164 Chapter 6 identical to the concept of mission. Two important differences with mission, are, first, that motivation can refer to short-term, temporary goals, and second, that motivation does not necessarily have to be focused on others. In our studies (Chapters 3, 4, and 5), we discovered that in the concept of mission, affective aspects predominate, and that meaningful contact with students is an important theme. Educators with a personal educational mission, who desire to contribute to the student’s learning and development, describe their mission as a teacher for example as ‘caring about the students, that they learn something, that’s the first thing.’ Other studies confirm the relevance of meaningful contact with students, and relate this to educators’ motivation to become and remain involved in education.22-26 Moreover, we discovered that the educational mission of medical educators, all involved in patient care, is fuelled by their mission as a physician: they aspire to contribute to the well-being of their patients and/or healthcare in a broader sense (see Chapters 3 and 5). In line with their mission as a physician, they have become aware of their mission as a teacher: they envision that, through their involvement with the next generation of physicians, the patients of these future physicians will benefit. It is this awareness that gives great enjoyment and satisfaction to being a teacher. For example, one educator in the Inspirer phenotype commented: ‘I enjoy teaching because I get very energised, I love students and I think they are interesting, and I love what I do (as a physician), so I kind of like to get them to love what it is (being a physician).’ That educators perceive being able to contribute to the next generation of physicians as deeply rewarding and satisfying has been confirmed elsewhere.20,22,26-28 The enjoyment and satisfaction connected with teaching can thus be seen as the fruit of experiencing that one’s efforts are devoted to what one is deeply motivated for, even in adverse circumstances. Enjoyment and satisfaction, in turn, will maintain and strengthen the educator’s motivation and commitment.20 Thus, in addition to the view that satisfaction is a foundational motivator for medical educators,20 we consider mission awareness as a foundational source of motivation. Hence, the pronouncement of the famous Professor of Surgery John Benjamin Murphy (1857–1916), which adorned the largest lecture hall in the LUMC for decades, remains valid: ‘The patient is the centre of the medical universe around which all our works revolve and towards which all our efforts tend.’ Our findings add a new dimension to this statement: not only is it directly applicable to patient care but, as our results show, also to medical education.
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