Happy New Year in Nepal. It is Baisakh today so it is a national holiday. We are not working today. I was hoping to take in some of the festivities but I have a stomach bug...I thought I might get away without getting one, but no such luck!
It isn't terrible but enough that I am fearful of leaving my place.
I am concerned about going on a trek now too...
I hope it clears up. Will keep you posted. :(
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Bodhnanth
Monday, April 11, 2011
Interesting observations about PAHS students
There are a few things that I have noticed about the medical students here in Nepal at PAHS. They never take notes during lectures. Not ever. It is strange to look out at a sea of faces who are intently watching you. It's a good thing but I have no idea how they remember what was said. Maybe they have become reliant on the fact that they will be getting the lecture slides at a later date.
They also tend to rely on anecdotal evidence rather than their research in PBL. They are much more "sure" of themselves than students I have seen in Canada. It's almost an overconfidence. They are quick to believe each other without any evidence. They back down when challenged easily and won't counter a more confident student. Of course I see this in Canada but not as much as I have seen it here.
I also see the students coming to PBL with their notebooks and one student is using an old daytimer for his research and PBL notes. It's a nice reuse of resources!
Overall I am finding them to be very eager, inquisitive and smart! It feels a bit like they might need more introductory science before we jump into the UBC 1st year equivalent..?
They also tend to rely on anecdotal evidence rather than their research in PBL. They are much more "sure" of themselves than students I have seen in Canada. It's almost an overconfidence. They are quick to believe each other without any evidence. They back down when challenged easily and won't counter a more confident student. Of course I see this in Canada but not as much as I have seen it here.
I also see the students coming to PBL with their notebooks and one student is using an old daytimer for his research and PBL notes. It's a nice reuse of resources!
Overall I am finding them to be very eager, inquisitive and smart! It feels a bit like they might need more introductory science before we jump into the UBC 1st year equivalent..?
Lecturing in Nepal
I have delivered two lectures now to the PAHS medical students in Nepal. The first one was on the Importance of Genetics in Medicine & Modes of Inheritance and the second one today was on Cytogenetic & Chromosomes. There is so much information to pack into such a short amount of time! It is very difficult to know what to include and what to leave out. It is also hard to prepare ahead of time as things change at the last minute here in Nepal. It turns out that BaishaK, Nepali New Year, is on Thursday so we have no classes. This means that the lab and lecture that I ahd planned for that day had to be cancelled. The content then needs to be added to and fit into another leture and lab time slot. Hard to do...
Regardless, teaching is fun!
I received the feedback immediately after my first lecture that I speak too fast and I need to slow down - not a surprise at all! I speak too fast for students in Canada! So that was good to know. Katie observed my lecture today and heard students comment that it was all clear once I was done - that's nice to hear. I know that some students are confused - genetics is confusing. And trying to understand mosaicism and uniparental disomy and indications for prenatal diagnosis and risk calculation in just a few hours? Very hard to do!
Tomorrow is my very busy day. I have PBL at 8 am until 10 am, then I deliver a lecture on Prenatal Diagnosis and Genetic Counseling at 11 am, I lead a PBL Tutor Challneges discussion at 12 pm and then hold a 2 hour workshop from 2-4 pm on Pedigree Analysis and Risk Calculation. Then go straigt to dinner with the PAHS team.
After that we have 2 days off. I give my last lecture and lab on Friday!
The time has gone SO fast! I can't believe it is almost over. I will be so sad to leave.
Regardless, teaching is fun!
I received the feedback immediately after my first lecture that I speak too fast and I need to slow down - not a surprise at all! I speak too fast for students in Canada! So that was good to know. Katie observed my lecture today and heard students comment that it was all clear once I was done - that's nice to hear. I know that some students are confused - genetics is confusing. And trying to understand mosaicism and uniparental disomy and indications for prenatal diagnosis and risk calculation in just a few hours? Very hard to do!
Tomorrow is my very busy day. I have PBL at 8 am until 10 am, then I deliver a lecture on Prenatal Diagnosis and Genetic Counseling at 11 am, I lead a PBL Tutor Challneges discussion at 12 pm and then hold a 2 hour workshop from 2-4 pm on Pedigree Analysis and Risk Calculation. Then go straigt to dinner with the PAHS team.
After that we have 2 days off. I give my last lecture and lab on Friday!
The time has gone SO fast! I can't believe it is almost over. I will be so sad to leave.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
PBL Tutor Training in Nepal
Joan and I completed our PBL Tutor Training workshop here in Nepal on Friday. It was a 2-day 16 hour workshop. We had 14 physicians participating, mostly from Patan Hospital. They are all possible tutors for the next block.
It was a very interesting experience. I think that patience has really arisen as something that I need to always keep in mind here in Nepal.
I think that both Joan and I are people who like to be early and prepared well ahead of time. so of course we met at the hospital at 7:15 am for the 8 am start. Joan was even thinking that we might not have enough time! Time has a very different meaning in Nepal...
The doors were locked to the room that we were going to use, the projector would not work - it would not advance the slides. we got started AT LEAST 1 hour later than expected. There was only 1 participant present at 8 am.
Anyway, we got started and found that this was a very eager and enthusiastic group! There was a lot of great questions, we had some great discussions and they wanted to now all about PBL. They were very familiar with PBL and the overall idea of the method. This helped a lot!
Our mock students were interns who came during lunch. Joan and I had to train them before they were to take on their role. They were EXTREMELY quiet and reticent and preoccupied. We hoped for the best!
Thankfully, Shambhu offered to act as the experienced tutor with the interns as a demonstration for our trainees. We had 6 interns (we were supposed to have 12 so we could split the group into two) so we had them sit at a table with Shambhu as the tutor while the trainees sat in a circle around them to watch. I couldn't have been more thankful that it was Shambhu in there and not me! And not Joan! The interns were beyond quiet. They simply wouldn't speak. Shambhu did an amazing job getting them to do anything at all. I was sortie that'd is would terrify our trainees, but it was great for them to see what can happen and what can go wrong.
After the interns left and we were debriefing, they came back to ask if they could return on Sunday instead of Friday for the training. Too funny! Shambhu explained that this was a training program and that they had to return the next day for 1 hour to help us again. They were worried about an exam that they had to write... So it was no surprise at all when they did not show up on Friday! We had no mock students!!! We didn't even know it until lunch was over. We were hoping and hoping that they would come.
Anyway, it all turned out well and we graduated 14 new PBL tutors! I was so thankful for having Joan and Shambhu with me! As usual it was sad to leave the people that we met in the workshop.
I went home feeling terrible with my cold, spent my day off getting over it and delivered my first PAHS-SOM lecture today!
Very exciting!
It was a very interesting experience. I think that patience has really arisen as something that I need to always keep in mind here in Nepal.
I think that both Joan and I are people who like to be early and prepared well ahead of time. so of course we met at the hospital at 7:15 am for the 8 am start. Joan was even thinking that we might not have enough time! Time has a very different meaning in Nepal...
The doors were locked to the room that we were going to use, the projector would not work - it would not advance the slides. we got started AT LEAST 1 hour later than expected. There was only 1 participant present at 8 am.
Anyway, we got started and found that this was a very eager and enthusiastic group! There was a lot of great questions, we had some great discussions and they wanted to now all about PBL. They were very familiar with PBL and the overall idea of the method. This helped a lot!
Our mock students were interns who came during lunch. Joan and I had to train them before they were to take on their role. They were EXTREMELY quiet and reticent and preoccupied. We hoped for the best!
Thankfully, Shambhu offered to act as the experienced tutor with the interns as a demonstration for our trainees. We had 6 interns (we were supposed to have 12 so we could split the group into two) so we had them sit at a table with Shambhu as the tutor while the trainees sat in a circle around them to watch. I couldn't have been more thankful that it was Shambhu in there and not me! And not Joan! The interns were beyond quiet. They simply wouldn't speak. Shambhu did an amazing job getting them to do anything at all. I was sortie that'd is would terrify our trainees, but it was great for them to see what can happen and what can go wrong.
After the interns left and we were debriefing, they came back to ask if they could return on Sunday instead of Friday for the training. Too funny! Shambhu explained that this was a training program and that they had to return the next day for 1 hour to help us again. They were worried about an exam that they had to write... So it was no surprise at all when they did not show up on Friday! We had no mock students!!! We didn't even know it until lunch was over. We were hoping and hoping that they would come.
Anyway, it all turned out well and we graduated 14 new PBL tutors! I was so thankful for having Joan and Shambhu with me! As usual it was sad to leave the people that we met in the workshop.
I went home feeling terrible with my cold, spent my day off getting over it and delivered my first PAHS-SOM lecture today!
Very exciting!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Pashupatinath
Well, it happened. I was the stupid tourist who was attacked by a monkey right outside the Pashupatinath temple. Okay, attacked may be a BIT strong of a word, but it was close! It grabbed my skirt and was very threateningly yelling and hissing at me and was very aggressive. And what did I do? Yelled "Katie Katie Katie" over and over again until Katie came over and scared them away. Wow. Who knew I would freeze up like that and not do anything and just yell for my friend to save me?
I would like to emphasize that we WERE NOT doing anything to the monkeys at all when this happened. We were not feeding them or trying to touch them or any other stupid thing. I think they were just expecting us to give them food and the one aggressive female was upset when we didn't. Now I am afraid of monkeys...great...
Today (Wednesday) is a holiday at PAHS. The medical school is closed on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Katie and I called a taxi driver (Harka - a friend of Katie's friend Suzy) and he picked us up at 6 am at Patan Hospital. It was Katie's idea to go bright and early to beat the crowds, to have the beautiful light and so that it wouldn't be too hot. What a great idea! It was so nice and peaceful - okay, minus the crazy monkey - and it is so beautiful there! It is a 264 hectare UNESCO designated World Heritage Site. There are many Shiva temples and then the largest being Pashupatinath temple. It is one of the holiest temples of the world revered and worshipped both by Hindus and by Buddhists. Each Shiva temple has a bull statue or carving in front of it, as Hindu scriptures mention that the bull is the carrier of Shiva.
There were TONS of monkeys - I thought they were so cute, especially the babies, until the incident. There were also some beautiful deer in an enclosed park area. We saw a baby at first and then a Nepali guy pointed out an adult with huge antlers further in the forest. It still had spots!
Now I am back home and working on my lectures that are coming up next week. I have 4 lectures, 2 labs and 2 faculty development workshops!!
I think Katie and Sabita and I are going to go rockclimbing later this afternoon.
I would like to emphasize that we WERE NOT doing anything to the monkeys at all when this happened. We were not feeding them or trying to touch them or any other stupid thing. I think they were just expecting us to give them food and the one aggressive female was upset when we didn't. Now I am afraid of monkeys...great...
Today (Wednesday) is a holiday at PAHS. The medical school is closed on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Katie and I called a taxi driver (Harka - a friend of Katie's friend Suzy) and he picked us up at 6 am at Patan Hospital. It was Katie's idea to go bright and early to beat the crowds, to have the beautiful light and so that it wouldn't be too hot. What a great idea! It was so nice and peaceful - okay, minus the crazy monkey - and it is so beautiful there! It is a 264 hectare UNESCO designated World Heritage Site. There are many Shiva temples and then the largest being Pashupatinath temple. It is one of the holiest temples of the world revered and worshipped both by Hindus and by Buddhists. Each Shiva temple has a bull statue or carving in front of it, as Hindu scriptures mention that the bull is the carrier of Shiva.
There were TONS of monkeys - I thought they were so cute, especially the babies, until the incident. There were also some beautiful deer in an enclosed park area. We saw a baby at first and then a Nepali guy pointed out an adult with huge antlers further in the forest. It still had spots!
Now I am back home and working on my lectures that are coming up next week. I have 4 lectures, 2 labs and 2 faculty development workshops!!
I think Katie and Sabita and I are going to go rockclimbing later this afternoon.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Contrasting PBL in Nepal and PBL in Canada (well, BC anyway)
Katie and I met today (the other day now...took me a while to post!) with Babu Raja to discuss a PBL case that is focusing on BRCA1 mutations and inherited forms of breast cancer. He wanted to get our opinion about the genetics and medical genetics aspects of the case before we met at 10:15 am with a larger group of people to discuss the case. I should tell you that this case will be used the week after next (!). We made a number of suggestions, added guiding questions, and changed the structure, wording and flow of the case together. During our larger meeting more suggestions were made and some further changes came about.
Babu then sent the case by email to Katie and I to write the tutor guide by Tuesday. We need to provide answers to all of the guiding questions that we posed. I think that will be great!
Here is the first major difference for me. At home, I am not this involved in designing PBL cases and my feedback is rarely if ever heard never mind integrated into real changes and improvements of a case! It is a fun and exciting process. I am also impressed with how involved and listened to everyone is in this process - everyone has a say and it is enthusiastically welcomed. I know that this is largely due to the fact that this is a new program and all help is welcome, but I was struck by my usefulness and the team atmosphere.
Then we were called to attend the case feedback session. It was held in one of the lecture halls and all 58 medical students were in attendance. As well, 15 faculty members were there and Arjun, the vice-chancellor, was there as well. The students were asked by Babu to first summarize the case and then they were asked which, if any, learning objectives were not covered by the case. This was a case of a pregnant woman taking cold medication during pregnancy. A similar case to what we have used at UBC. Each group (7 in total) was asked to stand and state the numbers they felt were missed. Then Satish addressed their concerns one by one. He did so in a very interactive and positive way. Then the students were asked if there were any questions that they had about the case that could be cleared up. There were so many experts in the room they could ask anything at all! They had some great questions and everything was cleared up.
Here is the next major difference. The students were asked to give explicit feedback about a PBL case in a manner that I am only used to seeing in faculty meetings. The people in attendance was also significantly different. Quite impressive.
Babu then sent the case by email to Katie and I to write the tutor guide by Tuesday. We need to provide answers to all of the guiding questions that we posed. I think that will be great!
Here is the first major difference for me. At home, I am not this involved in designing PBL cases and my feedback is rarely if ever heard never mind integrated into real changes and improvements of a case! It is a fun and exciting process. I am also impressed with how involved and listened to everyone is in this process - everyone has a say and it is enthusiastically welcomed. I know that this is largely due to the fact that this is a new program and all help is welcome, but I was struck by my usefulness and the team atmosphere.
Then we were called to attend the case feedback session. It was held in one of the lecture halls and all 58 medical students were in attendance. As well, 15 faculty members were there and Arjun, the vice-chancellor, was there as well. The students were asked by Babu to first summarize the case and then they were asked which, if any, learning objectives were not covered by the case. This was a case of a pregnant woman taking cold medication during pregnancy. A similar case to what we have used at UBC. Each group (7 in total) was asked to stand and state the numbers they felt were missed. Then Satish addressed their concerns one by one. He did so in a very interactive and positive way. Then the students were asked if there were any questions that they had about the case that could be cleared up. There were so many experts in the room they could ask anything at all! They had some great questions and everything was cleared up.
Here is the next major difference. The students were asked to give explicit feedback about a PBL case in a manner that I am only used to seeing in faculty meetings. The people in attendance was also significantly different. Quite impressive.
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