Responsibilities of a Pre-Doctoral Director

A pre-doctoral director handles the education of doctors who are in or have just completed medical school. While the term "pre-doctoral" leads you to believe this is all done prior to a person becoming a doctor, even after a student completes a medical degree, certain steps must be taken to become a practicing physician. These steps ensure his ability to properly care for patients, and a pre-doctoral director helps him accomplish this goal.

Medical School and Hospital Curriculum

• The pre-doctoral director helps develop the curriculum for the medical students. This curriculum can be generalized for basic medical students in medical school, or specialized for interns and residents in hospital-based programs. Hospital-based directors must determine specific goals for the department overseen. While the directors work together to ensure an overlapping coherence, each director controls the department she heads. These directors cover all areas of medicine, such as surgery, oncology, pediatrics and general practice.

Putting Together a Teaching Staff

• Whether in a hospital or in a medical school, the pre-doctoral director must find the correct staff to teach the students and uphold the developed curriculum. Often, this requires fostering relationships with students so they will come back and teach when their rotations are complete. The pre-doctoral director works with the chief of staff to help promote from within, helping in selecting the students who will lead in the future. Doctors go through an internship and a residency after medical school. By the final year of residency, a chief resident must be chosen, and the pre-doctoral director is part of the selection process.

Supporting Research

• Pre-doctoral directors need to further the goal of research as this promotes the medical program. As employees do research and publish in recognized journals, hospitals and universities receive recognition for the work. This is due to the institutions' facilitation of such study and education. The more successful its research programs are, the more likely an institution will be to attract other doctors as well as outside funding for future projects.

Staff Development

• Developing staff programs for furthering education is part of the pre-doctoral director's focus. The staff must continue to grow and change perspective in order to encompass new and different protocols. Medicine continues to change as new procedures and information are added. Keeping the staff on the cutting edge of technology helps insure the staff will contribute to the institution's goals. The director seeks out appropriate education opportunities and lays out the regulations for staff improvement. This usually takes the form of required continuing education credits.