What I learned from my first year at an Australian medical school
As I partially completed a Vietnamese medical program before, I have the privilege to reflect on my previous experience in Viet Nam and to appreciate my opportunity to be trained again in an Australian medical school. I got into Flinders Uni, where the very first MD program in Australia was introduced. You can read more about how I applied for Australian medical schools here. But for this post, let’s chat about my first year at Flinders.
Generally, MD programs in Australia have different curricula, and Flinders MD program (FMD) has a very unique one. FMD is a 4-year postgraduate medical program. And like other Australian programs, FMD does not require applicants to do any prerequisite subjects or topics. Hence, FMD curriculum was designed for students to thrive regardless of their backgrounds. Having said that, non-science background students (NSB) may find it overwhelming and difficult to catch up in the first two years, or pre-clinical years. But according to the stats, NSB students are mostly able to attain similar results with the cohort in the 3rd year, or the first clinical year. This, I think, is due to the unique program that Flinders has.
Unique learning style of Australian medical school
Spiral curriculum
Similar to Australian medical schools (and some American ones), FMD has a spiral curriculum composed of blocks related to a system of the human body. This means students in pre-clinical years are taught through blocks of the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, renal system, etc. In each block, we are taught everything about the system, including anatomy, physiology, pathology, and a bit of management. Then in clinical years, students will revise the basic knowledge on the ward with extra details of management. I made the diagram in figure 1 to visualise this approach for your better understanding. If you are Vietnamese and you don’t quite catch it, I made the video below for you.
Compared with how I studied 10 years ago in Viet Nam, this is a totally different approach to medical education. In Viet Nam, medical schools still teach in the old-fashioned unit-based curriculum as other professions still do in Australia. This means students were taught Anatomy of the whole body, then Physiology, then Pathology, etc. I also visualise the curriculum in the second diagram below. I can’t say which approach is better, as I have had background knowledge before I got into FMD. However, despite being more used to the old approach, I have a firm belief in the spiral curriculum and active learning style. This learning style is really encouraged and well implemented in Australian medical schools.
Active learning style
FMD has a really good curriculum for active learning style, where students have a Team-Based Learning (TBL) session each week. I will briefly explain TBL below, but if you want to learn more, you can have look here.
Generally, TBL is a learning activity where students sit in a group to discuss topics being taught. Before each TBL session, students will be provided readings and lectures on a topic, e.g. homeostasis. At the start of the TBL session, each student will do an individual readiness assurance test, or iRAT. This test is a small quiz of around 10-15 minutes. After iRAT, students will discuss in a team to complete a team readiness assurance test, or tRAT. The tRAT has similar questions to the iRAT’s, but the whole team will discuss and educate each other. This method really encourages an active learning style, and studies have shown it helps students retain knowledge better than traditional methods.
Furthermore, FMD embedded an active learning style in teaching anatomy very seriously. In addition to anatomy lectures and practicals taught in each block, there is a whole topic of Anatomy Dissection (AD), which is not so popular in Australia now due to the cost of running it. In AD, students have opportunities to learn anatomy while performing dissection and exploring different layers of the human body. At the start of each AD session, students will be quizzed on the content given in previous weeks and on the exposed parts of their cadaver. I really appreciate this opportunity as it not only helps me consolidate my anatomy knowledge but helps me learn anatomy at a higher level than when I studied in Viet Nam. For non-science background students, they might find it overwhelming and get lost. However, students work in teams, and everyone can get the help they need from other students. If you’re Vietnamese, I made the video below about AD to explain further for you.
A clinically-focused Australian medical school
Clincally-oriented content
As mentioned above, FMD has a pre-clinical curriculum built up with body system blocks. The content taught in each block covers all the aspects of each system but focuses on clinically related details. For example, in cardiovascular system block, the physiology content focuses on helping students understand Electrocardiogram, or ECG. And the anatomy content focuses on coronary arteries commonly blocked in Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS).
Students also learn basic steps in the management of common diseases related to each system in pre-clinical years, unlike the old-fashioned approach where management is heavily focussed on in the final year. Additionally, in Anatomy Dissection sessions, students are frequently quizzed on clinically important details. For example, students are asked about names of phenomena caused by injuries to the muscles being quizzed.
Clinical skills in pre-clinical years
Like other Australian medical schools, FMD takes the development of students’ clinical skills really seriously. In COVID era, although pre-clinical students like me didn’t have many opportunities to interact with real patients, FMD helped us practice our clinical skills with very helpful tutorials, and they had simulated patients, or “fake” patients, for our assessments. Furthermore, Australian medical schools really care about communication skills, and they really want to train caring doctors who will practice patient-centred medicine. Hence, in clinical skills tutorials and assessments, students will need to address patients’ concerns, which were not focussed on when I was in Viet Nam. I think it is a significant difference between Vietnamese and Australian medical education. I made the video below about this in Vietnamese when I finished one of my assessments.
Additionally, for basic life-saving skills, FMD has simulated mannequins that students can do CPR on and get their performance recorded. Students can see how fast they compress, how well they compress, and how regular they go with their CPR. For example, the diagram below shows my performance in my first assessment. They also have videos of me doing the CPR on the mannequin for my own reflection, which I couldn’t download so I can’t share them with you here.
Reflection along the way
Yes, reflection is an important requirement not just for medical school (as you can read more here about how I reflect on my medical school interview) but for my whole future career as a doctor. FMD requires students to write reflection on their studies, their skills, their learning habits, well, pretty much everything medicine related. Some might find it annoying and time-wasting, but I think it helped me in becoming a better independent learner. I knew what reflection may help me improve, but I haven’t practised it to such a level I did in my first year. And I realised that it really helped me realise what I am doing wrong, what I am doing right, and how I can improve not just my study but my well-being as a whole.
This post is a reflection of myself on what I learned and appreciated in my first year in FMD, especially when I got an opportunity to do medicine previously. My second year is gonna start really soon now. And I will update you when I have more to share!