Today was the first day back in medicine this year for MD3. My first rotation is mental health, and I was at the Austin today. I'm not sure exactly why that was the case, because I don't think I need to go back to Austin for the rest of this mental health rotating term, but I was required to go today.
It was the first time I drove from my home to the Austin Hospital. I was a bit nervous leading up to it because I never drove completely this way before, although a large portion of the trip was familiar from other travels. Nevertheless, I managed to find out where to go without major hassle. So that was good.
Since I was there, there were a few people I met who were not from my home clinical school, so it was a good experience to catch up with them all. I also enjoyed playing table tennis on the Austin clinical school table tennis table. It nice getting back into playing table tennis after this holiday break again, and I didn't feel too out of touch.
Needless to say, being the first day in the mental health (psychiatry) rotation, there were some psychiatry lectures. This is not one of my favorite topics, but I guess I'll just have to get through it. Other rotations this year seem more exciting, so I guess that's something to look forward to.
Back for another year of medicine study!
By the way, all of you who are intending to study for the GAMSAT, there's less than six weeks left until the exam. Go and prepare for it!
Monday, February 10, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
The role of common sense
I do some voluntary tutoring almost every weekend during the school term. It has opened up my eyes to how much the national Australian mathematics curriculum lacks rigor in primary school years, but that is not the topic I will be discussing about today. Recently, as the school year has just started in Victoria, there was a training session for voluntary tutors in the tutoring program I am in.
As part of the training session, we were discussing a few cases of imaginary students who had real or potential difficulties in their learning due to their backgrounds. In my case, the "student" I was required to discuss about on our table was in late primary school, and had trouble at school and in tutoring. Even though they willing to learn, they were easily distracted and seemed to lose concentration.
At discussing the case, I first listed the more specific things related to this student's background - namely that there could be deficiencies in their English ability and mathematical ability present, particularly if they did not come from a country using English and if their country did not have strong mathematics standards in their school. To counter this, the steps would be to explain clearly any mathematical terminology they did not understand, starting from the basics if necessary.
After this, I also listed a few other potential causes. I felt that it may have been a possibility that they did not have breakfast in the morning, or they did not have enough sleep during the night. So I suggested that if this was an ongoing issue, I should ask the student whether they had breakfast in the morning and how much sleep they got. I felt that if there was a simple solution to this problem, then it should rightly be solved.
Finally, I raised the unlikely possibility of a medical condition causing the lack of concentration, and said that if all the rest failed, the student may be advised to go to the doctor. This was a bit ill advised on my part. I now recognize that the action I suggested may have been reasonable for talking to an adult, but it is different because the student in question would not have been an adult. One of the other tutors on the table criticized my recommended intervention, and I accepted the criticism - perhaps I should not tell the student directly and it should go through the course coordinator.
However, after this, he also opined it is not the tutor's role to inquire on issues of breakfast and sleeping patterns - that some topics should be off-limits. While I did agree that some topics should be off-limits, particularly if they have nothing to do with learning, I definitely did not agree that issues of breakfast and sleeping patterns should be off-limits.
Yes. We are at the tutoring program primarily to tutor the students in the subject matter. However, the end result of this is for the students to perform well and gain confidence in their studies. Issues of breakfast and sleeping patterns are not what we need to teach, but if a student is lacking breakfast or good sleeping patterns, then addressing these issues has the potential of having a greater benefit than the supplementary teaching of school content done in the tutoring program. That is why I feel that these questions are relevant for students who cannot concentrate very well.
In some way, I could see where he was coming from. It is definitely "safer" to stick with what the tutor is "supposed" to do. Any deviations from the common practice is liable to be controversial. This is particularly the case in the litigious society of today.
On the other hand, I do think that common sense should prevail. Anything that can help with the outcome we want without too many side effects should be considered, whether or not it follows the usual "process". We should not be biased in what strategies to implement. The leader of China during the crucial "opening up and reform" period, Deng Xiaoping, once said: "do not care if the cat is black or white, what matters is it catches mice". This pragmatism is an excellent attitude to have even today.
EDIT to add: it seems like now the policy is to inform the coordinator. Perhaps this is the best approach. That way, the coordinator can advise the parents directly.
As part of the training session, we were discussing a few cases of imaginary students who had real or potential difficulties in their learning due to their backgrounds. In my case, the "student" I was required to discuss about on our table was in late primary school, and had trouble at school and in tutoring. Even though they willing to learn, they were easily distracted and seemed to lose concentration.
At discussing the case, I first listed the more specific things related to this student's background - namely that there could be deficiencies in their English ability and mathematical ability present, particularly if they did not come from a country using English and if their country did not have strong mathematics standards in their school. To counter this, the steps would be to explain clearly any mathematical terminology they did not understand, starting from the basics if necessary.
After this, I also listed a few other potential causes. I felt that it may have been a possibility that they did not have breakfast in the morning, or they did not have enough sleep during the night. So I suggested that if this was an ongoing issue, I should ask the student whether they had breakfast in the morning and how much sleep they got. I felt that if there was a simple solution to this problem, then it should rightly be solved.
Finally, I raised the unlikely possibility of a medical condition causing the lack of concentration, and said that if all the rest failed, the student may be advised to go to the doctor. This was a bit ill advised on my part. I now recognize that the action I suggested may have been reasonable for talking to an adult, but it is different because the student in question would not have been an adult. One of the other tutors on the table criticized my recommended intervention, and I accepted the criticism - perhaps I should not tell the student directly and it should go through the course coordinator.
However, after this, he also opined it is not the tutor's role to inquire on issues of breakfast and sleeping patterns - that some topics should be off-limits. While I did agree that some topics should be off-limits, particularly if they have nothing to do with learning, I definitely did not agree that issues of breakfast and sleeping patterns should be off-limits.
Yes. We are at the tutoring program primarily to tutor the students in the subject matter. However, the end result of this is for the students to perform well and gain confidence in their studies. Issues of breakfast and sleeping patterns are not what we need to teach, but if a student is lacking breakfast or good sleeping patterns, then addressing these issues has the potential of having a greater benefit than the supplementary teaching of school content done in the tutoring program. That is why I feel that these questions are relevant for students who cannot concentrate very well.
In some way, I could see where he was coming from. It is definitely "safer" to stick with what the tutor is "supposed" to do. Any deviations from the common practice is liable to be controversial. This is particularly the case in the litigious society of today.
On the other hand, I do think that common sense should prevail. Anything that can help with the outcome we want without too many side effects should be considered, whether or not it follows the usual "process". We should not be biased in what strategies to implement. The leader of China during the crucial "opening up and reform" period, Deng Xiaoping, once said: "do not care if the cat is black or white, what matters is it catches mice". This pragmatism is an excellent attitude to have even today.
EDIT to add: it seems like now the policy is to inform the coordinator. Perhaps this is the best approach. That way, the coordinator can advise the parents directly.
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