Techniques that aid in learning.

Learning is as diverse as learners. From conditioning to rote, episodic to habitual, active to passive and cognitive to psychomotor; the act of learning varies tremendously by individual, place, time and topic. One will quickly find that it is often as important to understand who you’re teaching as it is what you’re teaching or you risk losing your lessons along the winding road of communication. It is for this reason that when engaging in a medical discourse with a patient, one must assume the role of both a student and a teacher. One must learn their patient before they may effectively teach their patient.  But how can one enhance their lessons such that the patient is likely to both understand and remember? It is commonly effective to directly engage your patient in the concepts you’re trying to convey; solicit the patient to assume an active role in their own health care. If you’ve learned enough about your patient from your discourse, it is often effective to conceptualize your points within the fabric of the patient’s past experiences, interests and understandings. An avid fisherman is more opt to remember the mechanism of their antibiotic course when described using a fishing analogy. In short, you must be a student of your patient, allowing the patient to teach you how they learn. Then, you may actively engage them in your concepts and tie the lessons into their past experiences to reinforce the recall process.