Page 16 - WCMS4Q21

Medical Student Reflections
By Vanessa Elliott, M1
In my anatomy class in high school, my teacher, Mrs. Widhelm, would play Italian love songs on the CD player as we dissected cats. She would shuffle around the room, pointing out anatomical structures, bubbling with excitement about fascia layers and muscle attachments. Now, as a first-year medical student in a cadaver lab, I keep having flashbacks to her classroom: the waves of embalming fluid smell that hit me through my mask; the same joy of hands-on learning; the enthusiastic instructors attentive to our steady stream of questions.
This year, our first-year medical student experiences are less restricted than last year: many extracurriculars and topical courses are offered in person. Thanks to vaccines and rapid tests, we can study together in the health science library, and we can spend free time together. Still, the pandemic has not ended and our day-to-day routines reflect it—we stream online lectures at our own pace and we meet for small groups and patient presentations on Zoom. Though this format is safer and more flexible than full in-person learning, it comes at the expense of daily interactions with faculty and classmates. For many of us, the disconnected feelings engendered by the pandemic persist.
Medical education is trending toward greater topic integration, and this has been clear in the structure of
our first-year content. Our first block on organ systems has covered Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Renal, and all throughout the block, our lectures have taught normal physiology alongside pathophysiology. Weekly anatomical dissections correspond with each organ system of interest as do interactive radiology and clinical application small groups. In our clinical skills course, called Doctoring, we have learned the theory and practiced the application of HEENT, Cardiology, and Pulmonology exams. In my favorite week so far, I held my first human heart after being introduced to how it had developed in embryo, how the blood pumped through it through life, how coronary arteries could be both clogged and treated, how to identify it on radiographic images, how to recognize heart tissue microscopically, and how to evaluate heart sounds with a stethoscope. Never have I had the chance to see our bodies through so many different windows all at once, and together these glimpses give me a more dynamic image and fill me with wonder. Of course, I could (and have) complained about the impossibility of retaining all this information after having encountered it only once, but I hear this knowledge will be reinforced and expanded throughout my time in medical school, I hope I keep having moments of wonder and gratitude throughout the process.
16 Washtenaw County Medical Society BULLETIN WINFTAELRL 2021