Being a mindful clinical teacher: Can mindfulness enhance education in a clinical setting?

Abstract

Mindfulness may be viewed as a vehicle to promote the healer's role in medicine. This role addresses the way in which a medical practitioner interacts with patients. The aim of this article is to highlight how mindful qualities may also enhance teaching in clinical settings. Challenges to being a mindful clinical teacher are presented along with creative ways to accommodate them. Residents play an important role in training medical students. Examples of how mindfulness influenced a psychiatric resident's teaching experiences are presented to illustrate the concepts discussed herein. The dimension of "being" in medicine, based on the humanist philosophy of Dr Karl Jaspers, is provided as a framework for this article.