Value of face-to-face interactions between clinician-educators and patients or students to improve health care education

Abstract

The power and outreach of the media is enormous and has restructured our society today; the author acknowledges the impact and appreciates the outreach. However, I question the relative lack of focus on physical human interactions and express concern over future training efforts. I have compared and attempted to highlight the components of two interaction scenarios: those of teacher-student, and those of physician-patient. The physician-educators need to generate a discussion regarding the value of each interaction. As a teacher, there is value in online classrooms, and a different value in face-to-face interactions. Similarly, a physician can have major outreach impact by online tele-medicine and tele-education efforts, but in some instances, may need to have the human, physical interaction with the patient. The value of these interactions depends on the roles in which these interactions are experienced. Medical education training must incorporate an understanding of the unique value of different interactions.