Kendra Campbell, MD, Psychiatry/Mental Health, 02:51PM Dec 4, 2010
"Cultivate the society of the young, remain interested, and never stop learning." -- Marcus Tullius Cicero
I’ve always been intrigued by learning new things. I believe that my spark for learning was ignited by my phenomenal parents. Some of the first memories I have as a child are of my parents taking the family on hikes through the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. I remember my mother pointing out interesting looking flowers and trees, naming their genera and species, and sharing with us fascinating tidbits about them. When I was a child, we had very little access to television, and I can recall complaining to my father, “dad, I’m bored!” He would frequently respond with, “then go read the encyclopedia.” I would walk up to the shelf of encyclopedias, pick a random letter off the shelf and read everything there was to know about things that started with the letter “K.” (Ahhh, life before Wikipedia!)
Although I have about 19 years of formal education under my belt, there’s still so much about the world that I don’t know and don’t understand. But my hunger to learn about the world around me continues to drive me to seek out more opportunities and experiences.
Before I truly understood what being a doctor was all about, I thought that medical school was the golden mecca. In my ignorance, I believed that medical school was where you learned how to be a doctor. How very wrong I was!
When I first started residency, I thought, “okay, this is where I will really become a doctor...where I will learn all there is to know about my specialty.” Well, it turns out that I was wrong again!
The lesson that I’ve discovered is that being an excellent physician truly means being a lifelong learner. You will never know everything. And the pace at which we are making new discoveries ensures that if you stop reading, you will quickly be “behind the times.”
But it’s not just about keeping up with all the new scientific facts and discoveries, it’s actually quite a bit more complicated than that. To be a great healer, one must never stop listening to their patients. One must continue to see each patient as an opportunity to learn something new about people, how to heal them, and how to heal oneself.
Now that I’m a resident, I am in the unique and extraordinary position of being both a student and a teacher. I learn something new every day from my patients, the nurses, and the attendings. But I also get to impart some knowledge to the upcoming batch of doctors.
A few days ago, I had a medical student tell me that she had learned many skills from me, which she would carry with her for the rest of her medical career. This was a momentous reminder to me of the power and gift that is teaching.
I think the philosopher and writer, Jiddu Krishnamurti put it well:
"There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with the education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning."
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