So today was my first day of medical school. O’week was jam-packed with college and uni activities so I knew a decent proportion of the cohort (~150 people), which made it a lot of fun. Started off early at 8am with an introductory lecture on anatomy. They really emphasised the importance of respecting the cadavers, as it’s key for the university that people are willing to donate their bodies towards medical education. We also have a memorial service for the families of people who donated their bodies to the university on Wednesday. I think it’ll be humbling to meet and thank everyone for their incredible contribution.
Pretty soon after that, I had my first anatomy lab session. It’s a very unsettling experience. The room is completely white and temperature controlled at 18 degrees. They had a full cadaver for us to look at, and it was just so weird to look at the face and realise that the person used to be alive. The smell of death isn’t overpowering or disgusting, but quite subtle and generally discomforting. Aside from that, it was a very interesting experience and I’m looking forward to further studying the human body once I’ve become accustomed to the lab setting. It also ties in quite well to our Case Based Learning program, so they’ll be teaching us the anatomy of the cardiovascular system and particularly the heart as we investigate the case of someone coming to the doctor with chest pain.
Later in the day there was an introduction to Clinical Practice, which I have a tute for tomorrow at 8am. Apparently we will be starting off basic by learning how to properly wash hands, but soon we’ll be learning how to do cardiovascular histories and physical examinations, which also tie in with the CBL.
Overall, today was definitely an enjoyable and eye-opening experience, and I’m looking forward to getting deeper into all my subjects. That’s about it for now, time to get back to some anatomy study.