Doctors need to understand the needs of the community they serve and the patients they see.
The Northern Ontario School of Medicine hosted a symposium Tuesday to discuss service learning for medical students and reflect on the first year of a pilot project that had seven second-year medical students working with community organizations.
Service learning is a concept where students not only partake in classroom and clinical training, but also work with community groups to learn more about where their patients come from and what their needs are, said active learning manager Siobhan Farrell.
“As part of their undergraduate medical training, (students) will choose projects and partner with community organizations and do a project of some kind where they are actually providing service while learning at the same time about community needs and community services,” she said.
One project had two medical students going to local high schools and speaking to science and health classes about getting into medical school, the hurdles they went through and why they decided to enter medical school.
They also worked with the high school students on things like anatomy specimens and CPR sessions to peak their interest in the field.
Farrell said she heard from one school principal that the students were thrilled about what they saw.
“It made it more real and accessible to students,” she said.
Kyle Lee was one of the medical students who worked with the high schools this past year and said as a future doctor, it’s important he becomes an educator for patients and finding out what works best for them.
“It’s important that we communicate well with them and understand our patients,” said Lee.
Service learning is also about working with the local organizations to find out how they can help the different groups fulfill their mandates.
Farrell said the program also helps the med students learn about civic responsibility, leadership skills and planning.
“They have a better, rich, deeper understanding of the community that they’re going to be working in,” she said.
On Twitter: @JodiL_reporter
