In 1910, educator Abraham Flexner described physiology, along with anatomy, as forming the “vestibule of medical education.” That statement has more than a ring of truth to it.
As a prospective medical student, you will begin studying physiology when you start medical school — if not before — and continue throughout your entire career as a physician. Simply put, physiology, or the study of how the body works, represents the foundation of medical education, and appreciating its relevance will help you excel not only as a medical student but also as a physician.
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Medical schools teach physiology in the preclinical as well as the clinical years, with some students learning physiology during their early first-year clinical experience, which allows them to see its relevance in their later training. Whether it is via a lecture, interactive session or bedside rounds, physiology is discussed repeatedly so that students not only acquire knowledge but also recognize how physiology fits into their current training and future medical practice.
As an example, during problem-based learning, you will be given information about how a patient presents based on symptoms the patient described and signs the physician found during the physical examination. In the classroom, you and your classmates will work as a team to untangle why these signs and symptoms are present.
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If the patient had blue lips, does it mean his or her body temperature is too cold or that he or she is not receiving enough oxygen? By tracing the physiology and putting the various pieces together, you can untangle what has happened to the patient and why.
After you have read your physiology textbook and used critical thinking skills to solve the problem-based learning case, you will move to the outpatient clinic. There you will call upon your knowledge and skills while the patient gives you a medical history and allows you to conduct a physical examination. When you present the patient to your physician preceptor, physiology will enter the discussion as you formulate the patient’s problem and review how and why it may have happened.
When it comes time for you to take national board examinations, your knowledge of physiology will help you to successfully navigate the questions. The multiple-choice questions start with the symptoms and signs from a patient’s history and examination.
Let’s say the patient entered through the emergency room with blue lips. Your mind may flash back to your physiology experience with your textbook and in the problem-based learning room and outpatient clinic. Through secondary and tertiary reasoning, you can determine that on the patient’s last visit, he or she was given medication C, which suppresses respiratory drive.
Choices A, B, D and E are much less likely to do that. As such, you have combined your knowledge of physiology and pharmacology and achieved the right answer.
As a physician, this kind of critical thinking and reasoning goes on for a lifetime. When a diagnosis doesn’t seem to fit or the treatment isn’t working, you will trace physiology backwards to find possible answers.
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Now that you know how fundamental physiology is to medicine, here are two key ways you best prepare for medical school.
First, if you have the chance, take an entry-level physiology course before beginning medical school. Although I have seen students do well without having taken physiology before medical school, doing so certainly won’t hurt and will more than likely give you an advantage.
Second, as you are learning about the body, make simple drawings to help you visualize concepts and learn how the body changes based on injury or disease. Take cardiac physiology, as an example.
As you’re learning about how blood enters and passes through the heart and how the heart pumps to move blood from chamber to chamber, sketch out your understanding. Then sketch out what happens when a baby is born with a hole in his or her heart and consider how that malformation changes the heart’s physiology.
These strategies will not only boost your chances for success in school but they’ll also give you the opportunity to have fun learning about how the body works. After all, you will be uncovering the mysteries of life.
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Prep for Physiology Ahead of Medical School originally appeared on usnews.com
