Melissa Pelochino–a Stanford d.school fellow–describes how too often we go from ‘I Do’ (where a teacher models something) to ‘You Do’ (where the student does it independently), skipping the ‘We Do’ (an intermediate step where the teacher and student do something together). I think this is all too frequently true in medical school. In students’ third year, as they rotate from service to service, they may spend a day or two observing the residents and attendings seeing patients. However, within that first week, the med student is typically given a few patients and set loose. They go and see the patients independently and present the patient independently on rounds [1].

I think 3rd year med students, especially those in the first 6 months, would benefit tremendously from more ‘We Do’. Students and residents could see patients together, divvying up with encounter between the two. At times, I’ve had such educational experiences with exceptional residents and it was invaluable.

A bit of an oversimplification. Med students will see and present patients independently, but the responsible resident is also seeing the patients as well. Residents backup the students on rounds and tactfully step in when a student misses something or there is a complicated question. ↩