CLINICAL MEDICINE (3.5 credit hours)
Faculty: Dr. Terri Plundo, Dr. Gregory Kolbinger & Guest Lecturers
Ingredients:
Lectures by Clinical Medicine faculty
Lab manual print-outs (DMU generously provides these for free if picked up from the clinic)
Diagnostic instruments & medical bag (available for sale through IPMSA & SOMA)
This course consists of:
6 cumulative exams (taken concurrently with the Anatomy exams)
1 visual recognition exam (Gross images)
Physical diagnosis labs to learn diagnostic tests and how to do a H&P
3 standardized patient encounters (SPALs)
Recipe for Success (from the kitchen of Audris Fan):
As stated above, last year was the first time that Clinical Medicine was offered as a year-long course in an effort to integrate and reinforce it with Gross Anatomy. Naturally, if you ask any second year about their experience with Gross Anatomy and Clinical Medicine, their opinions will vary considerably. Most students will agree that the testing situation isn’t ideal: you’ll essentially have three exams administered in a single 4-5 hour block in one day -- the Anatomy written, Anatomy practical, and Clinical Medicine written exams. As you can imagine, this can be quite overwhelming to study for. Despite the fact that the Clinical Medicine written exams are worth fewer points than the Anatomy exams or SPALs, do NOT underestimate them. Though they may appear to be “common sense” knowledge questions, keep in mind that you still need an 80% average on the written exams to pass the class. The vocabulary listed at the end of each lab handout is emphasized on the exams, so know them well!
Each lecturer will highlight what they think is important from their slide set, but for Dr. Plundo’s lectures, look for the small asterisks that are obscurely hidden on slides -- those are often the ones from which she generates exam questions. For SPALs, look at the rules & regulations carefully, and be sure to dress appropriately -- ladies, you will need pantyhose or socks -- or else you will be sent home to change! For the lab portion of the course, you will need to purchase a set of diagnostic equipment at the beginning of the year that could easily cost over $700 if purchased exclusively through the school. Mind you, it is an IPMSA and SOMA fundraiser, so part of the proceeds from equipment sales will support each club, but if you are looking to save a few hundred dollars you can buy a similar kit and BP cuff on Amazon.com. The equipment is comparable and will serve its purposes well.
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Academics