Medic Camp
No, don’t be fooled by the name. Medic Camp isn’t a camp at all. It’s actually a one-day event organized by Taylor’s University College’s School of Medicine for aspiring doctors and pharmacists. The event started at 9.00A.M and ended at 5.30P.M.
Throughout the entire event, it focused on one thing: saving John’s life. John is a fictional character; a motorcyclist involved in a road accident and has a dislocated hipbone (the femur bone).
Upon arrival we were divided into 6 groups: Autoclave, ECG, Inhaler, Laparoscope, Pipette and Ultrasound. We were then seated in the lecture theatre for welcoming speeches, a short briefing and an informative talk by PPUKM’s orthopedic surgeon and traumatology professor, Prof. Dr. Shariff Ibrahim titled “Want to Be a Specialist?” The groups were then taken to six different stations and were rotated accordingly.
For group Inhalers, the first station was the “Itch-Go Away!” station where we were to prepare 0.5% of Betamethasone cream (another fancy name for rashes cream) from a 1% Betamethasone. You’d think it’s just as easy as diluting the cream would you? Well, actually, it is. But it’s definitely not as simple as taking 1 part Betamethasone and 2 parts of aqua cream (water, in a form of cream. Mind-blowing, I know).
Next stop was the “Vital Signs” station conducted by Dr. Mazlyn. She taught us the 4 essential vital signs to look out for which are the patient’s pulse, breathing rate, blood pressure and temperature. After a short briefing by Dr. Mazlyn, we then worked in pairs and checked each other’s vital signs. I am now capable of checking someone else’s blood pressure and am now one step closer to medical school!
The last stop before lunch was the “Making Medicine” station where we prepared our own aspirin, the most common household analgesic (pain killer). While waiting for the aspirin crystals to form, Dr. Atif briefed us about how aspirin works in our body, giving it the “pain-killer” effect. So, after attending this station, I can now prepare aspirin too! (If only I have salicylic acid and 3M sulphuric acid lying around in the kitchen somewhere …….)
After an hour break for lunch and a talk by Dr. Hafizi and Mr. Simon (a pharmacist) about what it’s like to be a doctor and a pharmacist, we proceeded to our next station, “The Injured Man” station, which is basically an anatomy station where we got a little insight into human anatomy. Dr. Umesh showed us pictures of x-rays, CAT scans, MRI and etc and taught us how to analyze it. An X-Ray of John’s dislocated femur was always shown in class; along a video of how the doctors put John’s hipbone back in. What’s special about the anatomy station is that it also displayed a corpse of a boy from China. Yup, real life corpse. Talk about eerie.
Next was the “Test Your Blood” station where we tested each other’s urine sample and blood. There was nothing special here, except that the lab smelled like urine. The last station of the day was the “Germs! Go Away” station where we were taught the proper procedure on how to wash our hands; a 7 steps procedure where not only surgeons that are about to perform a surgery must follow, but also every human being on this planet, yes, even after your meal, to keep yourselves (and others) healthy. Also at the same station, we had to put a condom on a plastic male genital. Yes, you read it correctly, condoms, on a plastic male genital. But it’s all for education purposes; we must not pass our germs (or virus, like the Human Immunodeficiency Virus) to anyone.
After we were done visiting the stations, we were brought back to the lecture hall and had a “Who Wants To Be A Doctor?” quiz session (think Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?). The Autoclave group won the 3 round quiz session. Participation certificates were also given out and then we all had a small tea session. All in all, it was truly an enjoyable and informative event. Kudos to the School of Medicine and Pharmacy of TUC!
BY SITI AISYA BT. AMINUDDIN BAKI
Throughout the entire event, it focused on one thing: saving John’s life. John is a fictional character; a motorcyclist involved in a road accident and has a dislocated hipbone (the femur bone).
Upon arrival we were divided into 6 groups: Autoclave, ECG, Inhaler, Laparoscope, Pipette and Ultrasound. We were then seated in the lecture theatre for welcoming speeches, a short briefing and an informative talk by PPUKM’s orthopedic surgeon and traumatology professor, Prof. Dr. Shariff Ibrahim titled “Want to Be a Specialist?” The groups were then taken to six different stations and were rotated accordingly.
For group Inhalers, the first station was the “Itch-Go Away!” station where we were to prepare 0.5% of Betamethasone cream (another fancy name for rashes cream) from a 1% Betamethasone. You’d think it’s just as easy as diluting the cream would you? Well, actually, it is. But it’s definitely not as simple as taking 1 part Betamethasone and 2 parts of aqua cream (water, in a form of cream. Mind-blowing, I know).
Next stop was the “Vital Signs” station conducted by Dr. Mazlyn. She taught us the 4 essential vital signs to look out for which are the patient’s pulse, breathing rate, blood pressure and temperature. After a short briefing by Dr. Mazlyn, we then worked in pairs and checked each other’s vital signs. I am now capable of checking someone else’s blood pressure and am now one step closer to medical school!
The last stop before lunch was the “Making Medicine” station where we prepared our own aspirin, the most common household analgesic (pain killer). While waiting for the aspirin crystals to form, Dr. Atif briefed us about how aspirin works in our body, giving it the “pain-killer” effect. So, after attending this station, I can now prepare aspirin too! (If only I have salicylic acid and 3M sulphuric acid lying around in the kitchen somewhere …….)
After an hour break for lunch and a talk by Dr. Hafizi and Mr. Simon (a pharmacist) about what it’s like to be a doctor and a pharmacist, we proceeded to our next station, “The Injured Man” station, which is basically an anatomy station where we got a little insight into human anatomy. Dr. Umesh showed us pictures of x-rays, CAT scans, MRI and etc and taught us how to analyze it. An X-Ray of John’s dislocated femur was always shown in class; along a video of how the doctors put John’s hipbone back in. What’s special about the anatomy station is that it also displayed a corpse of a boy from China. Yup, real life corpse. Talk about eerie.
Next was the “Test Your Blood” station where we tested each other’s urine sample and blood. There was nothing special here, except that the lab smelled like urine. The last station of the day was the “Germs! Go Away” station where we were taught the proper procedure on how to wash our hands; a 7 steps procedure where not only surgeons that are about to perform a surgery must follow, but also every human being on this planet, yes, even after your meal, to keep yourselves (and others) healthy. Also at the same station, we had to put a condom on a plastic male genital. Yes, you read it correctly, condoms, on a plastic male genital. But it’s all for education purposes; we must not pass our germs (or virus, like the Human Immunodeficiency Virus) to anyone.
After we were done visiting the stations, we were brought back to the lecture hall and had a “Who Wants To Be A Doctor?” quiz session (think Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?). The Autoclave group won the 3 round quiz session. Participation certificates were also given out and then we all had a small tea session. All in all, it was truly an enjoyable and informative event. Kudos to the School of Medicine and Pharmacy of TUC!
BY SITI AISYA BT. AMINUDDIN BAKI
