Curing the Curriculum

In this conversation with Liz Molloy we cover the paleo case against the feedback sandwich, why emotions in feedback are not a problem to be managed away, how trust is earned one dip of the toe at a time, and why the student who stayed behind to put the blanket back over the patient may be the most valuable person on the ward.

Liz is Pro Vice-Chancellor of Curriculum at the University of Melbourne and has collaborated extensively w...

What is clinical courage? How do we push our boundaries without becoming reckless, and how do we grow into it as students and doctors? In this episode we sit down with Professor Lucie Walters, a rural generalist in Mount Gambier, South Australia. She explains clinical courage when your community has nowhere else to turn. Lucie walks us through the mnemonic she and her team built for doing this safely, reframes courage as a communit...

Clinical Reasoning is the process every doctor uses to solve medical puzzles. From collecting evidence to connecting the clues and finally identifying the culprit in order to choose the proper way to handle it - basically detective work.

But how do we learn this? Is it just about building up knowledge, becoming the smart genius who can relate all the pieces of the puzzle? Or is it more complex? For sure it remains complex to assess...

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Who gets to wear the white coat, and what does that ultimately mean for the people across from them? Look around a Dutch medical lecture hall, then look around a medical waiting room. The pictures don't match. So where are people leaking out of the pipeline to medical professional, and why does it matter for excellent patient care?...

Why does filling out feedback forms feel like a ritual nobody believes in? What if the most powerful feedback you ever received wasn't on a form at all?

In this episode, we sit down with Professor Rola Ajjawi - physiotherapist turned feedback researcher, professor of medical education at the University of British Columbia, and editor-in-chief of Medical Education. Rola takes us inside the science of feedback cultures: why surgery a...

“Climate change presents a fundamental threat to human health.” (WHO). Everyday we are confronted with discussions about being more green. But is that really a topic that a doctor should care about? At least our expertise lies elsewhere.

Luise Bödecker and Lukas Radema joined us for this episode to give a comprehensive overview about why we indeed should care. With a lot of passion, combined with philosophy and a resear...

In this episode we start the conversation about a topic that you cant ignore anymore. Everyone is talking about and to AI. We were curious how this is affecting the world of medical education.

Is it a huge problem that we outsource thinking? Can AI even “think”? Can AI replace teachers? How do we stay up to date with this rapid development?

Kai Yu Ma, assistant professor, teacher and researcher at the UMCG, joined us to...

Leadership isn't about titles or positions — it's about what you actually do. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Joshua Hartzell, retired Army Colonel and infectious disease physician, about why taking care of your team is the foundation of taking care of patients. From thanking your resident at the end of the day to stopping negative talk about other specialties, Josh shares practical wisdom from many years in military medici...

What actually makes you a doctor? Is it the white coat, the stethoscope, or something deeper? In this episode, we sit down with Margreet Smit and Miranda Trippenzee from SCOPE - the UMCG's expertise centre for personal development - to explore professional identity formation in medical education. We dive into the difference between socialization (fitting in) and subjectification (becoming yourself), and why both matter when you're ...

What is a role model and why does this matter in medical education? How do students choose their role models? How can I be a good role model? Together with Dr. Isabella Spaans, we explored these and more questions about a topic which is often mentioned but rarely discussed in depth. From her research which specifically focuses on role models in medical education, and especially the students' perspective, Isabella shares a lot of in...

How do you speak up when you think the surgeon is making a mistake? What does it mean to resist just to exist in medicine? Why should one steak up against social harm or injustice? In this conversation with Dr. Tasha Wyatt, we explore the idea of professional resistance - how learners can push back against hierarchy, hidden curriculum, and systemic injustice to protect their identity and integrity. Drawing on Wyatt&rs...

What is the hidden curriculum of medicine and why don’t we talk about it? Join us and hidden curriculum veteran Professor Fred Hafferty in exploring the informal norms and invisible forces shaping medical training. We talk about students as sheep vs. cats, the possible rise of altruistic zombies, and why the question “Will this be on the exam?” reflects more than it seems. Fred shares bold ideas for ...

Are you familiar with reflective zombies? They follow every reflection step. They write the reports. They check the boxes. But nothing real happens.

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Anne de la Croix, Assistant Professor at Amsterdam UMC and humanities expert, about how reflection in medical education has lost its soul. We unpack the concept of skillification - the reduction of rich, complex human qualitie...

Burnout isn't just about an individual being tired - it's about systems that forget you're human. In this episode of Curing the Curriculum, we talk with Dr. Dan Shapiro: clinical psychologist, burnout researcher, and former consultant for Grey’s Anatomy. From missed meals to midnight lectures, we unpack how medical training sometimes breaks the very people it aims to build. Dan shares what leadership and listeni...