By MARTIN SAMUELS, MD

•  Decide who you are and don’t kid yourself
•  Don’t bluff; the triple (quadruple) threat is an illusion
• Know your subject; teaching is not a trick; you must have something real to transmit
• Don’t replace substance with gimmicks (e.g. fancy powerpoint)
• Simulated patients produce simulated doctors and de-professionalize students
• Respect your teachers but don’t believe in the Days of the Giants; they have feet of clay
• Don’t become “one of them.”
• Develop a reputation beyond the local environment
• Train people, but remember that some will not respect you (remember Bouchard)
• Stand proudly for clinical excellence
• Write briefly, simply and parsimoniously (remember Babinski)
• Be a professional
• Don’t be an asshole
• Don’t bullshit

Abstracted from the “Academic Medicine Survival Guide” Martin Samuels, MD. The Health Care Blog. March 2015.