Issue link: http://kusm-wichita.uberflip.com/i/1157351
23 Cases grow in complexity with additional years of medical school, and required clinical skills increase. Now, first-year med students learn, via a simulated arm including all its vessels, to place an IV, while second-years train in the delicate task of putting in a Foley catheter. "Someone might say, 'Oh, doctors don't place IVs,' but I think it's important for doctors to know the basics of how to put in an IV," said Ordonez-Castillo. That's particularly true in rural areas, Doyle said. An increasing number of third-year clerkships are using the center as well. Third-years in their obstetrics rotation "each take the lead role in one regular vaginal delivery, catching one slippery baby," Doyle said. "It's pretty realistic in terms of the birthing bed. They have to gown and glove, learn what they're going to do, where they're going to stand, and what are the normal signs and what are not. The rule of the day is, don't drop the baby." No matter who is doing the training, the goal is to build skills and confidence along with them. "Sometimes it can be dicult to assess the importance of all the info you learn in the first two years," Brumfield said. "Docs who trained long ago say if they could go back they would know what to pay attention to. Now, students are progressing from learning what is on the test to what they need to know to take care of people." "With my group, almost universally the things we remember best and the things that we find more interesting tend to be the things we have had dicult group discussions about or done a simulation about," Lierz said. "When you're forced to apply your knowledge, it sticks better." SimMan I love that KU oers this opportunity. You spend day in, day out in the classroom, and you can lose the big picture of why you're doing all this, and sim lab brings it back in focus. Students confront cases such as whether a patient is suering from hypertension or hypotension, and observe symptoms of asthma and congestive heart failure. Stations are set up to simulate birth centers and ER beds, with monitors, X-rays and other features. Bethany Zidek, second-year medical student, Onaga, Kansas