Today was our first academic day! Our lovely little darlings got to feel like mini-doctors today walking around with their scrubs, taking notes and looking at x-rays!
After our breakfast and debriefing meeting, the students broke off into their med or vet groups. The vets went to listen to a lecture on cardio-pulmonary and gastrointestinal issues in animals while the meds had a musculo-skeletal lecture.
After the lectures, both groups went to their respective wet labs to work on implimenting what they had learned in lecture.
The med students were shown how to read x-rays, and were taught to diagnose some of the radiographs! This was also the first exposure to cadavers for many of the students (ours included). This year, SGU has several plasticine cadavers for the med students to observe. The neat thing about the cadaver parts was the students actually got to see how the nerves and cardiovascular system ran through the arms and legs of an actual (all-be-it dead) person.
The vet students also had plasticine remains (animal, not human) to work with. They made their way around several stations and used their lecture knowledge in more hands-on situations. The students had the opportunity to see the workings of a cow's lungs. They were able to inflate and deflate the lungs to see how they expanded. Very neat experience! Vet students also got to dissect some pig hearts!
After lunch, the groups split up again. The meds did some clinical practice while the vets went to the small animal hospital. There, students learned how to take clinical histories from the pet and owner, and then they were able to apply this knowledge to perform a basic exam on a dog! The med students were also taught what questions to ask when taking patient histories, and worked more with expanding their knowledge of the musculo-skeletal system.
This evening we attended a medicinal herbs lecture where students learned about local plant life in Grenada and what certain herbs can be used for medicinally... although some of what has been passed down through the generations is pure folklore! We had the opportunity to try some of the that were brought in... cherries, sugar cane, coconut juice (straight from the coconut!)... some of our boys even tried the extremely spicy peppers! The peppers are smaller than your pinky nail, but they pack quite a punch! I don't think they knew what hit them!
Tomorrow we're going to Laura Estate... an herb and spice garden. Now that students know what they will be looking at, I know they're going to have a blast! In the afternoon we will be sailing and snorkeling. Fun times!
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