Abdomen
Volledige vakbeschrijving
The Abdomen cluster aims to deepen, broaden and integrate what the students have learned about abdominal complaints in previous years (e.g. Digestion and Defense). A large team has been working on this cluster over the past few years to achieve this aim. The team members are all still involved in the cluster. You can find their roles in this the cluster on eleUM: Course Information -> Staff Information.
The guiding principle for the design of the curriculum for the Abdomen cluster, in which the patient and their clinical presentation is the starting point of learning, comprises of the seven competences/roles of a doctor as described in the 2009 Framework for Undergraduate Medical Education in the Netherlands. These competences/roles as well as the corresponding subsidiary competences with respect to the Abdomen cluster are discussed in Course Book -> introduction -> Chapter 1: Objectives.
This cluster covers abdominal complaints with a more or less chronic nature. The complaints are often related to the gastrointestinal system, the urological system and the reproductive systems. The students are confronted with a variety of clinical presentations, all related to the abdomen. These clinical presentations are the basis to study the physiological and pathophysiological processes that lead to chronic abdominal complaints in an integrated way. Moreover, patient contacts are used as a basis to study the generic aspects of the consequences of chronic disease, ethics and law and clinical epidemiology.
The heart of learning lies in the educational patient contacts, where the students, often in pairs, will see patient consultations at different (outpatient) departments. It is very stimulating for the students to see these patients in the specialist’s consultation room. Specialists of the MUMC departments of gynaecology/obstetrics, urology, gastroenterology, paediatrics, surgery, radiotherapy and dermatology open the doors to their consultation rooms to the 3rd-year students. Obviously, the student’s professional behaviour is essential in learning through educational patient contacts. Many activities have been organised to optimize the learning effect of these educational patient contacts, including training sessions in which the students can acquire more knowledge about (chronic) abdominal complaints and practise skills.
The cluster contains cluster-related as well as non-cluster-related activities.
Doelstellingen van dit vak
Within 10 weeks, the students are trained to make a differential diagnosis of the most common abdominal complaints.
For these complaints the Sheffields list is used . The student practices both with patients and with fictitious case to take a medical history and perform a physical examination . As a framework for history taking , the VITMINE C + D system is applied. In addition, the anatomic relationships are taught between the location of the complaint and the organs in the abdomen. Subsequently, it is taught to make a differential diagnosis with the acquired information . Finally, the students learn the basics of additional research and therapy.