Family health visit FHV is an important public health ini-tiative of XUSOM providing an excellent opportunity to the medical students to interact with the local families.. Nursing studen
Trang 1The family is considered as an integral part of all societies Family health visit (FHV) is an important public health ini-tiative of XUSOM providing an excellent opportunity to the medical students to interact with the local families The purpose of the family visit is to explore and assess the health status of the families in the community
FHV is especially meant for MD1 and MD2 students During the visit students gather information about maternal and child health, vaccination, socioeconomic status, communicable and non-commu-nicable diseases
Families from different cultures do not speak English and still students were able
to cross this barrier accentuating their communication skills complemented with gestures, facial expressions and added body language to make themselves understood as much as they could
Family health visits make the students aware of community health needs and their health concerns and enhances their social skill and medical performance
Unique to XUSOM, students will gain an inter-professional
expe-rience Nursing students will have the opportunity to learn
along-side medical students, therefore acquiring experience in working
with future colleagues
Students will be able to learn in different healthcare settings with
populations involving diversity, encouraging them to step out of
their comfort zone and think critically in a variety of settings
Students will take part in a Standardized Patient Program The
community and the Ministry of Health in Aruba is looking forward
to the arrival of the BSN nursing students, who will be able to
interact and assist the community through health related events
At XUSOM, class sizes are small, allowing for all students to
re-ceive an individualized learning experience, therefore promoting
constructive interaction with instructors
The faculty of Xavier University are very excited to share this new
program with our students from Aruba, the US, Brazil and students
from other international settings There are many colleges or
uni-versities that you can choose from that will educate you to practice
as a registered nurse The place you choose for your nursing
educa-tion should prepare you for professional nursing practice in today’s
healthcare environment It should also prepare you to make a
differ-ence in the world Xavier University’s School of Nursing’s mission is
to prepare you for that difference
The XUSOM Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) and Student
Gov-ernment Association (SGA) as well as Faculty members, participated in
a health fair held on March 29, 2014 from 10am-3pm at International
School of Aruba (ISA) The fair received a great response
We offered free check-ups at the open house to ISA students, their
parents, and members of the general public XUSOM students from
PM4 to MD4 semesters participated in screening tests involving
vi-sion & color-blindness, body-mass index, hearing, and blood
pres-sure for both children and adults The testing was followed by a
con-sultation session with MD4 and MD5 students supervised by faculty
members Approximately, 105 people were checked at the fair
Overall, the health fair received a wonderful response on our effort
to uplift the community’s quality of health through free screenings
and education on how to maintain good health, raise awareness on
the importance of check-ups, and prevention goals
Both, the International School of Aruba and XUSOM enjoyed the event,
and look forward to future endeavors together
Back to school…again I’m 29 years old but I still felt like a freshman, the same nervous butterflies in my stomach and
a voice in my head constantly doubting
my decision to accept a seat in medical school My whole scholastic and pro-fessional career had led me up to this moment, I should be prepared right?
In a few short months, I had packed up
my life, said goodbye to my California home, and moved to a country where I would be completely alone for the next two years Fortunately, I was wrong
Barry and Dr Reddy were the first friendly faces to greet me outside the airport upon my arrival and the first words I heard were “umm I’m not sure we can fit five suitcases and a guitar in this van.” I was immediately put at ease as we piled into the gold Xavier van and I listened to the chatter of what I should and shouldn’t
do during my stay It seemed similar
to my parents’ advice reminding me to behave and not do anything overly idiotic
Orientation day arrived and walking down the halls of Xavier University for the first time was the most daunting moment I’ve had since arriving to this One Happy Island The lost and insecure
“high school” sensation left me imme-diately as I was greeted warmly by the admin girls Liza and Daphne and given step-by-step instructions on how to survive the next couple of days
I settled into my routine, or so I thought Day after day the workload piled up and all I could think about was what did I get myself into, medical school is impossible and I should get out now But the over-whelming support and unity from the upperclassmen and my fellow classmates gave me a sense of family that helped counteract the constant pressure and stress put upon us It was impressive the amount of unsolicited friendly encour-agement the veteran students of Xavier offered with the unspoken message of “I know what you’re going through.”
A semester is almost over and looking back at it, I’m surprised I’ve come this far without drowning in the constant bombardment of medical information
It has been a unique experience that only Xavier could have offered and thanks to the familial environment provided by the faculty and students, I have no regrets regarding my decision to pursue medi-cine in Aruba
I began my journey of becoming a doc-tor at Xavier University School of Medi-cine It was daunting at first but as days went on it became easier to grasp what needed to be done to be successful
My first semester of medical school in Aruba, whose motto is “One Happy Island.” Am I actually happy?
As I packed my bags to head out to Xavier University School of Medicine, I was very nervous I really did not know what to expect from the school or the island itself Upon arrival, Mr George,
an employee at XUSOM was waiting at the arrival department to drive me to
my apartment During the drive, I was very anxious I remember looking out the window and thinking to myself, wow I’m actually very far from home, all alone, hopefully everything goes well I arrived in Aruba one week be-fore school started; during this time I frequently visited the campus The staff was very comforting and helpful Ms Lisa Koolman, the new student coordinator, was exceptionally accommodating
Before classes started, I had the op-portunity to have a short meeting with the Dean of Basic Sciences Dr Dubey
He definitely made me feel very com-fortable with my decision of choosing Xavier University School of Medicine Overall, the faculty did a tremendous job of making sure all the incoming students felt at ease at the new school Once classes started, the upperclass-men were very helpful The first day of classes, I felt overwhelmed by the help-ful gestures from the upperclassmen
Although I have been at XUSOM for just
a couple of months, the students and faculty have made me feel like we are one big family There have been days when studying for exams got very over-whelming, it was nice to have my fellow classmates help each other get through those periods Academically speak-ing, the newly adapted curriculum was very challenging at first I found myself struggling during my first integrated quiz I remember thinking to myself; how am I supposed to study for seven subjects all at once? It has definitely been a learning experience for me
After the first half of the semester, I can say the new curriculum is actually very efficient I really like the fact that all our classes somehow connect with one another Like any medical school student, I had moments when I was just freaking out about certain classes or exams I feel very blessed to have class-mates and professors that helped me through those moments
Finally, back to answering my question Yes, this island is indeed a happy island
I can proudly say I am very content at-tending medical school at Xavier Uni-versity School of Medicine
This semester several students from the
MD 3 and 4 classes were able to par-ticipate in a hospital externship at Dr Horacio E Oduber Hospital The chance
to apply the skills, bestowed upon us
by our professors, in a clinical setting was an opportunity each student was eager to seize
Students were assigned to either the sur-gical or oncology wards of the hospital Working alongside the doctors, nurses, and hospital staff taught students about the lifestyle, work ethic, and demands of
a typical day at a hospital
The students’ days started with a patient debriefing The nursing staff would go over the charts from earlier in the day to update the new shift This was followed
by rounds with the attending doctor and nursing staff Students were able
to read patient’s charts, see the vari-ous ailments, and further get to see the type of treatment available The natural curiosity of the students, who sought to seek out more and more information, truly impressed the hospital staff
Many facets that are brought up in courses like ICMPD, pathology, and pharmacology were needed in work-ing with patients Several students said
it was “cathartic and invigorating to utilize lectures that are taught in OSCE lab” in a real life situation
The success of this program cannot be overstated The excitement and curiosity
of the upperclassmen students at XU-SOM will guarantee that this externship will be continued and only get better
Dr Niranjan Nayak
is the newest ad-dition TO Xavier University The native from India
is a professor of microbiology and immunology with
a long history in the world of teaching
Dr Nayak got his medical degree from India as well as his residency in “clinical microbiology” He practiced for 6 years
in his country of origin and has been teaching for more than 26 years Dr Nayak has visited the United States on multiple occasions for conferences As
a researcher, Dr Nayak has published over 80 articles including one of his favorite tittles: “Staphylococcus epider-midis in devices and related infections”
Dr Nayak decided to come to Xavier because he was aware of the transfor-mation going on with the integrated curriculum He thinks the integrated cur-riculum is a great way of teaching, if not the best Also, he thinks that the inte-grated curriculum facilitates the learning process through repetition, allowing the student to go home with a clear idea of what’s happening in the classroom
Dr Nayak recommends students to use the textbook more often; he thinks students nowadays focus on slides too much and put the textbook aside The textbook is the “home teacher”; the slides given in class are just the guid-ance When students use only slides, they are not learning the mechanism through which a body response takes place, they only learn the final result
of that response, while when using the book, the whole explanation is given, facilitating the understanding
In short, Dr Nayak is a great addition for the Xavier team by adding experi-ence and knowledge to the program
The semester wherein, you are techni-cally neither student nor intern I’ve had more questions regarding the work-ings and purpose of this semester than any other part of the marathon that is medical school So, what is MD5? Well,
as I said, it’s limbo; it is the semester that Xavier gives student to be part of the school body, but also apart from the school body, as we study for what may be the exam that determines our lives It is a semester that I think many
go in taking for granted But friend of mine, in other medical schools, both in the Carribbean and back home in the States, do not have the luxury of this semester, or the Kaplan course that goes along with it They completely
on their own, having to juggle classes and study time, and in having to find a program or routine that they can only hope works Xavier has given us the gift
of Kaplan, and its years of experience
As a side note, I think its worth saying that, with only a month left in my Kaplan course, I have yet to encounter any new, and therefore panic-inducing, informa-tion So yay, for the last four semesters worth of knowledge! MD5 gives student
a chance to spread their wings, and learn more about themselves as stu-dents, on their own Instead of a rigid 8am onwards schedule, full of classes in
an order the school deems best, MD5 gives us the beauty of waking up (much) later, and planning our days to our own needs I will say this: making a schedule, and sticking to it, no matter what pops
up, is absolutely the most important skill you can have going in, and keeping all the way through MD5
Many, most especially my family and friends back home, have asked why,
if the whole academic aspect of the semester is online, can I not have done
it at home My answer to this is usually two-fold One: its really really reallllly cold in New York City this time of year, and well, Aruba is not Two: being away
at school is a form of focus for me personally Now, I’m sure that there are people who would be able to focus completely and totally on their stud-ies at home; I, unfortunately, am not one of those people Being away from the responsibilities and distractions
of home and family, have kept me in the “school” bubble, where the only thing that I really have to worry about are what chapter should I get through tonight, and how many questions have
I gone through today
In honesty, I’ve loved this semester Kaplan goes through every subject thoroughly, and there are assessment tests at the end of each, which obvi-ously helps keep you on track, but also has a thorough review and explanations
so you can realy learn from your mis-takes The qbank has like 2000 ques-tions, which I’ve developed a love/hate relationship; I love that it’s really USLME style questions, hate that that means the can get really bloody complicated But it’s a learning experience As I said earlier, scheduling is key, 7 hours of self-study, however is best for you—reading
or questions or videos—then four hours
of class, try to at least do the chapter in review thingy at the end, and then usu-ally full night’s sleep, which is possibly the most amazing experience ever
what’s inside
Xavier Times team
Vol 4 - Issue No 2 - Spring 2014
Nursing program MOU with
Western Kentucky University
Baccalaureate of Nursing at XUSOM
MOU Nursing Program Family Health Visits Health Fair Information Resources Small Group Learning Health Fair @ ISA
My Experience at XUSOM Boosting Exam Performance
Prof Dr Nayak
1 person, 6 languages Hospital Externship at HOH The “Limbo” Semester Aruba’s Sixtieth Carneval! Nauman’s Restaurant Review Pharmacology Practical
Faculty editor:
Dr P Ravi Shankar
Student Editor:
Mr Lokesh Bhatt
Faculty advisors:
Dr A Nandy
Dr R Balasubramanium
Ms Gera Roberts
Student members:
Ms Natasha Dyal
Mr Umar Siddiqui
Ms Pinky Ali
Mr Roopak Sekhon
Mr Roberto Rivero
Mr Nauman Ali
Ms Manpreet Kaur
Information resources for medical students
at Xavier University School of Medicine Family Health Visits
Nauman’s Restaurant Review
One Person, Six Languages
Aruba’s sixtieth carneval!
Webinars as a method of faculty
development at XUSOM
Boosting Exam Performance
– last minute preparations
Health Fair at the International School
of Aruba
Health Fair
Small group learning at XUSOM
“Bonbini a Aruba!”
My experience
at XUSOM
Hospital Externship at HOH
Dr Niranjan Nayak,
M.B.B.S, M.D.
MD5 - The “Limbo” Semester
Dr Suzette Scheuermann, PhD MSN RN
Dean - School of Nursing
Gil C Apacible II, DDM, Associate Dean of Student Affairs
Ms Gera Roberts, Librarian
Dr Rishi Bharti, Assoc Prof of Epidemiology
Mr Lokesh Bhatt, MD4 student, Student Editor
Mr Lokesh Bhatt,
MD 4 student, Student editor
Mr Roberto Rivero, MD 2 student
Ms Natasha Dyal, MD 5 student
Ms Andrea Hernandez,
MD 1 student
Ms Manpreet Kaur, MD 1 student
Mr Nauman Ali,
MD 1 Student
Mr Roberto J Rivero, MD 2 student
Dr P Ravi Shankar, Faculty Editor
Signing affiliation agreement between XUSOM and University of Western Kentucky
Xavier University School of Medicine (XUSOM) is proud to announce
that it has recently partnered with Western Kentucky University (WKU)
in Bowling Green, Kentucky This partnership will allow nursing students
to spend the first two years within our nursing program at XUSOM and
then visit the US for the remaining two semesters in a US institution
On January 27, 2014, Dean John Bonaguro and Dean Mary Bennett
of WKU joined President Ravi Bhooplapur and faculty on campus to
celebrate this collaboration for our BSN program and its students
Upon achievement of our program outcomes, our students will
achieve the BSN degree and Commission for Graduates of Foreign
Nursing Schools (CGFNS) review will permit our students to apply
for NCLEX licensure in the US XUSOM and Western Kentucky
Uni-versity will share mutual opportunities for the benefit of students
Students in all disciplines have the re-sponsibility of learning and developing skills that can be used in their occu-pations and to accumulate knowledge that can be used to enrich society For students of medicine, this acquisition
of knowledge is critically important,
as their abilities and understanding of medical facts will be used to benefit many people Medical students have many resources available to help them master the immense amount of infor-mation that exists about medicine and health and to help them succeed in their coursework These resources include textbooks, study and review guides, medical books, medical journals, and online databases The Xavier University School of Medicine Library is instrumen-tal in providing access to many of these information resources for its students
Physical copies of every required text-book for each medical and premedi-cal course at XUSOM are kept at the library These textbooks are available to students for use in completing assign-ments and for exam study and review
In addition, the library collection in-cludes many study guides and review manuals for the USMLE from prominent exam-review publishers such as Kaplan, Elsevier, McGraw-Hill, and Wolters-Klu-wer The library collection also includes many current and significant book titles from all areas of medicine, from anat-omy and physiology to pharmacology and radiology, providing a
well-round-ed assortment of books and guides for in-depth medical research
Current and past issues of several medi-cal journals are also available for use to medical students These journals include the New England Journal of Medicine and the American Journal of Medicine Both of these titles are available to stu-dents 24 hours a day, either online or in paper format at the library
Students can access articles dating back
to 1812 in the New England Journal
of Medicine and the past five years of articles published by the American Jour-nal of Medicine are also available These journals contain the most recent ad-vances and findings in clinical research being conducted by the world’s lead-ing medical professionals and provide
an invaluable source of information for student research
One of the library’s greatest sources
of information is the many online da-tabases that are available to students
24 hours a day via the library website These databases collect information and articles from peer-reviewed and evidence-based medical journals, health agency websites, and govern-ment publications and are managed
by well-known database vendors, such
as Ebsco The information is arranged
in a way that makes student research-ing by topic, author, date range, etc quick and intuitive
Some of the library’s well-known and frequently used databases include PubMed and Medline Plus In addition
to databases with scholarly information, the library has several databases, such
as A.D.A.M
Anatomy Practice and Blue Penguin, that assist with exam preparation and review They provide sample exam questions, topic summaries, anatomical illustrations, images, and radiographs
All of the library materials and
resourc-es available from the library at Xavier University School of Medicine, from the hardbound books and journals to the electronic databases, serve as sources
of valuable information to both stu-dents and faculty as they research vari-ous fields of medicine
In this month’s issue of the Xavier Times I will be cover-ing Five Burgers, a place to grab some burgers or even breakfast in the morn-ing Next on the list is Madame Janette, which is a great dinnertime choice and for those who enjoy pizza you could check out Pizza Bob’s
= Not Recommended
= Average
= Would Return
= Island Favorite
$ = $8 per person $$ = $12 per person $$$ = $18 per person $$$$ = $25 per person
If you haven’t already tried Five Burgers
yet you might want to check it out It’s the closest thing you can get that tastes like it was made back home in the US They have burgers, chicken
sandwich-es, and fries They even have a bean burger for vegetarians I recommend the Western Burger and sweet potato fries Current PM4 Raza Syed describes the Western Burger as “straight cash homie” so I would consider trying it if you haven’t already Five burgers also offers a student discount, just show up with your Xavier I.D and your set
Verdict: Cost: $$
Hours: 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM Address: J E Irausquin Blvd 53000 Phone Number: 586-3904
Madame Janette is an excellent restaurant, which offers fine dining in
a casual atmosphere There are many tasteful, creative dishes on their vast menu They have a lot of selections and whatever your bound to order is going
to be delicious I recommend the bang bang shrimp and the burger loin Their combined worldwide experience gives their dishes an original flavor with a touch of Caribbean in it I highly recom-mend this place; it’d be worth going to
Verdict: Cost: $$$
Address: Cunucu Abou 37, Aruba Phone Number: 587-0184
If you’re tired of getting Dominos and Pizza Hut all the time and want to try something new, you should check out
Pizza Bob’s They have some pretty good chicken BBQ pizza and vegetar-ian pizza They do take more than 20 minutes though Check out it out if you’re ever with some friends
Verdict: Cost: $$
Hours: 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM Address: J.E Irausquin Boulevard 59 Phone Number: 588-9040 ext 790
On Saturday, March 29, 2014, students from MD 1 though MD 4 were invited
to participate in a health fair at the International School of Aruba, an insti-tution hidden on a serene campus in Wayaca It was a unique opportunity for XUSOM students to learn how to treat pediatric patients
FMIG helped coordinate much of the health fair They set up blood pressure readings, BMI charts, hearing tests and vision tests MD 4 students in conjunc-tion with XUSOM’s professors helped consult patients Consultation included letting patients know what the results
of their various tests meant and how they could improve their lifestyle
The exuberance of the young students along with the eagerness of the medical students made for an entertaining and educational day for everyone XUSOM students checked nearly 100 people throughout the day to tremendous applause The success of this health fair hopefully will ensure that XUSOM’s excellence will continue and that more health fairs are to come
Mrs Emma J Carlton, the new English as second language (ESL) program teacher at Xavier Uni-versity, is a UK native with the ability of speak-ing four different languages, includspeak-ing: English, Spanish, German and French Mrs Emma has been living in Aruba since July, 2013 and has been teaching at Xavier since January 2014
Previously, Mrs Emma visited the island on four different occasions, during which she fell in love with it Her first
visit was when she was 22 years old Not too long after, she decided
to move to Aruba because of personal reasons as well as the “One
happy island” feeling that stayed with her from her past visits
Interestingly, medicine has been one of Mrs Emma’s passions since
she was a kid She volunteered in the Red Cross, worked in different
hospitals and was involved in the health world for a few years She
even worked in India for six months at a Tuberculosis and Leprosy
hospital Simultaneously, Mrs Emma dedicated her spare time towards
doing workshops and fundraising in order to raise awareness about
such diseases In the middle of her travels around the globe working
in the health field, she had a realization and she became passionate
about languages Since that moment, she decided to go to school to
learn French and Spanish
Mrs Emma graduated from Lancaster University in the UK Her first
teaching experience did not start after the diploma though, Mrs Emma
taught French for seven months as part of an internship to complete
her degree Then, she taught in different places including Argentina,
where she taught English to young children for about two years
The ESL program at Xavier University consists of two classes at the
mo-ment, the beginner class consisting of 12 students and the advanced
class, consisting of 17 students Most of the students are from different
nationalities including Colombia, Venezuela, and natives from Aruba
The classes usually take place in the evenings throughout the week
In short, Mrs Emma is a great addition to the Xavier family, and she
reinforces it by loving the environment in which she is working in at
Xavier; and who knows, soon she might be speaking Papiamento and
Dutch as well, adding to a total of 6 different languages ”Talking about
a well-developed Broca’s and Wernicke’s area”
The heat was beginning to get to us! It was after four in the afternoon
and we had been sitting on the hard wooden benches right from ten in
the morning I never realized sitting still could be so difficult and was
beginning to empathize with students everywhere who endure long
hours of sitting and relative immobility The costumes were colorful
and the dancers young and picturesque We (I, Dr Bala, Isu (Bala’s wife),
Dr Danish and Ayesha (Danish’s wife)) were in a covered pavilion near
the Cricket Club watching Aruba’s sixtieth Carnival celebrations
The massive procession reached our location around eleven thirty
and then it was a feast to the eyes and the senses and often a direct
frontal assault on the ear drums Alcohol was flowing faster and more
freely than the ‘soft’ water from Aruba’s desalination plant (the world’s
second largest) and everyone was having a good time The truck floats
were magnificent and the dancers are riotous kaleidoscope of color as
they twisted and twirled in the bright sunshine People were dancing
on both sides of the road and were waving to revelers in the carnival
parade We were feeling a bit lost as we knew very few revelers Dr Bala
had been in ‘one happy island’ the longest and his ‘young’, dapper and
handsome landlord ‘Chichi’ (Hector Peres) was keeping us company
Then we saw Jairo, our office assistant driving one of the trucks and
shouted to draw his attention Jairo (may be) as surprised to see us as
we were to see him, waved wildly The music trucks shook the ground
and other structures as they slowly moved towards Palm Beach
I was thinking about what I had read about Aruba’s carnival in ‘Island
temptations’ Today Aruba’s carnival is one of the best known in the
Caribbean and a major attraction for tourists and residents In the
1920s small clubs and organizations started having carnival parties The
idea was to finish off the rich food and drink before the period of
ab-stinence during Lent In the 1940s the Lago refinery was started in San
Nicholas, the Sun City Many of the workers were from Trinidad, British
Guyana and Jamaica, countries with a rich carnival tradition Aruba’s
carnival is said to borrow heavily from Trinidad In 1955 the first official
Carnival in the modern sense of the term was held by the Tivoli club in
both Oranjestad and San Nicolas
Old photographs show simple floats decorated with palm fronds The
carnival underscores the traditional rivalry between San Nicolas and
Oranjestad Oranjestad is credited with initiating the first floats while
San Nicolas started the first foot parades The story of the Carnival
Queens was also fascinating Certain families seem to have a monopoly
on queens with mothers, daughters and nieces all being crowned
through the years
Around two weeks earlier we had watched the fascinating display of
lights during Aruba’s Tivoli lighting parade The lighting parade was
absolutely wonderful I was captivated by the shimmering glasses
from which the participants were partaking refreshments There were
a few street vendors walking up and down with their carts selling
various trinkets Chichi told me they were from Haiti, the poorest
nation in the Caribbean Danish and Ayesha had purchased a
shim-mering light saber and in the darkness Danish seemed like Luke
Skywalker (of Star wars fame) battling with the dark side of the force
The parade was a kaleidoscope of colors ranging from cool whites,
and greens to warmer yellows and orange The monster trucks with
their bands belting out powerful rhythms had searchlights which
sliced through the darkness The night was cool and we were
sit-ting on the top rows enjoying the refreshing trade winds Right at
the end the carnival became a community affair when anyone who
wanted could dance his/her way all the way towards Palm Beach or
till whatever distances their steady (or unsteady) legs could carry
them! The truck from Dienst Openbare Werken (DOW) brought up
the rear and the DOW guys were removing the barriers from both
sides of the road and carrying them away on their trucks
The carnival was well organized Refreshment trucks were present and
regular intervals and also rest room trucks and trucks allowing revelers
to sit down and stretch their legs when the dancing and the drinking
became too much to bear! Chichi was telling us how it is getting
in-creasingly expensive to participate in the parade There is an entrance
fee and participants have to pay for their costumes which can often
cost four to five thousand florins or more
Aruba’s carnival is a burst of fun, spontaneity, color and good will
un-der warm, blue tropical skies I have now enjoyed two Aruban carnivals
and look forward expectantly to the sixty-first version in 2015!
It is that time of the semester again when even the most sluggish and
easygoing students pick up their study material and start camping at
the library With the exams looming ahead, everyone turns their
ut-most attention towards their all-too-soon arrival and starts devoting
sincere attention towards preparation; usually for the first time all
se-mester long While the atmosphere of revision, and first time learning
for some, has started to gain ground, perhaps some study pointers
and tips need to be highlighted so that the students can efficiently
utilize their time and make the most of their efforts Among
numer-ous ways through which studying can be maximally optimized, I will
discuss three extremely important ones which cannot be neglected
and provide a good boost to scores when time is limited
First and foremost, the biggest mistake students make, as they sit
down to review, is start taking extensive notes of everything they
come across Whether textbooks or PowerPoint presentations,
the time for detailed note-taking is long past and with little time left
this exercise does not facilitate retention; only slight familiarization
Detailed note-taking is a tool which is best exercised on a daily basis
as the classes progress in earlier stages of the semester; at this late
however, only very high yield notes such as tables and concept maps
should be focused on provided they were not compiled earlier in the
semester The best method would be to revise the PowerPoint
presen-tations over and over again until you are intimately familiar with them
Print them out perhaps and write additional keywords on the side as
reminders of key concepts associated with the subject material Thus,
the first study tip is: do not make any detailed notes last minute
be-fore the exams as they eat up a lot of time and retention is very poor
with regards to the amount of time spent on the endeavor
So, while taking detailed notes is discouraged as much as charting
concept maps and review tables encouraged, perhaps the most
guar-anteed method of excelling in any subject is to do as many multiple
choice questions, MCQs, as possible There are numerous benefits
associated with this habit They help understand which aspects of each
topic are clinically relevant and thus most often tested One thing is
understood: there are only so many concepts which can be tested and
further, only so many ways these key concepts can be tested in Tests
and exams assess these concepts in numerous ways and doing MCQs
exposes students to a vast majority, if not all, of the possible ways a
concept can be tested This is what elevates and decides between top
students vying each other for scholarships or the sheer pride of
finish-ing first in their batch In addition, MCQs also serve as excellent
learn-ing objectives The wrong answers need not necessarily be skipped
over while practicing; rather, they can be used as means of revising
other concepts not tested in the question
Lastly, these MCQs can be even more useful if solved during a group
study session Group study, admittedly, is akin to playing with fire; if
not given utmost attention and care, the handlers will end up burning
themselves However, optimization through modifications is very easy
to achieve Every member present should have gained individual
mas-tery of the topics of discussion prior to convening for discussion with
others Otherwise, they turn into tutoring sessions which are not as
efficient use of the time; especially close to the exams This one simple
modification is usually enough to resolve problems associated with
group study matters As for the benefits of doing questions in groups,
solving MCQs in groups can be the most effective way of solidifying
concepts as this exercise includes the positives of practicing MCQs as
well as studying in a group setting The benefits associated with MCQs
are already highlighted and their effect is greatly increased in group
settings because in case of someone getting answers wrong, those
who correctly answered the question can explain the concepts
asso-ciated with the answer; thus revising themselves while resolving any
knowledge gaps in other group members
Conclusively, these three methods are excellent ways of providing late
semester boosts to scores and performance Best of luck to everyone
on their exams!
Affiliation agreement with University of Western Kentucky
an interview with Mrs Emma J Carlton
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
xavier times
the
xavier university school of medicine
Provisionally accredited by CAAM-HP
X A V I E R U N I V E R S I T y ’ S O F F I C I A L N E W S P U B L I C A T I O N
During the last two decades teaching-learning methods and the
curric-ulum in medical schools has undergone tremendous changes Medicine
like most other fields of activity is coping with an information explosion
Doctors will have to make sense of increasing amounts of complex
information during their careers and should develop the ability to learn
and understand new information Lifelong learning and the ability to
continue to learn even after finishing medical school is a vital
compo-nent of the education of future doctors With the increasingly
complex-ity of modern healthcare the abilcomplex-ity to work in teams is also gaining
importance Considering all these challenges, small group activity-based
learning is becoming increasingly common in medical schools 1 2
Problem-based learning (PBL) as an educational philosophy had its
origins in McMaster University in Canada and Maastricht University in
the Netherlands in the 1960s PBL has become a common educational
methodology in medical schools in the ensuing five decades 3 4
Medical schools use PBL either in combination with other
teaching-learning methodologies (predominantly lectures) or as the
predomi-nant learning strategy 3 4 We started PBL sessions at XUSOM from
the summer 2013 semester in May Sessions are conducted once a week
for a particular group of students Each problem runs over a two week
period with the first session being devoted to studying the problem,
identifying gaps in knowledge and formulating learning objectives
Dur-ing the second session students as a group present their learnDur-ing
objec-tives and the facilitator mentions areas which may require further study,
assesses the group dynamics and provides feedback
Medical humanities (MH) has been mentioned as using subjects
tradi-tionally known as the humanities like literature, philosophy and drama
among others for specific purposes in medical education 5 MH
pro-grams are common in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia
and Canada among others In the Caribbean MH programs are not
common I was involved in initiating MH programs in the Himalayan
country of Nepal 6 After I joined XUSOM in January 2013, Dr Dubey
was keen that students at XUSOM should be exposed to MH and I
start-ed a module for MD1 students during the Spring 13 semester Since
them a MH module is conducted for all first semester students About
seven or eight sessions are conducted during a module The
activity-based, small group sessions are conducted every Monday afternoon
There has been recent emphasis on improving prescribing skills
among medical students Medical students should be able to
pre-scribe rationally based on objective criteria and sessions on rational
prescribing are being conducted in many medical schools 7 8 The
WHO Guide to good prescribing and the Ethical criteria for
medic-inal drug promotion have been widely used We started conducting
a few sessions on personal (P) drug selection, and critical analysis of
drug advertisements and promotional materials from the Spring 13
semester Students also carry out simple experiments in autonomic
pharmacology using a computer aided learning (CAL) module
Small group learning and students working in groups are also utilized
during case presentations, Clinicopathological correlations (CPCs), and
student seminars The desks in XUSOM class rooms can be easily
rear-ranged to enable small group work The institution has invested in a new
facility for small group learning in the annexe equipped with comfortable
seating, work tables, flip boards, white boards and a LCD projector
Student feedback about PBL and the small group sessions has been
positive We had recently studied student perceptions about small
group effectiveness during PBL sessions 9 Student feedback
about small group effectiveness was positive Students are also using
small group learning on their own during evenings and holidays to
learn various topics The process of explaining to other students
significantly improves your own knowledge about a topic
In forthcoming semesters we plan to further strengthen and enlarge
small group learning in the institution! 3
R E F E R E n C E S
1 Burgess AW, McGregor DM, Mellis CM Applying Established
Guidelines to Team-Based Learning Programs in Medical Schools:
A Systematic Review Acad Med 2014 Feb 19 [Epub ahead of print]
2 Meo SA Basic steps in establishing effective small group teaching
sessions in medical schools Pak J Med Sci 2013 Jul;29(4):1071-1076
3 Neville AJ Problem-based learning and medical education forty
years on A review of its effects on knowledge and clinical performance
Med Princ Pract 2009;18(1):1-9
4 Onyon C Problem-based learning: a review of the educational and
psychological theory Clin Teach 2012 Feb;9(1):22-6
5 Shankar PR (2011) Medical Humanities In R Biswas & CM
Mar-tin (Eds.), User-driven healthcare and narrative medicine:
utiliz-ing collaborative social networks and technologies Hershey, PA:
Medical Information Science Reference
6 Shankar PR Developing and sustaining a medical humanities
pro-gram at KIST Medical College, Nepal Indian J Med Ethics 2013:10:51-53
7 Gibson KR, Qureshi ZU, Ross MT, Maxwell SR Junior doctor-led
‘near-peer’ prescribing education for medical students Br J Clin
Phar-macol 2014;77:122-9
8 Ross S, Loke YK Do educational interventions improve
prescrib-ing by medical students and junior doctors? A systematic review Br J
Clin Pharmacol 2009;67:662-70
9 Shankar PR, Nandy A, Balasubramanium R, Chakravarty S Small
group effectiveness during PBL sessions in a Caribbean medical school
J Educ Eval Health Prof 2014, 11:4 • http://dx.doi.org/10.3352/
jeehp.2014.11.4
Dr P Ravi Shankar, Faculty Editor, Chair, Curriculum Committee
Mr Junaid Sargana, MD 4 student
Pharmacology Practical
Mr Lokesh Bhatt, MD 4 student
MD 3 and 4 students partake in a pharmacology practical course In
this class students learn the process in which to prescribe
medica-tion to a patient Although this seems like a simple way to define the
course, the skills learned in the class go above and beyond what is
typically done in a normal lecture
Students are given caes with varying scenarios in which they must
come up with a preferred drug of choice, how to write a prescription,
and to demonstrate how to use that medication (with the help of a
standardized patient)
There are nine steps to counseling a patient:
The student must describe the disease in simple terms
The student must let the patient know what
non-pharmaco-logical measures they should take to improve their condition
For example, if a patient has diabetes, let them know that
must reduce their weight, avoid simple sugars, increase their
fiber intake, and exercise
Find out if the patient is on any medication or has allergies to
anything This is in case there are any contraindications to the
prescribed medication
Students must choose the correct medication and the proper
dosage
Students must demonstrate how to properly use the
medica-tion For example, if the patient is an asthmatic, then the
stu-dent should show the proper techniques for using an inhaler
The patient should be informed of any adverse side effects
As a physician, one must follow up with the patient
Appoint-ments should be made at appropriate times
Allow the patient some time to ask any questions or express
any concerns
Have the patient repeat all of the instructions This is to ensure
that they have properly learned how and when to use their
medication
Students will be able to use these skills and knowledge learned in the
pharmacology practical course in a clinical setting These steps are the
keys for a successful appointment with a patient
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OFFICIAL MATCH RESULT 2014
1 Hassan Mahdi Al-khalisy
Pinnacle Health Hosps-PA; Internal Medicine
2 Gabriel Anzueto
Cook County-Stroger Hospital-IL; Pediatrics
3 Amreen Sajjad Aziz
West Virginia University SOM; Family Medicine
4 Sameer Baig
Griffin Hospital-CT; Internal Medicine
5 Amany Bashir
St Elizabeth Med Ctr-NY; Family Medicine
6 Hafsa Aziz Bhatti
Med Ctr of Columbus-GA; Family Medicine
7 David Brual
MacNeal Hospital-IL; Internal Medicine
8 Frances Denu
Harlem Hospital Ctr-NY; Internal Medicine
9 Ramona Grewal
Louisville SOM-KY; Psychiatry
10 Michelle Lim
MidMichigan Med Center-MI; Family Medicine
11 Gargi Patel
Creedmoor Psych Ctr-NY; Psychiatry
12 Vipin Philip
Geisinger Health System-PA; Pediatrics
13 Ashvin Kumar Punnyamurthi
Concord Hospital-NH; Family Medicine
14 Sumeet Singh
Howard Univ Hosp-DC; Psychiatry
15 Janelle Yee
Mount Sinai; Internal Medicine
16 Lee Berman
Delaware Health and Social Services; Psychiatry
17 Chinmay Dalal
University British Columbia, Vancouver; Family Medicine
18 David Ibrahim
Southern Illinois University (Decatur); Family Medicine