Coming to the End of Core Clinical Education

It’s hard to believe that we’re now more than halfway through the final block of Core Clinical Education. Time has just flown by – although sometimes I have to remind myself that it seems every other university student is done for the year, and we’re still going even though it’s mid-July! Ah well, that’s what we signed up for. Anyway, it’s not much longer to go now until revision and then exams.

I’m really getting a lot out of CCE, and looking back on the past seven months, I can see how lucky we are to have got exposure to so many different basic disciplines – respiratory, orthopaedic and cardiac medicine, just to name a few. Most recently, my clinical partner and I were lucky enough to spend the past month or so on a ward dedicated to cardiology patients. So many of the cases were fascinating and very eye-opening, and in many cases it was (I know this sounds like a cliché) a lecture series come to life. We got to hear lots of heart murmurs, some artificial valves, uncommon heartbeats and we got to investigate some pathologies that we’d only heard about but never seen. We got drilled by the (very nice but scarily knowledgeable) consultant on the different drugs given to cardiac patients, their mechanisms of actions and side effects, indications and contraindications.

And it was extremely inspiring when we actually realised how our skills changed and grew over the course of the placement. I have sat through several lectures on electrocardiograms, have read countless websites and books and other resources, but until I actually saw some “hot off the presses”, as it were, it was difficult to know where to start. But standing in the middle of a ward and being asked what’s wrong with a patient’s ECG (warning: sometimes there’s nothing wrong with it, and you have to have the confidence to say so!) made me think on my toes. By the end of the rotation, and with some helpful encouragement from the doctors and other staff around us, my clinical partner and I felt much more comfortable with things that had terrified us barely a month before. I wouldn’t say I’m the world’s expert at interpreting ECGs, but I feel far less intimidated than I ever have.

So far, Core Clinical Education has been a very useful and worthwhile experience. We have been exposed to opportunities and disciplines that we’ve never seen before, and might not get to see again for a very long time. We’ve learned how to conduct clinical skills and then have been given the chance to practice them. We’ve got stuck into clinical teams by very welcoming and informative staff. And we’ve been able to put our pre-clinical teaching to work in a supportive and educational environment. I will miss the CCE experience when it’s over, so for now I plan on enjoying everything more that it has to offer.

John

Catrin Davies : 18 Jul 2016 10:00 |  Tags: John Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem