our medical future and the future of those whom we love, and it is what we plant in them today, that we harvest from them in our healthcare tomorrow.

I personally made my choice and I am not planning to sit on the side and watch. Despite everything I see today, I am optimistic that the future of our medical care will be bright because I know millennials very well. They are cool and trustworthy, you just need to remember that I am one of them and that should make you chill! looool.

And because stories are very powerful in explaining difficult concepts and in clarifying them, Tales of Medicine will employ the power of stories in an attempt to be part of that hopeful journey towards setting the base for a more “millennial-like” medical education space that we millennials aspire for and deserve.

So Are These True or Fictional Tales?

Well, the truth is, it depends! You will have to decide for yourself. The thing that I can guarantee you is this, they will all be realistic, practical, mind-opening, and full of millennial wisdom. You will find them relatable whether you currently teach in healthcare or if you were one of the great millennial doctors or gen-z students who went, or are still going, through today’s miserable medical education systems.

My Goal!

The idea of releasing human potential and empowering others to be the best version of themselves is what excites me the most. And what better place to ignite human sparks of ingenuity than among those smart folks who decided to dedicate their entire lives to the humane cause of caring for the sick among us. Through the stories I share here and the lessons they provide, I hope to spark a discussion about the future of medical education among millennials and the following generations. I also hope to empower those with interest in the future of health care and its education with important tools and perspectives that are evidence-backed and that make sense but that are commonly ignored or miss practiced.

You see, though my many years in education, I published several papers and book chapters, won prizes, attended, organized, and talked in many conferences and had many in-depth discussions with colleagues and stakeholders and all this made me realize one simple fact! If we needed better results, then we need to take these discussions beyond our small closed academic circles and to listen carefully to our students and to learn from others in different fields as this will enrich our practice enormously and will teach us lessons we never imagined existed. I am hoping through the Tales of Medicine that such a community of medicine and education enthusiast, from inside and outside medicine, would come together and an effective intellectual platform would be formed.

An Important Dedication!

I want to dedicate all these tales, all the efforts behind preparing them, and all the effects I hope they will have on creating better medical education practices, to all the heroes currently studying medicine across the globe, both in undergraduate and postgraduate stages! You all rock! I am very proud of you and I know a lot of other fellow millennials share this pride in what you are doing. We see your struggle and feel your pain and disappointment! Your dedication and patience to go through medicine with all the current unnecessary struggles and mind-boggling shortcomings is just inspiring and is just out of this world! So hang on there, as this journey will pay off soon and it is defiantly worth it!

Join the Millennial Cause!

Join me today and let us together build a better educational system for all medical students and trainees from this generation and the ones to come, and all across this planet!

If you ever need a hand or have any questions, feel free to leave them below I we will be more than happy to help you out.

Also, I would love hear from you what you think of our cool millennial cause!

All the best,

Ayman

Talesofmedicine.com