Summarizing a patient’s 10-minute self-history into one sentence may be difficult, but it’s one way that Barbara Heywood, M.D., challenges the students and residents who participate in an ENT elective in the ENT clinic.
“It’s important for students to learn and define the information that is important in making a diagnosis,” said Dr. Heywood, an associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. “It’s also important that they be able to synthesize that information into one or two sentences, to be as efficient as possible in the clinic.”
The teaching process is one that Dr. Heywood finds gratifying, and her rapport with students and ability to communicate with them elicit rave reviews from her faculty colleagues and the students themselves. For her efforts, Dr. Heywood has been named a recipient of a 2005 Outstanding Teaching Award. She will receive the award at the Annual Faculty Meeting, which will begin at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20, in the Durham Research Center’s Scott Auditorium.
Donald Leopold, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, said Dr. Heywood uses her friendly manner to build relationships with students, and she provides career counseling for medical students and residents. The students who work with her, though, are constantly challenged, Dr. Leopold said.
“They not only watch what she does, but must understand the theory behind her work, and they literally do endoscopies, put in tubes, stop nosebleeds, etc.,” he said in his nomination letter. “They truly ‘get their hands dirty.'”
Born in Germany to citizens of Poland, Dr. Heywood immigrated with her family to south Omaha at age 4. Her mother suffered many medical complications from World War II, and Dr. Heywood’s interest in medicine had burgeoned by the time she was in high school. She graduated with a medical degree from UNMC in 1973, and completed one year of general surgery at Creighton University and her ENT residency at UNMC. She staffed the ENT operating rooms on Friday mornings at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center from 1977-1987, while in private practice in Papillion. Her desire to teach drove her decision to return to academic medicine, and she joined the UNMC full-time faculty in 1999.
“I really enjoy teaching and seeing the students learn,” Dr. Heywood said. “I enjoy having a student or resident with me and being able to discuss a patient’s care with them.”
Medical students are introduced to ENT issues via lectures during their second year in school, and they visit the ENT clinic as part of their third-year surgery rotation. Some of them never have been to an ENT clinic, Dr. Heywood said. “They’re amazed by all of the specialized equipment,” she said.
The third-year students on surgery rotation use a computer program Dr. Heywood wrote to learn how to examine the inside of the ear. The program contains many videos about various ear ailments, as well as the histories of the patients with those illnesses. The department is expanding the computer program’s uses, and Dr. Heywood leads that project.
In clinic, Dr. Heywood receives many referrals to address patients with voice problems, swallowing issues, dizziness and ear disease, among other ENT issues. Particularly enjoyable, Dr. Heywood said, is teaching in the clinical setting. As director of the ENT residency program, Dr. Heywood spends a great deal of time with ENT residents, as well as students.
She’s intrigued by the “pattern of learning,” or understanding how she herself learned a concept before teaching it to the residents and students. For example, early in her teaching career, she had a student who couldn’t slide a necessary diagnostic instrument into and down a patient’s nose.
“I think I said, ‘Well, you just do it,'” Dr. Heywood said. “It wasn’t until I stepped back and thought how you ‘do it’ that I was able to teach it. So I explained that you keep the instrument on the floor of the nose until .”
In her free time, Dr. Heywood enjoys reading, boating, and activities involving her Polish heritage. She sings hymns in Polish in her church choir and works at the Polish Museum in south Omaha. She is married to Thomas Heywood, M.D., a UNMC clinical faculty member in ENT. They have one daughter, Angie Heywood Bible, who is studying international law at Duke University.
“I’ve absolutely enjoyed my time here in the department,” Dr. Heywood said. “The campus has grown so much. It’s a wonderful place to work.”