Rewarding the resident teacher

Residents routinely make significant contributions to the education of medical students. However, little attention has been paid to rewarding these individuals for their involvement in these academic activities. This report describes a program that rewards resident teachers with an academic appointment as a Clinical Instructor. The residents participate in the laboratory portion of the anatomy program at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. They prepare weekly cadaver dissections and present these dissections to the first year medical students. Guidelines developed by the anatomy faculty and approved by the appropriate committees at both the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University establish requirements that a resident must meet to qualify for an academic appointment. Evaluation of this program indicates that it has been very successful based on medical student feedback, resident interest in gaining teaching experience, and residency directors appreciation of the opportunity for residents to gain valuable teaching experience in an academic setting.