Inspiring

"A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations." -- Patricia Neal

I am continuously amazed at how good teachers inspire. Such is our anatomy instructor. There is little he doesn't  know...from memory. Truly amazing. Answers to questions, regardless of the depth or sophistication, from student are answered with nary a pause. Sometimes, he glances up or down, briefly pauses and then spews volumes of information and clinical relevancy about the topic at hand. Today, he conducted a complete review of the thorax and abdomen in the lab for nearly 2 hours, without break, breath or notes. AMAZING and inspiring. Regularly he awakens my own expectations and raises the bar higher for my own performance. Like the many I've had before him, I hope there are many more like him along the way. He makes me pay attention to the fine points of what is, the foundation of care. Dr. McKelvein, that crusty, chain-smoking, thoracic surgeon who taught me more about the human body in health and disease than most of my professors put together once said...with a complete understanding of normal anatomy and physiology, everything else in medicine is cake. I get that.

P.S. When did plastination (plastisized real bodies, like in the "Bodies" exhibit, become so integral in anatomy lab? I missed something of the technology in these past 25 years.

"The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself." — Henry Miller