Ghent University medical students practise skills at self-learning station
Throughout the year, medical students at Ghent University can now practise their skills on anatomical models. This is how they skill themselves and others up in a multidisciplinary care environment. And all thanks to the will of a general practitioner and Ghent University alumnus.
Ghent University had long felt the need to have its medical students practise practical skills on lifelike models. However, for lack of expensive equipment, this had so far proved impossible. Through the legacy of a general practitioner and Ghent University alumnus, this is now changing. From now on, they can go to what is known as a skills lab or self-learning station at any time, where they will learn to automate the most diverse, sometimes sensitive, actions alone or in groups. Consider, for example, a prostate or breast exam or the insertion of a urine probe. Conducting such studies on dummy models rather than on patients right away feels a good deal better. In doing so, many find practical lectures a welcome change from theory.
Equally important, it also improves the educational curriculum. Students take control of their learning to some extent, thus becoming more autonomous. And they learn from one another, general practitioners and physical therapists, for example. By getting them out of their medical speciality, they stop thinking in silos.
A win-win situation at the medical faculty.