PBLs etc.

Yesterday, one of our lecturers told us that she wanted to get more pain into our course. Fortunately, she was talking about learning more about nociception rather than inflicting torture on us. Another lecturer spend the last part of his lecture discussing how the Bupa logo shows the ECG trace of a dead patient. Today we had our final bacteriology lecture and practical, where we all got very excited by watching live bacteria swimming around. Next week we move onto immunology. We also had a pharmacology practical today - it was on the effect of drugs on contractions in the rat uterus, so it involved injecting drugs onto the uterine tissue and recording responses on a computer. The practical was very interesting and worked well, but now I've got the less fun task of writing it up to do.

On Tuesday we had our first Problem Based Learning (PBL) tutorial of the term, as well as a conventional essay-based tutorial. PBL is generally not associated with Oxford and it is true that it is not a major method of teaching here, but we do it at Brasenose because one of our tutors chooses to teach us in that way. Each PBL tutorial is split into two parts, one towards the beginning of the week and one at the end. We attend these sessions in groups of 6. A case is posted on a website for us to view just before the first session, where we talk about what we think is going on with the patient using our existing knowledge and find areas that we need to look into further. For example, this weeks PBL was based on the case of a post-operative patient who developed inflammation and infection. So over the week we've been researching wound healing, inflammation and other issues raised in Tuesday's tutorial. We post everything we find on the website so that the others in the group can use it, and try to share the workload between us. Then on Friday, in the second part of the tutorial, we will bring together what we have learned and try to answer questions on the case asked by our tutor.

A typical monday

I had a lecture on ascending and descending tracts of the spinal cord first thing this morning, followed by gross anatomy of the peripheral nervous system and spinal cord. As well as looking at prosected adult spinal cords and foetuses with their spinal cords exposed, we did some quick experiments on each other. We poked ourselves with warm and cold sawn-off soldering irons, and plastic bristles, to find areas of skin that cannot sense temperature and touch. We then blind folded each other to find our ability to discriminate two points, and repeated this after removing the hair from a patch on the back of our arms, and after applying a pressure cuff to the arm. To record the results accurately we had to draw grids on our arms, so I now have a scribbled-on arm with bald patches! The second half of gross anatomy always takes place in the Computer Aided Learning lab, where we use a specially designed website to make notes and answer a few questions. Finally, this afternoon we had another clinical lecture at the Radcliffe Infirmary where the patient we spoke to was an elderly lady with Myasthaenia Gravis.

Practicals and protestors

This morning we had a bacteriology lecture with lots of animations of bacteria invading cells,followed by a pharmacology practical. The practical was all about anaphylaxis and it involved injecting various concentrations of histamine and other drugs onto guinea pig ileum connected to computers to measure force of contraction. This sort of thing is typical of pharmacology practicals and since they are on Thursdays this term they coincide with the day that the animal rights protestors have chosen to protest outside the new animal labs. So if you're really brave you can tell them about what you've just been doing in pharmacology!

In the afternoon we had a pathology practical and discovered meningitis bacteria on our tonsils (that is normal apparently!) and looked at some pretty yellow staphylococcus aureus from our skin. Pathology practicals tend to include a variety of techniques to study and classify bacteria, and they are relatively easy to follow and interesting to do. After the afternoon practical I wrote up this morning's practical. Practicals have to be written up (although some - like path - can be done in the practical itself). I write up all my lecture notes too because I find them easier to learn that way. This has been more difficult this year because the busier timetable means more to write up and less time to do it in, so a lot has to be left to the weekend. Today it was made even more difficult by hunting protestors, policemen, and 5 TV lorries with crews outside my window because Question Time is being filmed at the Union next door this evening.

Earlier in the week I had gross anatomy (prosection) of the brain. There were 3 heads for us to look at in a group of 8, each with slightly different bits cut out. Prosected body parts don't usually look very real so most people have no problem touching them, although a few people are more squemish with heads. I've also had another path practical earlier this week, a tutorial and plenty of lectures. On Monday we had our first clinical lecture at the hospital. It was really good to be able to apply some of what we've learnt to a patient, and his young children provided some humour during the lecture.

From brunch to matriculation via the union.

At weekends here, breakfast and lunch are combined into a brunch that is capable of causing a heart attack just by being looked at. It's very popular though. So today I've had brunch. And I've fought through the crowds at Sainsbury's. And I've started writing an essay on "how nociceptive sensation is processed in the CNS" and drawn a diagram of physiological responses to exercize. I've also finished writing up some notes. Then this evening I went to evensong at Keble chapel because my friend's school choir were singing there and she wanted to see them and some of her old teachers.

I'm probably going to go to the Oxford Union bar tonight. The Oxford Union is different to the Student Union here - it's where members can go to watch debates and hear speakers or go to balls and other events, and there's also a bar and a club. This term the speakers include Hans Blix, Greg Dyke, Philip Pullman and Richard Dawkins. Last night dissection drinks was held there for the fresher medics. This annual medsoc event was traditionally held the night before the first dissection so that hangovers could be used as an excuse for feeling unwell during the dissection. But since dissection isn't done here any more, it's just an excuse to go out.

The fresher's had to be awake and alert today, however, because they had matriculation. In this ceremony you become an official member of the university and it involves wearing sub fusc (white tie for boys, white shirts and dark skirts/trousers and a silly little ribbon round your neck for girls, and a gown), listening to a sentence of Latin, and then having your photo taken. Most people have a good day walking round the town in their outfits - not realising that the next time they will wear them is in exams!

So far this week...

So far this week I have looked at some prosected human brains; collected bacteria from my nose, tonsils, hands and saliva; been to 7 lectures; written up 7 sets of lecture notes; written an essay; been set another essay; and learned the parts of the brain. Tomorrow I will have a look at the bacteria I collected; inject some drugs into a rat; go to another lecture; have a test on the parts of the brain; and discuss the essay I wrote today. Actually, that's not all I've done this week. I also went to an aerobics class last night and a christian union meeting this evening. So now term has properly started and it's already getting busy. But the new topics we're studying this term are really interesting and I'm looking forward to finding out more. We have been introduced to neuroscience, immunology and pathology, and integrated physiology (which brings together a lot of the physiology we learnt last year as well as adding new stuff). Neuroscience covers a variety of neuro-things, such as neuroanatomy and neurophysiology.

The fresher medics in my college also seem to be enjoying getting stuck into work. They have had their first practical (comparing human and bovine blood) and their first tutorials, and they're still smiling! So I think we have all had a good start to the term and are ready for more.

Meetings with tutors.

Fresher's week is coming to an end now and yesterday after registration for the year, in the Medical Sciences Teaching Centre (MSTC), we had two meetings with tutors. We have been set our first essay of the term and a test next week. I've started to look at the anatomy of the brain (which is what the test is on) but it will be easier to know what to learn after Monday when we have a lecture and dissection class on the central nervous system. Parts of the essay topic will probably also be covered in lectures so there is little point in writing it now. However, I did lug a pile of ridiculously heavy text books back from the library in preparation.

Last night there was karaoke in the college bar, where a few of the freshers were already keen to show off their talent (or lack of). Apart from that, there isn't much going on his weekend so I will write again once things get busy next week.

An action-packed day

It's Wednesday of Fresher's week now so everyone has arrived and is settling in. My role in organising freshers week has been to ensure that there are alternatives to clubbing available to freshers and making sure there is always at least one second year in the jcr to talk to any freshers there. As well as being on the Fresher's week committee, I am on the college welfare committee and yesterday I was involved in providing a welfare lunch of sandwiches etc. for the freshers. So on Tuesday I helped to pull a very full trolley back from Sainsbury's to college and then yesterday morning I brought back 18 baguettes before slicing numerous cucumbers and tomatoes. After the lunch, the second year medics took the fresher medics out for coffee and then showed them around the science parks so they can find their lectures and libraries. They were very keen and stocked up on recommended books while we were at the lending library. Later on they met our tutors for the first time and came back with enthusiastic reports.

I then poured out tea and coffee for an hour or so at the Chaplain's teas before rushing off to take a group of freshers ice skating. While I was there, my college husband and some other second year friends cooked a meal for my college family and a couple of other families. So we all got to know our children a bit better and I can confirm that mine are very nice! When we finished dinner there was a trip to The Bridge nightclub but I stayed with those who weren't up for clubbing and made smoothies in the jcr for a dvd-and-smoothies night.

0th week - and the first of the freshers.

Since the weeks are all numbered here, starting on a Sunday, it's now 0th week. And this term that means fresher's week. However, Brasenose has decided to shorten freshers week this year so it officially starts tomorrow. Nearly half of the freshers came today though (just because they couldn't get here on a Monday) so after going to church with my friends this morning I have spent the rest of the day giving out lots of bits of paper to them and helping them move in. Amoungst the new arrivals were three medics so we've invited them over to meet each other and the second year medics tonight. Most of my year and the years above who weren't already here came back today so the college (and the rest of Oxford) has been full of people moving in and comparing rooms. The third year medics have been back for a while working on their dissertations and are full of horror stories about how hard they've been working.

My room is now suitably decorated with photos and my cooking is becoming slightly more adventurous, although looking at my timetable for this term I don't think I'll have time to cook anything much beyond beans on toast. We have some specifically clinical lectures this term (which are given at the hospital) and a lot more practicals than last year. The topics look really interesting but time pressure is going to be even greater than last year. For the rest of this week, though, there's no work to do and lots of other activities planned. So I'd better go and meet these new medics!