At the start of pediatrics residency in the College of Medicine-Jacksonville last year, Sartaj Kadiwala, D.O., and Namita Sharma,M.D., M.P.H., and their classmates were welcomed, given a few printed pages about newborn care and set to work. They took night calls and tended to babies from high-risk pregnancies. By year-end they had learned a host of things they wished someone had told them at the start.
So they decided to become that “someone” for the classes after theirs, putting together a detailed guide about the experiences new residents will encounter and step-by-step instructions for various procedures.
Kadiwala and Sharma got the chance to present their work during the Advances in Medical Education 2010 event at the UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville, along with many other residents, faculty and nursing and pharmacy trainees.
“The goal is to promote and share innovation in medical education,” said Elisa Zenni, M.D., assistant dean for educational affairs at the College of Medicine-Jacksonville.
As part of the event, the college also showcased the work of the next generation of scientists. Ten students from the Darnell-Cookman Middle/High School of the Medical Arts showed off their projects in a range of disciplines, including behavioral and social science, biochemistry, forensic science, medicine and zoology. Twins Tony and Tyler Hansberry did research on measuring knee stress, and on how acidity affects decomposition of flesh, respectively.
Eight-year-old Matthew Joseph came to see his older sister Christine’s poster on the effect of different types of music on variations in heart rhythm. Other students did work on age-related changes in memory, the effect of video games on reaction time and caffeine’s effect on the heart rate of water fleas.
The adults in the room were excited to have the seventh- to tenth-graders nearby and to talk with them about science and medicine.
“You see the spark in them, and you remember your own and want to nurture it,” said Constance Haan, M.D., M.S., senior associate dean for educational affairs in the College of Medicine-Jacksonville. “This is the future of health care.”