Med students provide more than medical care

Providing medical treatment to an emergency patient is just a part of what is expected from Griffith medicine students as they take part in an innovative new learning experience.

Pioneered by Associate Professor Gary Rogers from Griffith’s School of Medicine, CLEIMS (Clinical Learning through Extended Immersion in Medical Simulation), takes a holistic learning approach to the patient care process by simulating the entire experience.

Small teams of year 3 and 4 Bachelor of Medicine students are required to provide medical care to an actor patient as part of a week-long simulation that sees them undertaking history taking, assessments and treatment recommendations as well as drug prescribing, ‘code blue’ emergency calls, managing urgent problems in the middle of the night and even dealing with the patient’s distraught relatives.

Described as ‘deep end therapy,’ the simulations throughout the week are backed up by additional seminars to address the new knowledge gaps identified by the students.

Cutting-edge facilities in the new Griffith Health Centre

Bachelor of Medicine student Felicity McIvor will be among the first students to undertake CLEIMS in the surroundings of the new Griffith Health Centre.

Set to open in July and located opposite the new Gold Coast University Hospital, the Griffith Health Centre will boast a wealth of cutting-edge facilities tailor-made to Griffith’s learning-based clinical skills methodology.

“I am thoroughly enjoying the medicine and surgery electives that we are currently doing during our third year and I am now really excited about how CLEIMS will be taught at the Griffith Health Centre,” Felicity said. “It will be fantastic to be able to benefit from all the new facilities and equipment.”

A first for a medical school

“This is the first time ever that a medical school has undertaken extended simulations for students over the course of a week and which have covered all aspects of the patient care process,” said Associate Professor Rogers. “The results from our trials of the initiative showed that these student groups significantly improved their acquisition of knowledge and understanding compared to the control groups who were just undertaking the standard seminars and traditional workshops.

“We found that taking responsibility for simulated patient care across a whole week created a ‘curiosity gap’ for these students that really motivated them to learn. We also found that their prescribing skills, which were developed through collaboration with Griffith Pharmacy students, and their resuscitation skills, were significantly improved.

“Additionally we asked students to keep a reflective journal of their experiences. One student’s journal said ‘I have learnt more about my own skills in this one week than in the rest of the medical program’.”

 

For more information on a career in medicine, please attend the Griffith University Pathways to Medicine Information Evening tonight:

 

Wednesday 22 May 6 – 8pm, Gold Coast campus.

To register, visitgriffith.edu.au/medicine