This week, I went to medical school with a first year student, Lindsay. She goes to the University of Connecticut Medical School right here in Farmington, Connecticut. The school is connected to the UConn Health Center and John Dempsey Hospital, so there is a lot going on in addition to the medical school. The medical students are learning and studying to become physicians one day. There are many different kinds of doctors to choose from including a pediatrician, surgeon, dermatologist (skin doctor), cardiologist (heart doctor) and many more.
In this picture I am standing on the keyboard of Lindsay's laptop listening to a lecture from one of the immunology professors. Immunology involves studying our immune system which is the body’s built-in defense system to help protect us from disease. Every day I listened to a new topic; there was a lot of information to learn! After class we had to go back to Lindsay’s apartment or the library to study what we had learned from that day in lecture to help reinforce all the material.
In addition to studying immunology, the medical students have to learn the anatomy of the body which includes the bones, muscles, nerves, arteries and other aspects. The human body is a fascinating and complicating thing. In the picture with the book, above, I am studying the hand and the humerus (bone in the upper part of your arm) and looking at pictures of them from an anatomy book. Lindsay taught me a mnemonic to help remember the bones in the wrist. A mnemonic is a strategy to assist in memorizing something. For the wrist or carpal bones it is “Sally Likes To Play The Tiny Chrome Harmonica,” where the first letter in each word refers to one of the bones in the wrist. Sally stands for Scaphoid, Likes = Lunate, To = Triquetrium, Play = Pisiform, The = Trapezium, Tiny = Trapezoid, Chrome = Capitate, and Harmonica = Hamate. There are 206 bones in the human body, and medical students have to learn them all! There were too many for me to learn in just one week.
Besides learning the anatomy, medical students have to learn how to become a doctor. A physician must have many important qualities such as compassion, patience, professionalism and respect. Therefore, we got to shadow the doctor for the day and help him and watch him treat his patients. Lindsay does this every week for three years while in medical school. The students also take a class called Principles of Clinical Medicine which helps teach them different aspects of practicing medicine. So far they have already learned how to take a full medical history of a patient, which is when the doctor asks various questions to help get a better idea of why the person is visiting the doctor.
That ends my week at the medical school. We did a lot of studying and learning! Off to my next journey.
Sincerely,
Flat Stanley-Whitman
In this picture I am standing on the keyboard of Lindsay's laptop listening to a lecture from one of the immunology professors. Immunology involves studying our immune system which is the body’s built-in defense system to help protect us from disease. Every day I listened to a new topic; there was a lot of information to learn! After class we had to go back to Lindsay’s apartment or the library to study what we had learned from that day in lecture to help reinforce all the material.
In addition to studying immunology, the medical students have to learn the anatomy of the body which includes the bones, muscles, nerves, arteries and other aspects. The human body is a fascinating and complicating thing. In the picture with the book, above, I am studying the hand and the humerus (bone in the upper part of your arm) and looking at pictures of them from an anatomy book. Lindsay taught me a mnemonic to help remember the bones in the wrist. A mnemonic is a strategy to assist in memorizing something. For the wrist or carpal bones it is “Sally Likes To Play The Tiny Chrome Harmonica,” where the first letter in each word refers to one of the bones in the wrist. Sally stands for Scaphoid, Likes = Lunate, To = Triquetrium, Play = Pisiform, The = Trapezium, Tiny = Trapezoid, Chrome = Capitate, and Harmonica = Hamate. There are 206 bones in the human body, and medical students have to learn them all! There were too many for me to learn in just one week.
Besides learning the anatomy, medical students have to learn how to become a doctor. A physician must have many important qualities such as compassion, patience, professionalism and respect. Therefore, we got to shadow the doctor for the day and help him and watch him treat his patients. Lindsay does this every week for three years while in medical school. The students also take a class called Principles of Clinical Medicine which helps teach them different aspects of practicing medicine. So far they have already learned how to take a full medical history of a patient, which is when the doctor asks various questions to help get a better idea of why the person is visiting the doctor.
That ends my week at the medical school. We did a lot of studying and learning! Off to my next journey.
Sincerely,
Flat Stanley-Whitman
