- #51
denverdoc
- 961
- 0
MB, I think we all struggle with this dilemma of how to reach and teach the lower level student. Let me explain a bit about my situation and ask for any insights/additional comment you may have on this issue.
Where I work is first of all is a for profit private enterprise. It is both a corporation and "family owned" biz with generous stock options for FTE employees. Some who have been there for the ten years have reaped huge financial rewards, and include everyone from the receptionist to security personnel.
In addition we have built in incentives that can amount to a couple of additional paychecks per year which depend in essence on student retention and promotion.
That's the background; the palatable side of the equation is that in New Mexico we are starved for well trained health care workers of all stripes, and the public educational system here might be described as mediocre in a good year.
The bottom line is that the admission standards are non-existant. And so I start each "boot camp" with the hope that in the right environment all seeds will prosper. I arrange at my own expense additional hours of lecture: 1:1 tutorials are available at no charge from upper classmen, and still some people seem not to get it, no matter how much effort is made.
Now if it were some matter besides taking care of lives, I could probably find some uneasy moral equilibrium that allows me to fail a few, and not incur the wrath of fellow empoyees by failing too many, yet still not spend too much time on those who probably shouldn't be there in the first place, but because of either greed or a pay for a shot lotto ticket at a better life...
But as a physician who has seen too many disastrous results from basic incompetence...I just can't seem to get a handle on this slippery pile of conflicting issues. Much of this I have already said and don't want to bore folks with excess detail, but I hate these additional incentives which should be assumed at the start or you're in the wrong biz, and put peer pressure in the equation.
Where I work is first of all is a for profit private enterprise. It is both a corporation and "family owned" biz with generous stock options for FTE employees. Some who have been there for the ten years have reaped huge financial rewards, and include everyone from the receptionist to security personnel.
In addition we have built in incentives that can amount to a couple of additional paychecks per year which depend in essence on student retention and promotion.
That's the background; the palatable side of the equation is that in New Mexico we are starved for well trained health care workers of all stripes, and the public educational system here might be described as mediocre in a good year.
The bottom line is that the admission standards are non-existant. And so I start each "boot camp" with the hope that in the right environment all seeds will prosper. I arrange at my own expense additional hours of lecture: 1:1 tutorials are available at no charge from upper classmen, and still some people seem not to get it, no matter how much effort is made.
Now if it were some matter besides taking care of lives, I could probably find some uneasy moral equilibrium that allows me to fail a few, and not incur the wrath of fellow empoyees by failing too many, yet still not spend too much time on those who probably shouldn't be there in the first place, but because of either greed or a pay for a shot lotto ticket at a better life...
But as a physician who has seen too many disastrous results from basic incompetence...I just can't seem to get a handle on this slippery pile of conflicting issues. Much of this I have already said and don't want to bore folks with excess detail, but I hate these additional incentives which should be assumed at the start or you're in the wrong biz, and put peer pressure in the equation.
