I work in a big medical school my job involves teaching the next generation of doctors. And I live with a gifted bias.

Here’s what I’ve noticed: We love bright trainees.  They garner our attention.  We give them awards.  We discuss them in glowing terms.  They make us proud.  I’ve seen colleagues work the call schedule so as to be assigned most efficient resident or fellow.

We love our rising stars. We have a gifted bias.

Maybe because they make our job easy.  This is a problem.  Because our charge is to train the next generation of physicians, not create a haven for those smart enough to figure it out on their own.  Great training involves identifying those with weaker skill sets and helping them get where they need to go.

At Texas Children’s Hospital I’m occasionally given the task of helping a fellow struggling with their endoscopic skills.  They require extra time, patience and observation to get it right.  Truthfully, it’s painfully difficult at times.  I’m biased towards the endoscopically gifted.  I can be a selfish teacher.

This gifted bias is an endemic issue in training centers coast-to-coast.  As medical schools, residencies and fellowship programs, our obligation to patients begins with our obligation to those students working the hardest to make the grade.

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