Most people associate medical school with white lab coats and anatomy lessons. But students in the first class at Western Michigan University’s Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine got a much difference experience Tuesday. They got a taste of what they could face as a doctor in the real world.
For the last five weeks, the students have been taking an 80-hour course in what it takes to be a medical first responder. Assistant Western Med School Dean William Fales says yesterday’s hands-on experience at Kalamazoo County’s Regional Public Safety Training Center included a simulated bomb explosion.
“It’s zero light, a smoky environment, and loud noises, and it really puts them out of their element and stresses them and requires them to come together as a team to solve a problem.”
Inside the smoke-filled pole barn, students treated volunteers pretending to be injured, dragging them down a simulated street complete with curbs, storefronts, and an ATM. The emergency lights and sirens made everything feel a bit surreal. But Fales says it will make them better doctors when they graduate.
“It gives them an idea of how different disciplines work. They’re taking care of patients who were in motor vehicle crashes; a lot of different disciplines do that, maybe in rehab or in a primary care setting. It gives them an idea of what they’ve gone through. And we think it helps them build confidence in their own clinical skills in whatever specialty they end up going into.”
Besides bombs and car crashes, the Western med students also got experience responding to a woman in labor, a near-drowning, and a patient in cardiac arrest. Western’s med school is one of only a few around the country that give first-year students that kind of experience. Student Eric Edewaard of Holland says he’s glad that it does.
“It’s the constant reminder that care is patient-centered. There’s often a lot of distance, especially in your first two years of medical school, between the student and the patient. And we’re right there, whether it’s a manikin or an actor, we’re right there with the patients and learning how to take care of people.”
Edewaard and fellow student Patricia Choi of Oregon also got to rappel down a tower standing in for a three-story apartment building. Choi says she’s never done anything like that before.
“We always have to be prepared for anything we’re not used to. I think mentally, even if you’re not going into emergency medicine, I think it’s good to challenge yourself all the time for something that’s not your comfort zone.”
Fales says the experience may have been challenging. But it didn’t scare anyone away from pursuing a career as a physician.
“They may want to turn into firefighters or paramedics after this and rethink their career. But I think it brings them together and motivates them to do well. They’ve got four hard years ahead of them to become doctors. This is a good way to have some fun and apply some skills.”
Western’s School of Medicine will hold a public open house at its building in downtown Kalamazoo Saturday, September 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
