Guest lots of thinking Posted March 20, 2003 Report Share Posted March 20, 2003 Hi, Can someone give me some ideas of what they think the weaknesses of the program at UofM are?? thanks M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brandonite Posted March 25, 2003 Report Share Posted March 25, 2003 I should say first of all that I'm very happy here, and these are just a few minor weaknesses I think the program are. 1. Block 1 is supposed to make sure everyone has the required basic science knowledge. A nice idea, but it was executed rather poorly IMHO. Courses like immunology made little to no sense, and it would be nice to do more anatomy and "normal" before jumping into abnormal conditions (diseases). To the credit of the administration though, they listened to our complaints and struck a committee to completely revamp Block 1, and that might be in place by next year. 2. Block 2 is boring. 3. The gross lab is poorly ventilated. So it gets hot in there, and the odor tends to just hang in the air. 4. Sometimes I wonder if I learn anything from PR (our version of PBL). It's a nice break in the day and all, but... 5. It's cold in Manitoba. And the school is in a bad neighborhood. I just got back from a conference and got to meet a lot of other med students, and I should add that I'm very happy with my choice to stay in Manitoba. Every school has it's problems, and I think we have less than most others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ManitobaMed Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 Actually, I pretty much agree with Brandonite, except that problem solving does, in my opinion, serve a purpose and is well-organized. One weakness I would add is that I don't think we get enough time to practice/go over/do anything whatsoever with the a lot physical exam skills we learn in Block II. Basically, we spend a couple of hours on each of a bunch of different exams (abdominal, heart, resp, CNS, etc.) and then forget about them until we re-learn the same exam skills in the relevant Block. At this point, I'm unsure as to why they even teach them in Block II -- we certainly haven't used most of them, and we've already been told that they won't be on our clinical skills exam for this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brandonite Posted March 30, 2003 Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 I don't think I've used my otoscope since December. And I certainly don't remember all of the stuff they taught us then. I had completely forgotten about that. And, I like PR. I guess it does serve a purpose, in that it teaches you how to think about a problem and how to approach it. But most of the cases we've had so far have just gone over material from lecture one more time... But again. I'm very very happy here. I would choose Manitoba over any school in Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lactic Folly Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 I've been looking at the material on the Faculty of Medicine website, and noticed that it's dated 1998.. do you know if the curriculum listed there is basically still the one that's used currently? The calendar calls the preclerkship years "problem based learning," but how much of the curriculum does it actually comprise? I understand there's a mixture of small group/labs/lectures/self-study - anything else? Thanks for any insight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest babydoctor Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 Since someone asked about the weakness I thought I'd ask about the strengths of the U of M program as compared to toher universities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ManitobaMed Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 "a mixture of small group/labs/lectures/self-study" about sums it up. The relative proportions of these vary considerably from block to block, subject to subject. For example, our nephrology section in Block IV was based largely on assigned studies (i.e. read the notes on your own time) and small group tutorial sessions based on the assigned studies. Respirology in Block III was similar but with a lecture added in so that, for a given topic, we'd have a lecture, an assigned study, and a tutorial. By contrast, sections like repro and endocrinology had a higher proportion of lectures and fewer tutorials. Block V seems to have more labs than other blocks -- to be expected, as this block covers neuro and MSK. The tutorials, regardless of the block, are based around clinical cases and so would, I suppose, fit under the umbrella of PBL. Problem solving (our main version of problem-based learning) is a regular weekly occurrence, regardless of the block, and is based around the current block curriculum. Officially, this consists of a 2 hour small group session led by a preceptor once a week, along with a 2 hour session for the group to get together and discuss/work without the preceptor; however, the second session is on Friday afternoons -- often our only afternoon off in the week -- and is therefore generally ignored. Between the preceptor-led session the first week and the preceptor-led session the second, individual students within the group research learning issues as decided in the first session. We then report back to the group with what we've learned and discuss how this information impacts on the current problem solving case. WRT our strengths, I'll get back to you. I have three minutes to get down to the gym for a volleyball game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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