The clinical teaching unit is a widely-used clinical training model that requires reform to prepare physicians for practice in the 21st century.

In a systematic review in CMAJ, Dr. Brandon Tang and co-authors identified practices in internal medicine clinical teaching units that contribute to improved clinical education and health care delivery.

Dr. Tang, a PGY4 in general internal medicine at the University of Toronto, speaks with Drs. Blair Bigham and Mojola Omole about the findings of the review, his experience with CTUs, what inspired him to look into the research, and his thoughts on how CTUs can be reimagined to improve both learner and patient outcomes. 

Drs. Bigham and Omole then speak with Dr. Lisa Richardson, a clinician-educator in the U of T’s Division of General Internal Medicine, about other aspects of medical training that are due for a rethink.

Dr. Richardson, who also practices at the University Health Network and is an Education Researcher at the Wilson Centre, argues that medical training needs to create space for learners to bring their whole selves to their educational experience, rather than struggle to conform to a narrower sense of what it means to be a physician.

CMAJ is the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.

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