sometimes I find myself at a loss with a keen med student. I don't want to ignore them, but I don't always (or often!) have a structured tutorial to pull out of the hat

this often varies by specialty and ward anyway

EDIT 29/07/2023: to add stuff

Suggested

at the bedside:

• examine a friendly patient
• pt with a rare condition? tell me what you can about it – better, what can the patient teach you about it?
• when asked to review a patient, do an A-E together, or get them to lead the A-E examination
• observe a blood transfusion
• do a MOCA/ACE etc. (other patient questionnaires exist) talk about the advantages and limitations of those tools.

procedures:

• take a postural BP then talk about risk factors for postural hypotension
• take and interpret an ABG
• any other procedure in the GMC core procedures is game obviously
• troubleshoot a catheter/NG tube/cannula

prescribing:

• mock prescribing – antibiotics, gentamicin (grrr)
• let's talk pain relief...
• let's talk antiemetics and their mechanisms...
• let's talk parkinson's meds...
• take a medication history
• do an admission meds reconciliation
• do a meds reconciliation for discharge – why were meds stopped?

teamwork:

• ask a friendly AHP if the student can shadow them – e.g. specialist nurses, therapists, pharmacists
• follow a patient down to scan
• ask a friendly specialist if the student can shadow them
• write a referral together
• calling micro for a specific question
• take a handover

doctoring:

• write a scan request together → discuss why this modality
• chat about on calls
• do they know how “the take” works?
• doing a DNACPR? write the “red form” together

investigations:

• describe an ECG/scan systematically
• look at some bloods, ask them to tell you what it means
• parse reports, historical or otherwise (I was asked to look through 6 years of clinic letters once...)

#teaching #meded