“Tough Love” is Not the Answer: A critique of NEJM reporting on student/trainee grievances and educator discontent

A recent NEJM article and accompanying podcast episode (“Tough Love”) authored and hosted by the Journal’s national correspondent sound the alarm that a culture of grievance among medical students and trainees about the discomforts of medical training is threatening to undermine both their medical education and patient care. She also describes widespread anxiety among medical educators who feel fearful of speaking because of concerns of retaliation on social media.  Absent from the discussion, however, are the voices of students and trainees who, in the podcast, are referred to as “our children.” Medical Students and trainees we spoke with did not feel that their concerns are experiences were accurately characterized. We propose that medical educators are ill prepared for the shifting power dynamics, both in terms of knowing how to listen and how to lead.

Om Podcasten

Doctors and other health care professionals are too often socialized and pressured to become “efficient task completers” rather than healers, which leads to unengaged and unimaginative medical practice, burnout, and diminished quality of care. It doesn’t have to be that way. With a range of thoughtful guests, co-hosts Saul Weiner MD and Stefan Kertesz MD MS, interrogate the culture and context in which clinicians are trained and practice for their implications for patient care and clinician well-being. The podcast builds on Dr. Weiner’s 2020 book, On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring about Your Patients (Johns Hopkins University Press).