If you don't want to teach, don't work at a teaching hospital

So as a psychiatry intern I have to do six months of horrible time "off service" as part of a national requirement. I have two months of medicine, two of neuro, one of emergency and one of pediatrics. I have spent the last four months working on this off service requirement waiting for the blessed moment in which I will become a second year psychiatrist and move back to my home, the psych ward. In the meantime I'm constantly reminded of the crap I went through as a medical student, mostly because many of the services treat me like a glorified medical student. And while I have plenty of crap to say on the matter, I'll just focus this blog on the title, attending who don't enjoy teaching. When I was in medical school during one of our small group gab sessions one of my classmates brought up a good point. He was talking about residents who don't teach well and how there should be some kind of system in which residents could be separated out on services by whether or not they had any interest in teaching residents. Because we all know that every rotation is based on who your upper levels and attending are. Unfortunately we all train in a teaching environment so residents have to teach. In fact, most programs are doing more to try to teach residents how to be better teachers. But a resident who doesn't take time to teach you on a rotation, you feel worthless and like you are wasting your time. Many residents take the "I was treated like shit as a student so that must be the best way to teach" approach, which can be very frustrating. And some really try. Others just want to survive their residencies so they can go on to work in some private practice in which they won't have to do any teaching at all. Either way, all residents are basically forced into a teaching position, so if some of them aren't any good at it, it's not completely their fault. Attendings, on the other hand, have the choice of where they work. So why the fuck do you choose to work in a teaching hospital if you don't enjoy teaching? If you just want to go into work every day and see your patients and go home, that's fine, but don't work in an academic setting! It really is that simple. Many University hospitals and VA hospitals have positions available for people who don't want to teach, take one of those. But when you put on your white coat and walk in the door for your week as a teaching attending, don't be a jackass about teaching. You're the one who signed up for it. Jeez. The service I'm on right now (which is not surgery) is full of high and mighty attendings who seem to think that not only are they smarter than every other doctor in the whole world but that they are supposed to constantly put down the residents and make them feel like total shit while at the same time completely ignoring medical students because they don't actually matter. I've heard the attendings tell the residents that they don't "trust" the resident's ability to read the MRI. So to me that seems like a failure of the teacher if the student can't read an MRI. Should you, as the teaching attending, sit down and TEACH the resident what you want them to be able to read. Especially since this resident one day will be the teacher? Also, no attending should look at an intern at the end of the week and be surprised that they aren't a student. Dear Lord man, pay attention to the people around you. And being a good teacher doesn't involve making students cry. So if you are too high and mighty to teach people, or just really hate being around other people, get another job jackass. The world is changing, medicine is changing, and the way people learn is changing. So there is no need to resort to the "old ways" of teaching residents. Remember, we are going to your co-workers one day, so if you want us to know something you should teach us that something. Also remember you were all students one day, someone had to teach you, you weren't always that smart (or as smart as you think you are)so don't play all high and mighty. We all go through this, lets spend some time not making it so horrible for everyone else. If school teachers taught your children the way you were treating your residents you would be FURIOUS and probably get them fired. And your kids wouldn't be learning anything. Ok, that's the end of this rant. Stay strong friends. And know at least that if you ever come across me, you'll be in the hands of a really great teacher.