We've had clinical skills sessions where we got to listen to hearts, listen to lungs, do a musculoskeletal exam... and then last week (or two weeks ago? three? I've been so busy, I can't keep track anymore) we had our genito-urinary session. Our standardized patients for this session are people who are trained in training us to feel their inside and outside parts. "No no, my ovary is a little more to the left. There, now do you feel it?" "Keep going, my prostate is a little further back." Because they were so professional, what could have been an incredibly uncomfortable afternoon turned out to be one of the most educational experiences I've had yet in school. It was still a little uncomfortable, because after all, I was still directed to strum someone's scrotum like a guitar, and that's a weird order no matter how professional you are.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
True Medical Student
Everyone says anatomy is the true initiation into medical school. Since we started first year with biochem, I didn't feel like a "true" medical student until day one of cutting open my cadaver about six weeks into school. However, I would like to revise this. You are not really a true medical student until your finger has been in an orifice which it has never been in before... in a [living, thinking, breathing] complete stranger.
We've had clinical skills sessions where we got to listen to hearts, listen to lungs, do a musculoskeletal exam... and then last week (or two weeks ago? three? I've been so busy, I can't keep track anymore) we had our genito-urinary session. Our standardized patients for this session are people who are trained in training us to feel their inside and outside parts. "No no, my ovary is a little more to the left. There, now do you feel it?" "Keep going, my prostate is a little further back." Because they were so professional, what could have been an incredibly uncomfortable afternoon turned out to be one of the most educational experiences I've had yet in school. It was still a little uncomfortable, because after all, I was still directed to strum someone's scrotum like a guitar, and that's a weird order no matter how professional you are.
We've had clinical skills sessions where we got to listen to hearts, listen to lungs, do a musculoskeletal exam... and then last week (or two weeks ago? three? I've been so busy, I can't keep track anymore) we had our genito-urinary session. Our standardized patients for this session are people who are trained in training us to feel their inside and outside parts. "No no, my ovary is a little more to the left. There, now do you feel it?" "Keep going, my prostate is a little further back." Because they were so professional, what could have been an incredibly uncomfortable afternoon turned out to be one of the most educational experiences I've had yet in school. It was still a little uncomfortable, because after all, I was still directed to strum someone's scrotum like a guitar, and that's a weird order no matter how professional you are.
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Hahaha! This made me laugh really hard :)
ReplyDeleteI first found your blog when it was featured in the NJMS magazine in september (or was it august?), when I was given an issue to read while waiting for my admissions interview. Since then, I've been reading every entry as soon as it pops up on my google reader. I just figured it was time I let you know :) ...I hope you never stop blogging!
aw thanks!! good luck with the beginning of your blog ...maybe i'll be seeing you around njms in the fall??
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