Life long learning requires a multitude of skills that work together. On the title page I highlight the skill that I believe is the foundation to being the best physician which is being self motivated. That, of course, is not the only skill necessary to being the best physician, but it is a important start. Other skills are necessary and each are intertwined together to help create a cohesive system. I gave this approach much consideration after a recent road trip into upstate New York. As my father drove with me in the passenger seat I was able to connect the path to physician hood to the path our family took on the road trip. This path was filled with great amount of hills, curves, dangerous drivers, potholes and speed traps. Being an amateur at driving, I find this daunting that someday I may have to traverse roads like this, however, like any metaphorical journey, there is ample support to help you reach the destination. Moreover, being able to manage each of these road blocks is imperative in order to reach the destination safely. Likewise, there are many practices that need to be accounted for in order to make the journey meaningful and a sense of accomplishment at the destination. If you fail to properly manage even one of these roadblocks it would be detrimental as it could lead to a crash out before the destination, or a sense of unpreparedness at the destination. Whether it be barely taking a corner too fast or failing to pay attention in chemistry class, cutting corners early will eventually lead to a crash and these corners cut now will eventually catch up. As a result, it is important to take a cautious, full approach to life long learning, and avoid cutting corners that can ruin your chances of reaching the destination in the long run.
In the case of becoming a physician, there are five key resources needed to shape life long learning: Presence, Chronemics, Preparedness, Communication, and Interpersonal Functioning. There are many skills within each one these pillars that need to be utilized, however, I will detail in this portfolio the ones that has helped me the most early on in my road trip. One key component to life long learning is presence. At face value it seems apparent that presence is important. If someone is absent from a specific event, how could they possibly learn from it? It is clear that a presence matters, as obtaining knowledge outside of standardized topics is impossible to obtain if you are not there in the present. Invaluable information from others who already travelled on the roads I am currently on can provide important information on how to navigate myself on this journey. If I am not present in the moment, how could I possibly wish to obtain this information. I experienced this firsthand as I obtain information at a much better rate when I am present in class as opposed to online. One clear difference is obtaining information in my Population Health class. This class has two sessions per week where one class is in person while the other class is online. For me, it is much easier to retain information from lectures in person as well as copy information in person as opposed to online. Furthermore, I easily get distracted online as the ability to do other work for different classes or fall disengaged from online lecture is much more likely. Similarly detailed by Jared Blanchard, student representative at BYU, in his 2018 commencement speech stated that “being present will allow us to avoid distractions and maximize potential” (Blanchard, 2018). However, it extends much further than being present in class. It also requires students to be actively listening to the information present. Failing to pay attention or being asleep during class time will cause a lack of comprehension and be almost as useless as not showing up to the class at all. Therefore, it is imperative that I not only show to these lectures, but to also be engaged. This will allow me to absorb important information from those who already completed the path I yet to traverse. As a result, navigating the rough roads will be much easier after being present and listening to the advice given beforehand.
After learning to be present in class, it helps shapes my life long learning as it enables me to efficiently comprehend all material necessary to shape my learning process in the future. Along with presence, chronemic is another important pillar necessary to be successful. However, unlike presence that is much more straightforward and unanimous as to what the right decision is, there are many different routes chronemic takes to reach the best outcome. I believe that I am monochronic in the sense that the most important task needs to be accomplished first, however, I am polychronic in the sense that the task I am currently completing may be done in place of another event. Furthermore, I believe tasks should be completed in events of importance. One personal example was when I was studying for midterms. I had three tests for Chemistry, Physics and Population Health, one every week. Instead of studying each during the time I usually set, I decided to pool all my time the first week to prepare for Chemistry, then Physics and finally Pop Health. This way I could maximize production for the most recent test. I understand that this may cause me to lose information in the other subjects that I chose not to be present for, however, I felt that studying in this manner is the most important to my success currently. This could have many different implications on my life long learning as it could be detrimental as I chose to avoid the small potholes while focusing for risky turn, or focusing on both the turn and potholes which may not result in the best experience. Relating this to my academic situation. I may choose to focus on the upcoming Chemistry test and avoid the Physics lecture to maximize my Chemistry grade, or I can choose to focus on both at the same time, and prevent the risk of not understanding physics at a slight cost to my grade on the Chemistry test. I believe focusing on the polychronic aspect and being able to pay attention while completing other work is the best method that should be approached. This idea is supported by Widyanti & Regamalela in their paper discussing the influence of Monochronic and Polychronic time orientation on Mental Workload. The paper concluded that employees that can effectively employ a polychronic time orientation is less likely to be stressed out and displayer lower sensitivity (Widyanti & Regamalela, 2019). Such results highlights that developing efficient polychronic time orientation can help relieve stress, which in turn allows for more learning capabilities.
The last pillar that I want to highlight that I believe is important to life long learning is preparedness. Going back to my road trip analogy, being prepared not only means having all the necessary clothing, supplies and food needed for the road trip, but also being prepared to get behind the wheel and being responsible for those in the car with you, as well as being prepared for all the challenges on the road ahead. Similarly, in order to be prepared as an aspiring physician I need to be prepared not only when coming to class like reviewing necessary material for my science classes, but being in a mental state to fully listen and be actively engaged with the course material. And later on, I need to be prepared to take care of others and have their trust rested in me. Furthermore, preparedness goes further than just learning what is given in class. Especially for the medical field, being prepared spans beyond the classroom. Simply doing the bare minimum is not enough. In a study conducted on medical students, it was found that most felt unprepared to take on a professional role (Barnes et al., 2019). Moreover, the article further explains that these students do not wish to take on a greater role as they are fearful of the risk of failing (Barnes et al., 2019). As a result, in order to be the best physician, not only will that require me to go above and beyond on my studies, but also train enough to feel prepared to handle great amount of responsibilities.
These are just a few examples in how these pillars can shape life long learning. Each provides insight on how tackle certain tasks. For the presence pillar, it requires more than just attendance, active listening is also important. Similarly with preparedness, this pillar requires students to be ready, physically mentally and physiologically in order to have a proper life long experience. Finally, being polychronic with the ability to multitask effectively will be a great advantage when considering life long learning.
References:
First Pillar – Presence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK7VymmRxqs
Second Pillar – Chronemics: https://brill.com/view/journals/time/7/3/article-p243_243.xml
Third Pillar – Preparedness: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0142159X.2019.1665632?casa_token=i1YsAA2W39sAAAAA%3AtqGveEqK5O9fEK4Yiz3TB_isyBTbbBhs8_95xStjsedMgpfhgiCwFeVhODjkMuUWRy6t3fbqIq8
Literature Cited (APA):
Barnes, T., Yu, T.-C. W., & Webster, C. S. (2019). Preparedness of medical students and junior doctors for their role as clinical leaders: A systematic review. Medical Teacher, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159x.2019.1665632
The Importance of Being Present | Jared Blanchard | 2018. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved April 23, 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK7VymmRxqs
Widyanti, A., & Regamalela, D. (2019). The Influence of Monochronic/Polychronic Time Orientation on Temporal Demand and Subjective Mental Workload. Timing & Time Perception, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134468-20191151
Proverbs 11:14 Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise council you follow, the better your chances.
