Health & Fitness - MINI MED MAKES WAVES
Participants sample field with new program
In the spring of last year, something new sprang up at LSU Health Shreveport: a “Mini Medical School” program. While not a true medical school, the Mini Med School gives interested professionals a chance to sample seminars on various health topics, take a look behind the scenes of the medical school, and get some hands-on training using real medical diagnostic equipment.
Dr. Andrew Chesson is a board-certified neurologist and a psychiatrist board certified in sleep medicine at LSU Health Shreveport, where he has served as dean of the School of Medicine since 2009. Chesson said, “Mini Med School is a glimpse into what goes on at LSU Health Shreveport and our Schools of Medicine, Allied Health Professions and Graduate Studies, as well as our hospital. The public is generally very interested in medical topics and specifically interested in health issues and conditions that affect them or a family member. There has also always been curiosity about medical school and what goes on in research labs. Mini Med gives the general public both a chance to hear experts talk about health conditions and to see what we have to offer at the health sciences center.”
Mini Med School participant Brenda Bailey Traylor heard about the program through the chancellor’s wife. Traylor said, “She had attended one prior, and she thought I might enjoy the experience, which I did. My husband is a physician; I worked while he attended college and then LSU Medical School in New Orleans. I wanted to get the feeling, however limited, of his experience.
“From the introduction, watching medical students showing us what they carried at any given time in those deep pockets, the lectures given at each class from the same professionals who teach new medical school students were extremely informative and then the hands-on events that took place in the second half of the class were fun. My favorite part has to be learning about the standardized patient program offered to the medical school attendants. This program teaches our young doctors how to get a basic history, do physical exams and learn to diagnose problems as they are presented by specially trained individuals. That was so much fun. I applied for and have since become a standardized patient.”
University professor and author Wayne Hogue is program coordinator at Louisiana Tech University Shreveport-Bossier City.
“I attended Mini Med School because I wanted to learn more about our med school,” Hogue said. “The med school is one of those treasures in our community that we look at all the time and hear about often, but I really didn’t know a whole lot about it, and my wife, Robin, graduated with her M.D. from there.
“The Mini Med School sessions were like an intro-level college class about a specific medical issue, medical school program or some of their really cool equipment. The docs that taught each one of the classes along with their med student helpers were top-notch. They were able to simplify some really complicated and abstract concepts to where we could really understand and benefit from the information they shared. In fact, one of the reasons I wanted to attend Mini Med School was to meet the faculty. I’m not sure folks realize that we have some of the best and brightest medical school faculty on the planet right here in Shreveport. I love knowing brilliant people so I took the opportunity to try to get to know them while I was attending.”
Hogue said the Mini Med School is more hands-on than she thought it would be.
Hogue continued, “I figured we would hear some lectures and maybe tour the facilities, but we got to watch, test out and even play with some of the equipment that they use to train the students. Being a power tool kind of guy, I was absolutely enthralled with getting to see and work with some the really high-tech tools. It was easy to understand everything each one of the instructors talked about. They went to a lot of trouble to simplify everything so that everyone could understand. If I understood them, then anyone most certainly could.”
Chesson said the school has about 30 to 40 participants for each session.
“We do a session in the spring and repeat it in the fall. The sessions last four or five weeks and meet one night a week for two hours. Each one includes an hour lecture and an hour of hands-on activity,” Chesson said.
Information on classes
The $40 cost includes a lab coat, class picture and a certificate of completion for the class. Free parking will be available close to the lecture hall. No books or other materials are needed. For more information, visit www.lsuhscshreveport.edu/minimedschool/minimedschool.aspx.
