Category Archives: Australia 2012

By Brian Sprouse (who is experiencing posting problems)

I woke up bright and early on this drizzly, overcast Sunday and headed to the Newcastle Station to hop on a train bound for Sydney.  My best friend has been living in Sydney for the past year working on a MPH, but is headed back to the States in a couple of days to resume medical school at Nebraska University.  Since we start presenting at the University of Newcastle on Tuesday, I figured this would be my only window to visit him in Australia.  I’m pretty excited right now, as it’s been quite some time since we’ve seen each other.  I’m pretty confident the last time was at Petco Park for a Padres game when I mucked a foul ball in the stands and let it go right through my hands (the absolute low point of all my athletic endeavours).  Anyway, since I’ll be sitting on this train for the next two and a half hours, I figure I might as well crank out a blog post.  It was either that or continuing to re-watch episodes of Season 2 of the Wire.  I forgot how amazing this season was, as it often gets lost behind the brilliance of Seasons 1 and 4.  So forgive me if this post seems rushed, I left off right where Omar is about to testify against Bird… “Day at a time I suppose.”

Before I say anything more, I want to take a moment to thank a few people for making our Australia trip possible.  A special thank you to Peter McKeown, Kristy Chmieluk, and the rest of the UNE staff and students for making our stay in Armidale so warm and hospitable.  I think I speak for not only myself, but also for Carter, Bryan and Lance that we had an amazing time and could not imagine for a better way to spend our summer.  Also, thank you to the UCI administration, specifically Dr. Macguire and Dr. Fox, for providing us with funding and the necessary tools to teach ultrasound to these students here in Armidale and Newcastle.  I’ve loved this Australian experience so much, I literally might cancel my plane flight back to the States.  I’m serious.

So I want to use my first blog entry as an opportunity to speak about how much of an impact this trip has had on my knowledge of ultrasound.  I think I speak on behalf of most my classmates that the 5 or 6 practical sessions we had in the simulation center spread out over the course of the school year just wasn’t enough.  The length of time between sessions, along with them not being coupled with our anatomy curriculum, made it quite easy to forget the material.  As a result, at the beginning of the summer, I really had to put in some time practicing the FAST-exam and other ultrasound techniques to feel proficient enough to teach the medical students in Armidale and Newcastle.  I know there’s going to be a portion of our class that go into career fields that don’t require ultrasound use, but I find the practice so fascinating and (what I deem in my admittedly limited experience) clinically relevant, that I wish the ultrasound curriculum had been emphasized much, much more during our first year.  I hope I don’t sound like a typical complaining and egocentric medical student; it’s just how I feel.  Seeing the excitement of faculty members at UNE about the clinical impact of ultrasound in their rural environment, along with the way its students voluntarily showed up and enthusiastically participated in our teaching sessions, I couldn’t help but buy into the sentiments of Dr. Fox and others physicians at UCI.  Ultrasound is the diagnostic tool of the future.  And the way it’s being integrated in a somewhat remote location 7,000 miles away from home only confirms that belief in my opinion.  Fortunately, I’m absolutely blessed to be going to a school where it’s emphasized and made a priority.  I just think it needs to be higher on that priority list.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  I still have another hour and half to go before I get to Sydney.  The countryside is beautiful here.  I’m currently soaking in a gorgeous view of choppy, deep blue waters lined with rolling Australian hills covered in trees.  I think I’ll alternate between sightseeing from my train cabin window and watching Omar destroy Maurice Levy on the witness stand…

We are down to our last day in Armidale. For a town of roughly 25,000 people, Armidale has proven to go beyond my original expectations. Before our trip, my initial expectations were to see a school in the middle of nowhere (some students still agree to this statement, but I disagree to some degree).  Armidale is a very small glimpse into the life of most Australian towns away from the coast.  By a very small glimpse, I admit to only staying within UNE’s campus, a few pubs, and a café where one of the medical student’s work at.  In this tunneled opinion, I believe Armidale is filled with genuine people who have hospitality that trumps even the generosity stereotyped in Southern United States.

The students, faculty, and staff of the UNE School of Medicine have at times have treated us so well, we wonder if they misunderstood that we are only 2^nd year medical students and not “hot shot” MD’s. They respect us and were open to our opinions of how to make the boot camp workshops and ultrasound training go smoothly. They trusted us to run workshop stations and teach their students how to incorporate Ultrasound into there future medical toolbox. Professor Peter McKeown has been a delight. He really wants to make his school a medical school that anticipates the future needs of medical students and mold them into tomorrow’s physicians. There are countless students that have been a pleasure to hang around with and see how Australian medical students live their daily lives.

Since our last entry, we had an additional couple of days helping in the boot camp workshops, which finally came to a close today. Our group one day coordinated a simulation that MacGyver would approve of. It involved chicken breast, animal balloons, condoms, ultrasound gel, and few ultrasound devices.  Trust us, it was funny enough getting awkward eyes at the grocery store when trying this out in the states. We filled the animal balloons with ultrasound gel and laced them into the chicken to represent how a large vessel would look like in an actual patient. Then we went one-step further on the insanity level…we used these makeshift models to simulate ultrasound guided vascular placement (often seen in central line procedures).

Our hope was they would gain an initial understanding of how ultrasound prevents major complications (i.e. nicking the common carotid or causing a pneumothorax) through confirming that the needle/line is correctly placed. Also, we wanted to provide a low-tech, low-cost educational solution that could be used to simulate procedures which are performed later in our careers.

The Result…..the students loved it…though it was initial hard for some to get used to the fact it was done on raw chicken meat. While this was going on, other stations were learning how to suture, appropriately scrub for the operating room, etc. The next day was followed up by Brian and I giving additional “stick time” for students to hone down their new ultrasound skills. Bryan and Lance at the same time were assisting 3^rd year students how to perform the E-FAST exam on an ultrasound device.

I’ll leave our time instructing with the 1^st and 2^nd year students on ultrasound for another entry

…..Til Then.

Aloha from Australia!

We just got off the plane and have been stuffing our faces with shrimps right off the barbies…

…But stereotypes and being an annoying American aside, we haven’t had much immersion into Australian culture since we are just now getting settled into our first home for the night; a homely little hostel in Coffs Harbour.

Our Australian hosts from UNE should be meeting us in just a bit, but until then we have taken to walking around the Harbor and sampling some of the local brew. Tomorrow morning I plan on hitting some surf (that’s right, I dropped the surfing card), then back to the hostel to wake up the others and get ready for our next leg of the journey to UNE in Armidale.

….there, it took a few tries in order for the others to approve this post, but I think I got through it without being too offensive. And as the Australians say, “Au Revoir!”

Coffs Harbour

Coffs Harbour

Coffs Harbour

Group Member’s: Carter English, Lance Beier, Bryan Sloane, Brian Sprouse

Schools We Will Be Involved With:
-University of New England School of Rural Medicine in Armidale, New South Wales (NSW) (First Week)
-University of Newcastle School of Medicine and Public Health in Newcastle, NSW (Second Week)

Why Go to Australia????
1)     An International Conversation of Medicine: Our group believes discussing and learning about different concepts of medicine in other countries is a pivotal step toward creating international dialogue that can provide new avenues where a country can improve their health care. We believe ingraining an ultrasound curriculum (inspired by Dr. J. Christian Fox) early into medical school can provide a new tool into providing quality healthcare at a lower price.  Also, peer-to-peer teaching has been found to improve the understanding and retention of medical material.  We plan to show that medical students have a capacity to teach other medical student basic concepts of ultrasound through hands-on time and podcast material. Also, we hope to learn in-depth about the health care system and medical education system in Australia.
2)     Assisting UNE: UNE has developed a procedural boot camp, which involves chest tube placement simulations, suturing, FAST scans, etc. We were invited to help/volunteer with the program during our stay.
3)     Newcastle Lectures: In Newcastle, we will be providing an open lecture concerning Ultrasound as a Teaching Tool which will discuss ultrasounds effectiveness in education and in the clinic through clinic vignettes.
4)     It’s Australia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Traveling and enjoying time in a different country (while at the same-time speaking the same language). It speaks for itself. Traveling is a wonderful way to gain a global understand of our world and have a ton of fun in the process.

This blog will provide our experiences abroad, some great photos, tips on travel, and any other updates you may be interested in.

Cheers,

Carter English, Lance Beier, Bryan Sloane, and Brian Sprouse

UCI SOM MS2

Preparing for Australia

Chicken + Ultrasound Gel-Filled Balloon + Linear Probe = Great Sim Tool for Venous Line Placements