Standardized patients/clinical experience?

[woods]

I've been reading some past posts about clinical experience and just wanted to see if anything has changed on the island.

Are there standardized patients? A friend who went through medical school at home (Canada) said that the first year consisted of LOTS of practice in learning to take a proper history of a patient. She said almost every day they had a standardized patient. Is there anything like this on Saba?
Also a common complaint is that people aren't happy with the amount of clinical experience they get during the first two years of the program. Has this improved at all on the island? What's the situation like now?

Thanks!

[wolfvgang22]

I've been reading some past posts about clinical experience and just wanted to see if anything has changed on the island.

Are there standardized patients? A friend who went through medical school at home (Canada) said that the first year consisted of LOTS of practice in learning to take a proper history of a patient. She said almost every day they had a standardized patient. Is there anything like this on Saba?
Also a common complaint is that people aren't happy with the amount of clinical experience they get during the first two years of the program. Has this improved at all on the island? What's the situation like now?

Thanks!Don't think it's changed much. Probably the schools priniciple weakness in my opinion, and I am very grateful for Saba University by the way.
From the schools perspective, it might be hard to get trained standardized patients without raising tuition some to pay them. Also, Saba is a tiny island, not a big metropolis...you would be very likely to run into your standardized patients every day, and so finding people who are open to being examined by students might be harder on Saba. Many Sabans have very traditional values, which might decrease available patients.

[darkmansaad]

i just started rotations so my experience probalby isnt as strong as others. i didnt feel like i was well prepared for hands on at all....and then i realized no one else in my rotation which consists of other med students, PA students (among others) knew it as well. But I felt happy as I knew any basic science questions that were thrown at me (Steven Johnson syndrome and priapism for psych drugs) so overall Im very happy with my Saba experience so far...and if you've read any of my posts previously all i do is make fun of saba and the people there so enjoy this one serious post about my experience, it probalby wont happen again til my next rotation

[huxald]

i just started rotations so my experience probalby isnt as strong as others. i didnt feel like i was well prepared for hands on at all....and then i realized no one else in my rotation which consists of other med students, PA students (among others) knew it as well. But I felt happy as I knew any basic science questions that were thrown at me (Steven Johnson syndrome and priapism for psych drugs) so overall Im very happy with my Saba experience so far...and if you've read any of my posts previously all i do is make fun of saba and the people there so enjoy this one serious post about my experience, it probalby wont happen again til my next rotation

Saad,

I come for the education, but I stay for your criticism! :D

[aspiringmedstudent]

The only patients you see (as of now) on Saba are your 2 hospital days for the whole 5 semesters. In addition to that, you're required to do 1 to 2 full history and physical exams that you turn in as a report.

Last semester, we held our very first Health Fair at the University that allowed us to have a bit more hands on experience - doing histories, blood pressures, cholesterol testing, and neurological exams. I hope they continue to do the Health Fair - it was a lot of fun. I was on the organizing comittee, and after the first fair was a success, there was talk between organizers and faculty about more hands on experience in 4th semester. They brought up the possibility of maybe using the Physical Diagnosis lab as a little clinic to do histories and physicals on Sabans and students that you would start doing in 4th semester. I don't know if anything is currently being done about that now - I kinda doubt it.

I would suggest doing a lot of shadowing over the breaks to get a bit more experience. While you may not know much in the beginning, every little bit helps!