OB/Gyn orientation

The OB/Gyn clerkship orientation included some very practical instruction. What I found to be most useful out of the two-day orientation was a refresher course on how to do the breast and pelvic exams. We all learned these sensitive exams for the first time at the end of our second year with formal instruction from standardized patient-actors who taught the exams using their own bodies. But that was almost a year ago. Over the course of my third-year, I've had the multiple opportunities to perform breast and pelvic exams, but they were few and far between, not enough to keep those clinical skills sharp. Apparently, including this refresher session during orientation is a relatively new development and was done in response to student feedback. I'm grateful! I'm especially grateful after talking to some medical student friends at other institutions who were never taught how to perform a pelvic exam before seeing a real gynecological patient.


We also had a session with a medical mannequin in active labor. In my humble opinion, this is a much better way of preparing medical students for L&D than just throwing them in the deep end with a real patient in labor. Although this mannequin is capable of simulating labor and delivery to striking detail, the purpose of this session was really just to familiarize us with the basic steps of the birthing process. As happy as I am that I got this simulation experience, I have a feeling that it will be absolutely nothing like the real deal.