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our people. our story

professor dr christina tan phoay lay: an oPen letter from a family
Physician anD meDical eDucationist

y dear Lisa, cultivate a culture of sharing and
mThank you so much for your email and appreciation
the update on what you have been doing. It How often have we shown appreciation in our
has been great following your career progress interactions with our students? How have we
since you graduated – how time flies! And replied when they provide an answer to a query
now, you have just received an appointment as that may not match our expectations? We
a lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine, University sometimes seem to have a tendency to focus
of Malaya. This is wonderful news indeed. on the more negative aspects in our dealings,
Congratulations! I am sure your family are especially with our students, this comes across
very proud of all your achievements. as being critical of what they do (or not do). It
is then very easy to progress into a downward
You asked for some advice to help you get spiral of negativity. It would be much more
started in your new position. It must sound constructive to focus on the positives and this
quite daunting joining a premier academic would contribute to a more conducive learning
institution; and now having “to lecture”, environment for them. Show appreciation
especially when you have not done this before. of their efforts (“What did you do well?”) and
I recall what it was like when I first started in encourage them to go the extra mile (“What
the university, so I will share with you some can you do better?”).
of the things I have learned along the way as a
doctor and teacher. Perhaps they might be of use. Being a teacher doesn’t just mean the teaching
is a one-way process, but we can also learn
keep patients at the heart of care a lot from others, including our students. In
Being a health care professional, we always sharing experiences and knowledge, we not
need to be reminded that patients are central only enhance their education but also enrich
to the care we give and other professional ourselves further.
activities. Improving health care is what we all
strive for, so patient care must always come This culture of sharing and appreciation
first. There is a lot that we can learn from our should not just apply to our interactions with
patients, by looking, listening, interacting with students, but could also easily be extended to
them and involving them in their health care. our peers, other health care professionals; and
to sinclude the support staff who often work in
Patients who I have looked after over the the background and provide unwritten support
years, especially long-standing ones in my to help us along in our careers.
Family Practice Clinic, have taught me many
things that cannot be gained from textbooks; have resilience and coping mechanisms
– how to break bad news, how to share good This goes hand in hand with the previous points
times and bad times, what trust, truthfulness on sharing and appreciation. In order to give
and respect are really about. meaningful feedback to students, it became

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