ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the methods which can be used to help doctors identify what it is that they need or want to learn. Learning needs identification can be seen as a formal process or can be an integrated part of professional life. Discussions between the clinician and pathologist can be a fruitful source of identifying learning needs for both. Day-to-day practice or teaching, in clinics, on the ward and in the operating theatre typically throws up queries and difficulties that must be resolved. Departmental clinical meetings and grand rounds are such occasions where cases or some aspects of practice are discussed and everyone learns something. For all clinicians, interactions with the clinical team or the clinical department may be important in indicating educational needs. Senior doctors value junior doctors for the different range of knowledge and skills which they may possess and especially for their capacity to ask questions and challenge accepted thinking.
