No other profession demands longer learning than the medical profession. Even after years of undergraduate education, postgraduate training, and all the countless exams, medical training is still incomplete. If one is to keep the edge, they always need to be revising old knowledge and updating themselves with recent advances. In many ways, education continues long after it has formally ceased.
No other aphorism carries the reality of this lifelong learning better than Hippocrates’ “Ars Longa, Vita Brevis”. The art of medicine is long and the life is short.
With the realisation that the art of medicine is too vast to be taught in its entirety, teaching-learning cannot stay confined to the classrooms. The most important skill that a medical student must then learn is self-directed learning (SDL). Self-directed learning involves the practice of identifying gaps in knowledge, identifying resources, selecting an appropriate strategy, and assessing outcomes. The student must become their own teacher.
One quality that can help in this lifelong journey is patience. Mastery in this skill takes time and cannot be achieved overnight. Knowledge accumulates over the years like compound interest grows in investments. But one needs to be patient. A research paper read today, a microteaching with the senior, three pages before dinner, each may seem insignificant in isolation. But together they accumulate.
In the age of shorts and reels, Ars longa vita brevis is a reminder that patience is still rewarded. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Priyash Jain
Editor, Minds Newsletter
