Teaching hospitals provide hands-on experience for medical students and new physicians, but may be less safe due to inexperience. They are well-funded and have better technology. In the US, students start working in teaching hospitals during their graduate program, while in New Zealand, medical students take a six-year program. Patients may be concerned about being treated in a teaching hospital, but interns and residents are heavily supervised. Popular TV shows like Gray’s Anatomy and ER are set in teaching hospitals but should not be taken as a guide to real-life hospitals.
A teaching hospital is an operating hospital where medical students and newly qualified physicians can complete their training. They are often, but not always, associated with a university and are sometimes referred to as teaching hospitals. As many of the working doctors are supervised, critics suggest that teaching hospitals can be less safe than regular ones, with mistakes due to inexperience being a greater likelihood. However, teaching hospitals are usually extremely well funded and may have better and newer technology and treatments than state or private medical facilities.
Hands-on experience in medical disciplines has been a proscribed part of the learning process for physicians. As early as the 6th century, the first Persian hospitals were used to teach incoming doctors and provide them with real experience. Today, graduate and postgraduate level physicians must spend several years training in teaching hospitals before being considered a fully qualified specialist.
In the United States, students start working in a teaching hospital during the second half of their four-year graduate program. At this point, students are considered interns and not full-fledged doctors. After graduating, new physicians begin a three-year residency in their preferred fields at teaching hospitals. Typically, the first year of residency is spent as an intern for an advanced resident, learning a variety of different subjects. After the intern year, physicians often choose a specialty and spend several years training in their chosen discipline.
Other countries, like New Zealand, have a different process for training doctors. Instead of an undergraduate, graduate, and graduate system, medical students take a six-year program, with introduction to teaching hospitals in the third year. Unlike the United States, where postgraduate doctors are matched against teaching hospitals through a national database, New Zealanders have only two major schools that conduct medical training. Around the world, the use of training hospitals tends to vary depending on national training programs and the availability of internships at local hospitals.
Understandably, patients can be a little concerned about being treated in a teaching hospital. Although in many countries doctors licensed to practice medicine in hospitals are already qualified doctors, they do not have the same level of experience as their fully trained counterparts. However, interns and residents are usually heavily supervised and second-guessed by their professors; therefore, the care you receive may be further researched and considered. If you are under the care of an intern or resident and feel uncomfortable or concerned, ask to speak with the senior physician before agreeing to suggestions or treatments.
The chaotic world of the teaching hospital has been an unavoidable backdrop for many successful television shows. The life-and-death situation of any hospital, combined with the training of young doctors, has led to the creation of at least five popular programs in the United States alone. Gray’s Anatomy, Chicago Hope, House, MD, ER, and Scrubs are located in teaching hospitals. While these programs use diligent researchers looking for accurate medical information and can be extremely entertaining, they should not be taken as a guide to the level of skill and professionalism in a real-life teaching hospital.
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