By Dr Fadh Yusof
Junior doctors are the backbone of clinical service and medical education in Australia. Though their days are consumed by patient care, many consistently carve out time to teach, mentor and guide medical students. Whether demonstrating a bedside procedure or leading a ward tutorial, junior doctors play an indispensable role in shaping tomorrow’s clinicians.
Methods of involvement
Bedside and ward sessions: During regular shifts, junior doctors provide informal teaching by guiding medical students through patient examinations and clinical reasoning within their respective clinical units.
Hospital teaching sessions: Junior doctors regularly contribute to broader departmental education by facilitating or presenting at Grand Rounds, weekly unit teaching sessions, and journal clubs.
University clinical schools: Approaching clinical schools associated with hospitals can lead to honorary or paid academic appointments, allowing junior doctors to deliver structured tutorials and formally participate in medical student assessments.
Mentoring and peer support: Junior doctors also act as sounding boards for students and younger colleagues, offering advice on professional identity and career planning. Program such as the Medical Educators Model (MEM) helps facilitate these connections across Victorian health services.
Short courses and practical training
A variety of short courses are offered in Victoria to help junior doctors build their teaching and supervision skills, including:
Teaching As You Go (TAYG): Offered by the University of Melbourne, this introductory teaching course helps health professionals, including junior doctors, develop fundamental clinical teaching skills.
Teaching on the Run (TOTR): Offered by TELL Centre via PMCV, this program equips doctors with strategies to deliver clinical teaching amidst heavy clinical workloads.
Assessment in Health Professions Education: Offered by Monash University, this course provides clinical educators with the skills to design effective assessment programs and select appropriate assessment tools.
Learning and Teaching with Simulation: Offered by Monash University, this program teaches health professionals how to design and implement simulation-based educational activities.
Monash University also runs targeted professional development such as Clinical Teaching and Education Pathway (CTEP), a three-stage program delivered through Monash Rural Health across the Gippsland, Bendigo, and Mildura regions that helps professionals build practical clinical teaching and supervision skills.
Formal university qualifications
Junior doctors can also complete postgraduate programs designed for health professionals. The University of Melbourne offers the Master of Clinical Education within its Excellence in Clinical Teaching (EXCITE) program.
Monash University offers the Master of Health Professions Education, focusing on curriculum design and clinical supervision. Monash also delivers the Master of Clinical Simulation for health professionals engaged in scenario design, debriefing and systems testing.
Dr Fadhullah (Fadh) Yusof is a Paediatric Registrar and Clinical Tutor at the University of Melbourne.