BY JAMIU BUSARI (@JOBUSAR)
Dr. Simone Gorter, MD, PhD
Rheumatologist, Maastricht University Medical Center, Netherlands. Program director, Rheumatology residency program, Maastricht University Medical Center, Netherlands. Associate Professor, School of Health Professions Education, Maastricht University. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-gorter-84761125/
Dr Simone Gorter is a rheumatologist with a particular interest in pediatric rheumatology and the care of young adults with rheumatic diseases. She graduated from Maastricht University’s medical school in 1996 and subsequently started her PhD in rheumatology at the same university. Her PhD, which was overseen by her supervisor in Rheumatology, professor Sjef van der Linden, and professors Cees van der Vleuten and Albert Scherpbier from the educational development and research department at Maastricht University, focused on a project wherein undercover, unannounced, standardized patients would visit practicing rheumatologists to investigate for variety in performance in their daily practice.
In 2003, Simone started her residency in rheumatology and went on to defend her thesis titled: “Rheumatologists’ daily practice performance. A study with incognito standardized patients”, three years later. During her residency, Simone developed a particular interest in medical education, explaining, “I was involved in different roles in the medical program and participated in the development of a new masters training curriculum in the faculty of medicine at Maastricht University”.
Through the years, Simone has continued to engage in different educational roles within the medical program of Maastricht University. She is currently a faculty development instructor for interdisciplinary teaching sessions, with some of her teaching areas focused on themes such as communication and leadership.
Dr. Gorter is a member of the educational program committee of the Faculty of Medicine and has been the deputy program director of the rheumatology residency program at Maastricht University Medical Center since 2016. In 2023, she became the residency program director of rheumatology and was appointed associate professor of medical education in 2018.
Dividing her Time
Considering the range of her responsibilities as a clinician educator, we asked Dr Gorter how she distributes her time over all the activities she manages. Her response was, “I spend 3 days (about 60% of my time) in clinical practice where I also supervise residents in rheumatology, and sometimes residents in internal medicine and those in clinical elective rotations. These activities also involve meeting with the residents to prepare or discuss their work in the outpatient clinics and provide feedback.
As a program director in rheumatology, I have clinical and administrative responsibilities. I frequently meet with residents to discuss their progress, help them set educational goals, reflect on their achievements, and support them in navigating their career paths. I spend about a day a week on these meetings and administration, which is about 20% of my time. In addition, I spend about 4 hours per week (i.e., 10% of my time) on research in medical education
Enjoying a Diverse Career
When asked how she enjoys the diversity of her academic portfolio, Simone said she really likes having different tasks, although they are sometimes hard to combine. She said, “It is a privilege to see young people evolving into real professionals and to be part of their education.”
The combination of her clinical and teaching roles with research enriches her professional life. “At this moment, I have the opportunity to supervise 3 PhD students in medical education. Two are foreign PhD students from Pakistan, and one is a local student from the Netherlands. One of the projects is on communication skills, the other on curriculum development, and the third on professionalism among health care professionals and medical students in social media”. Dr Gorter says it is challenging and exciting to do research in medical education and work with PhD students who are not clinicians and share their enthusiasm. I also learn from literature in medical education and apply a lot of what I learn as a clinician (educator) and program director.
Considering the challenges she encounters due to the diversity of her work, Dr Gorter acknowledges that it is challenging to combine these things effectively. For example, patient care is demanding, supervision is implemented in daily practice, and it is difficult to allocate time for research effectively during regular working hours, so most of this is often done in my private time. However, I enjoy it, and it gives me energy. I believe it is crucial to continue challenging oneself, be it in education, working with young people, or doing research.
From time to time, Dr. Gorter reflects on how she feels about her work. Some of the questions she asks herself include: Does it give me enough energy? Am I happy with the work I do? Does the work align with my values? So, does it suit me? If the answer to any of these questions is no, I appraise my responsibilities critically, reschedule some of my existing tasks, and set (additional) limits for myself for what I do.
Three tips for junior CEs:
- Invest in the combination of research in medical education and clinical work because both enrich each other. As an experienced clinician, I can help the researchers, and in daily practice, I can implement things such as goal setting that I learned from medical education.
- Stick to your own values (you will undoubtedly face colleagues who do not understand your enthusiasm for medical education)
- Take time to reflect and keep on challenging yourself. Working hard is so much easier and more rewarding when you enjoy what you do!
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