Gann’s Anatomy and Physiology students had the opportunity to visit Harvard Medical School to participate in their MEDscience program, which offers an interactive, hands-on medical science experience for high schoolers. Led by medical students and residents in a case study and skill simulation, students diagnosed a patient simulator, representing a 75-year-old woman. The students focused on the patient, who was having a heart attack, by listening to the lifelike sounds of her heart and lungs, and analyzing test results of her blood sugar and chest X-rays.
As part of their learning experience, students also practiced placing IV lines in a simulation model mimicking a real arm, which included ‘veins’ with a touch of red dye symbolizing blood. According to Anatomy and Physiology teacher Laila Goodman, “The case study method of learning is what makes this course so unique. It allows each student to apply their knowledge of the human body.”
Having the chance to work with a patient and collaborate to develop a diagnosis allowed students to apply their classroom learning and deepen their critical thinking skills developed during the semester. Students will head back for their next in-person module of the program in April and are looking forward to continuing to experience what it is like to work in the medical field.
