Kolabo 2019: Day Two Blog
Fostering teaching roles
Today the Calgary team helped teach the MD5 (fifth year CUHAS medical students) how to lead small group teaching sessions for their peers in the third year of medical school. The purpose of these sessions are to build capacity so that more experienced students are able to teach those without clinical experience the competencies related to mental health. Small group teaching is widely used in medical schools in North America in order to facilitate reflective learning over rote memorization of facts but is a rather novel concept in medical education here in Tanzania. The MD5 students were very engaged and excited to take on this leadership role!
Dr. Jacqueline Bobyn leading the MD5s in a practice small group about psychosis.
Introductory topics in psychiatry
“Each patient represents a story. That story includes their diseases, their new problem, their social situation, and their beliefs.”
Dr. Will White led the MD3 students through lectures related to medical history taking, the mental status examination used in psychiatry, and the biopsychosocial approach to understanding and managing patients with mental illnesses. This is the first clinical course these students are attending and thus some of these basic medical skills and concepts are being introduced for the very first time.
Dr. Will White leading a lecture on the biopsychosocial approach to managing mental illness.
Psychopharmacology Series
Dr. Paige Durling will be leading a lecture series throughout the psychiatry course related to psychopharmacology and different medication classes that will be used to treat various mental illnesses. Today she began with teaching the basics of psychopharmacology, including how neurotransmitters work in our brains!
Dr. Paige Durling discussing how serotonin is implicated in mental illness and how psychiatric medications alter neurotransmitters to combat symptoms.
The first disease presentation
Dr. Jaylynn Arcand led the first lecture focused on a specific mental illness today, which was specifically on the topic of psychosis. Psychosis is a term used to describe the symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thoughts and behaviours. Common illnesses include schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and psychosis related to drug use. This is a highly stigmatized syndrome globally and is important to teach medical students that it has both biological and psychosocial causes or risk factors.
Dr. Jaylynn Arcand introduces herself to the MD3 students.
