Catch Up Time

Well dear reader, most of what I have to say is physio related, and I've been blogging that on a student bulletin board, so I'll just copy that straight over:

Thursday 4th

Thursday - and the first proper day of lectures and stuff.

We started off with CBL - which is one of many TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) that we have to be familiar with. I used to work in computing and I thought that was bad for abbreviations. ROM stands for something different now!

First off was CBL - Case Based Learning, which is like Problem Based Learning only different. Quite how it's different escapes me, but not to worry. Aware that we were in a room I hadn't been in before, on an unfamiliar wing, I went to find the room yesterday so I'd be on time today. Sure enough I found it, on the first floor, as suggested by our folder, only on corridor 3a instead of corridor six. I consoled myself with the thought that the room said "Room 55" on the door, which seemed pretty unequivocable, and anyway it was at the corridor six end of the sub-corridor. So - all prepared, I headed up there this morning with a confident air about me. I saw other groups gathering in neighbouring rooms, and walked in to see another physio and several unknown people (medics etc) in the room, but no lecturer. And what was more odd, no furniture. We went in search of another room containing a waiting lecturer to tell him of his error!

We didn't find him though, and after 15 minutes exploring the neighbouring corridors (St George's makes the Hampton Court Maze seem simplistic) we gave up and decided to head down to the ground floor to ask at reception, pondering whether there was some trick we weren't aware of like Harry Potter searching for the mysterious platform nine-and-three-quarters.

On the way, who should we bump into but our lecturer, keenly searching for his missing students. Turns out there's two rooms fifty-five, which isn't remotely confusing at all, oh no, and the one on the ground floor is on corridor six. Anyway - he could see we'd been trying and we met the two students who'd somehow managed to find the room, and got stuck into the case. It really was a fascinating process, and it brought up a number of things we didn't know, and were tasked to find out about. While some of the medics knew a few things that I didn't, I generally felt that the non-medics managed to keep up with them pretty well, although that may change as the term goes on. It was a really enjoyable class in spite of the mix up at the start - my only gripe was that it would have been nicer stuck in the middle of the wodge of lectures we had to follow.

After that we had a quick break, I gtot a coffee, but before I was half way through the others headed down towards the main lecture hall. UNfortunately at the moment there's an interim arrangement whereby the 400 or so students are split between three lecture rooms with a video link to two of them. Getting in the main hall means you have a person in front of you, but even having left 15 minutes early we were still in one of the overflow rooms - and I'd wasted half, my coffee trying to swig it quickly.

The video link worked well, although there was a brief period of confusion, not unlike on the Eurovision Song Contest where they contact the juries across Europe for their votes "Can you hear me theatre F?". Anyway - it was a good lecture, as was the next one, and by the end of 90 minutes we'd gone through half the A level biology syllabus and for thos e who hadn't done much before, I imagine their heads were spinning! There were some great links to video clips etc that were fascinating to watch.

Then a long break for lunch, and I went down to the computer room to check my email. I came out for a bit of fresh air before the afternoon lecture, only to find students gathering for the afternoon lecture, 35 minutes before it was due to start. by 15 minutes before, it was packed like the lobby at Victoria Tube Station in the middle of rush hour, and I nearly decided to go away and just go in an overflow theatre rather than stick in that crush.

ANyway - we went in, we covered another big chunk of the A level syllabus at near light speed, which was fine for me as it was a uuseful refresher, but again those who hadn't done it looked a bit gob-smacked. The room was a bit airless, and even though it was another lively lecture, I found myself nodding off.

Anyway -that was it for the day - an early finish at 4pm, but I felt knackered! I'd only had half a cup of coffee since about 8am, which is most unlike me, and I suspect I had caffeine deficiency. I remedied it with a visit to the coffee bar, where I bumped into another student and we had a good old chat.

All in all a really interesting day - with well put together, interesting lectures plus the CBL which was really fascinating.

Right - well a few hours after writing that, I felt compelled. I've discovered that CBL stands for compulsion based learning. We had stuff to find out for next week related to this week's case, and I've only gone and done it already, mainly because it was actually damn interesting to find out what was going on. Would I have done it this quickly if I'd just been told to read a load of notes on S. Aureus and relevant antibiotics? Quite possibly not I think - although it is of huge interest to me I think that somehow having a "real" case (albeit hypothetical) does make it more compelling.

I'm also starting to see how cleverly the course has been put together so that the theory this week (which includes infections) fits together with the CBL (infection of a central line) and the clinical skills (hand washing etc). This apparently is no accident, and I reckon having the various different facets of a topic such as infection given to us close together is a great way to learn the material. I know from experience that this approach really works for me, and also from my experience as a teacher, I've always found that concrete examples and presenting stuff from different perspectives has helped students in the past.

Shame there was the cock up with the Schroedinger's Room 55 though

Saturday 6th

I have to say that so far I've been really impressed with the standards of the lectures - fantastic notes, clearly and enthusiastically presented, and with some excellent links to resources such as animations and video clips.

Yesterday morning was another morning like this, and in spite of the fact the Q&A session ran on into the coffee break, I was hooked and wanted to hear the answers (although some people seemed to have been dozing during the lecture as the questions had already been answered!)

Then lunch (jacket spud for me), a good old chat around the table and then off to an afternoon that saw four groups switching between a thing to tell us about all the library databases and resources (useful - although I doubt I'll use them for a while but good to know that they're there), and then a quick thing on learning styles. I already know about this coming from education, but for those who hadn't heard of them I think it could have done with a bit more explanation, although there may be more as I think we have a follow up session.

Then after that for me it was a talk on disposal of clinical waste by an hilarious woman who made what I thought would be a dull (but essential) topic rather fun. Finally it was time to head up to the cubicles for real hand washing training. We were in groups of about six, each with a med student from the fourth year or so teaching us, and the one I had was excellent - not only demoing handwashing well but really teaching us well. George's seems to place a great emphasis on students helping each other out and I'm sure it's a great way to do it - it made the session fascinating and I'm sure it's good practice for when you qualify and have to teach younger doctors and stuff.

We'd arranged to go for a drink afterwards but the student bar doesn't open until five so we headed down to a local hostelry, and bumped into Tom, a second year on the way, who was doing a placement at George's. It was great to see his enthusiasm and also he happened to know the best pubs in the area. We spent a very entertaining hour or two chattign about the course, life in general, and gettign to know each other better.

I walked back into George's to pick my coat up from my locker, along with my notes, only to find the fifth floor all locked up. I won't make that mistake again!

We start anatomy on Monday, including a DR sesh, which I'm really looking forward to. Going to give rowing a go tomorrow as well - first time in a rowing boat, although I've used an ergo at the gym

Sunday 7th

I figured I might as well enjoy the extra curricular activities - so today was into George's early for a trip to Chiswick and the Boat Club. I know I keep saying how friendly everyone is at George's but it's true - and today was no exception.

I'd never rowed before but they'd put together an excellent introduction and although I'm hardly Matthew Pinsent I had a great time and I'll definitely be going back to have another go. Thanks to all concerned

Wednesday 10th

Monday is anatomy day - so it was into a 9am lecture for a quick run through of the terminology. I knew most of it from my massage course a few years back, and I think a fair few of the physios did, but there were some neat links and graphical stuff as part of the presentation. Another enjoyable lecture from someone else who's clearly really into their chosen subject.

Then onto the DR where our demonstrator (a medic) took us through some of the basic organs (we'd done a fair bit of this in the intro) and also how to distinguish, nerves, arteries, veins etc

Then a big gap, where a lot of us went to research the CBL task for the week, and for the final session of the day it was up to the cubicles where we were with a real life GP who went through more terminology. Once again the physios in the group seemed to have the edge, and some of the medics looked rather perplexed as to how we knew stuff. Some of the bits I had just remembered from the lecture that morning, so maybe the medics are partying too hard Great fun - and Chris, our GP for the day, told us all sorts of interestign stuff about signs of disease. Medicine sounds like a fascinating course too. It was interesting at the boat club as several of the medics had previously done the physio course either at George's or elsewhere, and some had done biochem as well. Personally I find the whole thing absolutely captivating - and I may well sneak into medic lectures if I have a gap in my day without much to do, but it isn't usually timetabled that way sadly.

Tuesday was a total physio day, and really the first real physio stuff that we've done, other than intro talks. In the mornign we had a manual lifting session, which is to do with safe techniques for lifting. It did vaguely cross my mind that perhaps this was concerned with safely lifting the IFP manual, as this is a very large tome, but it turns out it was referring to patients. I had some idea of it from my observations at local hospitals, but it was good to have it spelt out, and I hadn't seen either the handling belt or the slidey sheet thing. We then practised in groups of three before getting assessed by Fiona - and we all (the three I was in) passed and were signed off, although there are some more competencies that we have to demonstrate - this was just chair stuff and walking.

The afternoon was another practical sesh, and we rotated roudn three rooms going thrugh hot and cold treatment, short wave diathermy, and ultrasound. Some of this is quite technical but again interesting, and there was also the topic of patient interaction. I'm probably more used to this than someone straight out of school, having had to "interact professionally" as a teacher, but a hospital is a different situation and I picked up some useful pointers.

The evening was the Wandsworth Eight. Various teams of George's families (and some of us who were without a mum or dad as they were on placement) joined up, donned fancy dress, and headed off to Wandsworth where we were tied together at the ankles and did extrapolated versions of a three legged race, visiting eight pubs along the way. Huge fun, lots of banter between the teams, and a great night out!

One of the first talks we had at George's closed with the phrase "Work hard, play hard", and we've certainly been doign the latter - guess I ought to do some of the former too

October 14th

End of the third week at George's - and we had some more lectures (all fascinating), another CBL (I love those things) and closed the week with some stuff on bones. All good stuff and highly relevant to the physios of course.

Then the afternoon was a thing on communication skills. George's is a huge believer in getting this right judging by the amount of time allocated for it, and also from what I've heard others say, and IMO, quite rightly so. Ultimately medical jobs are based on making the patient feel like opening up and telling everything, and there's also (for physios anyway) clear communication and motivation needed to ensure the patient does exercises and does them right.

From the physios I've met, a lot of them seem to be pretty well off in this department already - they're a very social bunch who'll chat away to anyone, which while it isn't the whole story will certainly help. Plenty of the people straight out of school may well be alright too, but I suspect some aren't, especially if they've had their heads in books for the last two years to get a string of A grades. Plus I'm sure everyone can learn to do stuff better, myself included.

Having said that, I've done this sort of class before and found them tedious, but I thought this one was really nicely done and kept up the interest well. Then it was off to a lecture on study skills - which perhaps I didn't get as much out of but was still put together well, and then off to the pub with a bunch who were mainly radiographers. I'd probably not have talked to them much normally as we'd be on separate courses unless we'd met at a social, but we're mixed in for CBL and various other groups and we'd arranged the drink after that