COM Outlook Spring 2020

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY | 19 It is common for first- and second-year medical students to lack hands-on experience with actual patients. This is due to the purely academic nature of the first two preclinical years of medical school. However, medical out- reach trips are a great way to gain hands-on experience with actual patients who are in dire need of medical attention. Students who embark on a medical outreach trip are expected to be team players and help wher- ever they can. In India, students were separated into different stations each day, including pharmacy, triage, osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM), and clinical. In the pharmacy station, stu- dents were exposed to a variety of drugs used to treat different illnesses. In the triage station, students obtained vital signs and made an initial evaluation based on acuity. At the OMM station, patients were treated for symptoms ranging from back pain to head- aches. At the clinic stations, stu- dents were able to interview patients, perform physical exams, and pro- vide differential diagnoses with the help of the attending physician. Medical outreach trips not only allow you to translate what is learned in class to medical practice, but they also let you see how a basic clinic functions with its many indi- vidual stations—each as important as the other. The patients at each station are also important, and the impact students had on the people of Ahwa is both a psychological and physical one. Many times, patients just wanted to be heard and given some vitamins to take home. Other times, patients suffered from acute illnesses we were able to treat. By using the biopsychosocial model, students were able to treat patients holistically for a variety of complaints. Students who choose to go on outreach trips for the medical experience typically do so because of the rewarding nature of helping others. As future osteopathic physi- cians, it is not only our passion, but also our duty to help those in under- served areas. Initiative First-year student Charles De La Rosa performs osteo- pathic manipulative treatment on a female patient. INSIGHTFUL EXCURSION BY CHARLES DE LA ROSA + “In India, students were separated into different stations each day, including pharmacy, triage, osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM), and clinical.” —CHARLES DE LA ROSA (continued on page 20)