McMaster Currriculum

[DrNietzsche]

Hello All,

 

I was wondering if current MAC students could shed some light on how the curriculum works? For example, MF1 is oxygen and blood supply. In this roughly 3 month block, do we learn, the physiology, anatomy and then pathology of these systems, along with associated drugs, etc? Or does pathology come later?

Also, what do you think are some good tips in handling the curriculum for new students. I am not particularly worried about the PBL aspect, but anything else would be interesting to know. 

[bearded frog]

It's system based, and case based. So your tutorials will have a case like "Mr. X has been having some chest pain when walking his dog for the last few months but it stops quickly when he rests. Today when walking the dog he had severe chest and left arm pain and shortness of breath." But much longer. Then your tutorial group would come up with learning objectives based on the case, go off and read up on those objectives however you want, and then reconvene to discuss them. Your objectives for the cases over the course of the unit will involve the relevant anatomy, physiology, pathology, diagnosis, and treatment of the common disorders in that system.

[Edict]

On 8/3/2017 at 9:16 AM, MaritimerMD said:

Hello All,

 

I was wondering if current MAC students could shed some light on how the curriculum works? For example, MF1 is oxygen and blood supply. In this roughly 3 month block, do we learn, the physiology, anatomy and then pathology of these systems, along with associated drugs, etc? Or does pathology come later?

Also, what do you think are some good tips in handling the curriculum for new students. I am not particularly worried about the PBL aspect, but anything else would be interesting to know. 

Its case based so it is very clinical from the start. There is usually one introductory lecture to each unit which is important to go to. The rest of the lectures are piecemeal and random, they definitely will not cover all you need to know in medical school. Sometimes they go too much in depth, other times topics get missed. 

In general anatomy at McMaster covers only the basics. Physiology, pathology and pharmacology are usually recapped in tutorial. Essentially, you have to learn everything on your own (anatomy, physiology, pathology and pharmacology), McMaster's taught curriculum is not comprehensive and if you do not adequately study on your own you will struggle in clerkship and on electives. It is difficult to find enough time to cover everything on your own, so if you are someone who is not surgical, focus more on pathology and clinically relevant stuff. If you are thinking surgery, you will have to cover anatomy in addition. 

In general, the best way to prepare for clerkship (which is what pre-clerkship is for) is to know the basics in preclerkship but start learning by definition, epidemiology, etiology, clinical presentation, signs and symptoms and treatment instead of by anatomy, physiology, pathology and pharm. 90% of what you end up getting pimped on or needing to know in clerkship is related to the former not the latter. 

 

 

 

 

[DrNietzsche]

Awesome! Thank you both for your advice! This helps a lot in structuring my mind-set going in  

One other thing. I realize we will have our schedules next week sometime, but what does a typical day and week look like for you?