The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Experiential learning for MBBS students

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 03, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Experiential learning for MBBS students

Ramya Kannan

TREADMILL TEST: First year SRMC medical students get a feel of the real world of medicine at the cardiology department. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI: Ketan Mehra, a first year MBBS student of Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, knows everything about Raman, a patient. He has given Raman undivided attention, along with 149 classmates.

All of them know that Raman is 45 years old, a chronic smoker, has a history of chest pain and is being treated for acidity and indigestion. The students will also learn how to treat the patient, what tests he must take, how they should interact with him and follow up his case for the next three years.

If you are a first year student of medicine, or have ever been one, you will realise how fantastic it sounds. It is known in some quarters that students of medicine hardly ever get to see the inside of clinical practice until the second year.

At SRMC, however, undergraduate students can saddle theory and practice together, right from the word go. It has introduced a modular curriculum for undergraduate students.

Developed painstakingly over three years, it is aimed at providing comprehensive and integrated information on various specialities, says Registrar Radha Venkatachalam.

The first batch of students has just been introduced to the SRMC cardiovascular block, the first in a series of wholesome experience capsules (respiratory, renal, gastrointestinal) to be provided for UG students.

It was in 2001, along with the Medical Council of India and Harvard Medical International, that the varsity first looked at redeeming the bulk of the MBBS syllabus from its rigid focus on "remembering and repeating facts".

Dedicated efforts of over 150 faculty members and inputs from Harvard resulted in the development of a curriculum that promotes interactive, experiential learning. The model will provide problems (here, patients) to make learning more interesting and enjoyable for students, says curriculum committee chairperson Latha Ravichandran.

The capsule, split into three phases spread over three years, comprises lectures and mentoring by senior faculty members, interactive tutorials and display of specially developed animation and video tracks. It is well within the curricular specifications of the Medical Council of India, the only innovation being in the method of teaching, explains vice-president, Sri Ramachandra Health International, Krishna G. Seshadri.

An additional component, `Pro Dev', will focus on honing the soft skills of students and orienting them towards aspects such as medical law, WHO protocols, ethics, doctor-patient relationship, how to communicate with patients, the strengths of alternative medicine and the economics of health care.

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