SDKJ Chronicles

Unwitting Participants

People have heard all kinds of awful things about how difficult medical school is, how high the divorce rate is, how competitive it is, and all manner of other things that I have found to be somewhat exaggerated. Med school is not too tough. The material is not too tough. It's just a lot. Volume is the problem, not difficulty. I think most med students would agree with that stellar assessment. That being said, the volume can overtake your life if you let it, which can cause mental breakdowns, difficulties in your personal life, etc., but that is only if you let the voluminous material run your life. I have chosen not to.

But, my med school does some perplexing things to its students, all in the name of better education and better preparation to be better doctors. We have precious little free time and precious little time to master all the material presented to us. Yet, they feel the need to pack on extra assignments and programs that seemingly have little value, but take up some of our free time. Today we will talk about one such program.

Let's face it baby boomers, y'all are getting old. Just look in the mirror, take a deep breath, and say it out loud. It will be cathartic. I do the same thing each morning. I look in the mirror, take a deep breath, and say "Man, you have razor sharp wit, dashing good looks, and an intelligence unmatched by anyone on earth". It really helps to say the hard truths to yourself sometimes. So, as future doctors it is our charge to take care of the health care needs of you geriatric patients (or "greedy geezers" as the Obama administration likes to call you). Speaking of which, maybe we won't have to take care of you because the Obamacare plan dictates that no money will go toward healthcare for the elderly, so all this training might be pointless. (Had to.) I digress. So, because there will be a great number of elderly patients in our future waiting rooms, my school has developed a little side "project" for us to do to help us learn more about geriatric health care - because it differs from regular health care.

We call it the SAGE program (something something Geriatric Education...I don't know...just call it SAGE like the rest of us for crying out loud). The program includes lectures during each of our classes talking about geriatric specific problems/issues pertaining to what we are learning. A few questions will inevitably end up on the test. No one really likes the lectures so no one really prepares for the test questions. They trip us up sometimes. Another part of the SAGE program is going to the home of an elderly person in the community and doing some sort of health-related assignment with them.

Website here for the truly bored.

Now, we will get to the meaning of the title of this post: Unwitting Participants. I have recently found out that the SAGE program is part of a federally-funded research project that a couple of our faculty members are doing on the effectiveness of geriatric education in medical school. In other words, we are the lab rats for the researchers. They are trying things out on us. Seeing what things work and what things don't work. Secondly, the geriatric patients that we go visit in the community are Meals on Wheels participants. They were kind of roped into letting first year med students into their homes by participation in a needed program for their daily sustenance. Hence, we are both unwitting participants.

That being said, I love our little old couple that me and my partner go and visit. They are so awesome and are fun to talk to. Other students have had great difficulty with their "patients" but I have had no such problem. The assignments are easy and it doesn't take too much time away from us. But, some of my fellow students think it's a huge waste of time. But, I think those are the same students who have to microwave their Pop Tarts in the morning. It's time to loosen up the schedule and enjoy the educational ride.