In this chapter, the focus is on the intimate labor that GTAs do, which relies upon care and attentiveness to their bodies, their coworkers’ bodies, and the bodies and emotions of their students. They stand in for actual patients in this way, providing their bodies for medical students to practice on, even as they work as para-professionals in medical education by providing feedback and
... [Show full abstract] assessment. The contradictions inherent in their work is captured by an older term for their role: “patient instructor.” Their work relies on both the intimacy and vulnerability that comes with being a patient and the authority that being an instructor in a medical school entails.