“Medicine made ridiculously simple”---I heard such
description about ADZU-SOM before. In fact, a number of my friends asked me a
question like “Are you sure you will not regret choosing Ateneo over Silliman?”
It entailed series of reflection. Yet, I believe I am in the rightful place.
Problem-based learning was
quite a new term until we were given orientation and had the first experience
of it. In PBL sessions, unlike in the conventional way of learning, small group
of students are given a problem for them to solve on their own. The process
includes brainstorming, gathering of data, researching, and interactive
sharing. Lectures are done by the students themselves. Facilitators only act as
guide.
This shift of learning, I
personally admit, gave me
a rollercoaster of emotions. It was challenging in so many ways but it was
fulfilling especially when the group was able to achieve solutions on the
problem presented.
The rigor that comes from the
curriculum gives the students a strong foundation of learning experience. In
contrast to the traditional curriculum where students are being spoon-fed with
information they need to know, students in PBL curriculum are being molded
through self-directed learning. We are the ones solving the problems. We are
the ones finding for answers. We are the ones that identify gaps of what we
know and do not know and as a result, we are geared towards filling in those
gaps through meticulous way of studying. We are being motivated to think and act by ourselves.
Instead of waiting for somebody to inject all the information to us, we do the
research on our own. In fact, we gradually become teachers as we share whatever
we have learned.
Should not be that enough to
make us better, responsible, and accountable physicians in the future? Are not
we on our own in the future? With that as a foundation, I believe, we are
secured enough in whatever struggles that we will encounter in the long
run.
We may go to sessions for
maximum of three hours per day. But, is not that an advantage? We do not have
to go through what the students under the traditional curriculum do---having so
little time in trying to digest every single data from one chapter to another
through memorizing without having much time on the reflection of the new
knowledge.
Some will comment on not
having "cadavers" as a way of learning anatomy. Yes, that might be
true at some point. We do not have the exposure on laboratories. However, what
I believe is the edge of the curriculum is the experimental learning in the
community. In the fields, people somehow regard the students as doctors to whom
they can count on regarding their health. With our dean's simple words, "The community is the
laboratory." We may not
master the skills in laboratory. We may be aliens in terms of viewing the
microscope. But, having the community as the training ground, we will be
experts in doing comprehensive assessment through interview, history taking,
and physical examination through which interventions will be based. Is not that
a basic skill every physician should possess?
Apart from that, in PBL
sessions, teamwork is at paramount level. The essence of it is in high regard.
The very thought of helping one another and not competing is what truly
matters. We do not rely on our own strength but we rely on each other’s
strength. That gives us the lesson that in the healthcare setting, doctors will
not only depend on themselves but will need the help of others. That humbles
us. That equalizes us with the others. That breaks the perception that one is
superior.
Furthermore, the MD-MPH
program of ADZU-SOM is one of a kind. The opportunity to graduate with Masters
in Public Health alongside the years in obtaining Doctor of Medicine degree is
way beyond great. The Ateneo’s sandwich curriculum trains the students not only
to become doctors but also to become leaders, teachers, and managers in the
future. Having the community as learning exposure, students have the taste of
how it is to live in the outskirts. Students become one with the community. Not
only do we know their culture, but we experience it. Not only do we see the
depriving situation, but we partake on the fight. Not only do we impart our
knowledge, but we empower them by making them realize their potentials and
capabilities. That the power to change is at their hands. That actualizing a
dream of a better future is never impossible.
Yes, in the community, the
realities of life are not only seen but experienced. That gives the medical
profession a whole different meaning. To quote a statement from Dr. Galvez Tan, “A poor man’s gratitude is more
precious than gold.”
Unless you bring your
knowledge from classroom to the fields, unless you start to think of making the
light lighter and the good better, your education will be meaningless at all.
So as to the connotation made
above, I believe that ADZU-SOM’s curriculum is made not simple but solid.
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