Term 5: ICM

ICM is a continuation of CPD from term 4. It is the same department and the small group sessions are structured similarly. My overview of CPD can be read here. Each small group session will focus on one patient encounter. In contrast to CPD, ICM small groups place a heavy emphasis on teamwork during the patient encounter.

As a part of the ICM class, 5th term students go to the hospital rotations at St. George's General Hospital, a variety of private practices in the local Grenadian community, and the Mt. Gay Psychiatric Hospital. Although the hospital visits take up to 4 hours per week, it was the most enjoyable part of my week. My group consisted of 5 5th term students. Each week, we were assigned to a new preceptor/doctor and a new rotation/department so that we got exposure to a variety of fields. Some of my favorite rotations were pediatrics and emergency medicine.

During the pediatrics rotation, we we not only got to interact and examine babies that were a few hours old, but we also were lucky enough to see a delivery. The preceptor we had for the pediatrics rotation provided insight on his lifestyle, the most common emergencies, and gave each member of my team a chance to individually examine a newborn. I remember learning about the moro reflex and the positive Babinski sign that is seen in babies during the neuroscience class. However, after performing both test on two newborns, I will never forget how these two tests are performed. I am very grateful to have had the exposure to the pediatrics unit in Grenada.

During my group's emergency medicine rotation, we were able to interview and examine 2 different patients. Apart from seeing typical cases that come to the emergency room, the experience also showed me the high-paced activity that is part of an emergency room.

Some of the other rotations that we had the opportunity to rotate through were internal medicine, psychiatry, surgery, ICU, OB/GYN, and orthopedics. The SGU administration does a great job making sure that students get a diverse experience during their time at St. George's General Hospital. I'm grateful for all the helpful preceptors and cooperative patients we saw. These rotations are getting me excited to start clinical rotations soon in the United States!

In terms of grading, we had 2 SOAP notes based on 2 patient encounters that we had during our hospital visits, 1 team OSCE quiz, and 1 final individual OSCE similar to the one that we took in term 4. The nice thing about ICM is that it is a shorter course compared to the rest of the term 5 classes. So, the final OSCE is not taken during finals week. It is typically scheduled right before the second set of midterms. I thought this was a huge benefit because I was able to dedicate more time to pharmacology and preparing for BSCE/NBME after ICM ended.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day! :)

~N