Volunteer patients, real medical education

You don’t need a medical background to volunteer at the hospital. In fact, you can offer valuable aid to the medical community just by being a patient – no illness required.          

Dalhousie's Faculty of Medicine is launching another year of its Volunteer Patient Program. From October to April on Tuesday afternoons and Thursday mornings, on the fifth floor of 1256 Barrington Street, Haligonians have the chance to help facilitate the education of Canada’s future doctors.

"The volunteer patient program is something we really pride ourselves on," says Dr. Maureen Nolan, a radiation oncologist at the Nova Scotia Cancer Centre and one of the program's resident physician tutors. "The purpose of the program is not to diagnose people – it's so our students get used to being around people, interacting with them on a physical level; it's about encouraging better communication."

A new way to volunteer at the hospital

Anyone 18 years of age or older is eligible to volunteer. "The majority of people that come in are completely healthy," says Dr. Nolan. "But there are people who come in with pre-existing conditions as well. As long as you're willing to put in the time, you're welcome."

The volunteers range from students who are thinking about pursuing medicine to retired senior citizens and even doctors.

"I like volunteering because I get to see what medical school is like," says Robin Hickey, an undergraduate student in kinesiology at Dalhousie. "I'm really interested in applying to medical school, so this is a great opportunity for me to check it out, as well as contribute to the education of others. My first session was with medical students who were also doing [the program] for the first time, so we were being each other's guinea pigs."

The examination procedure doesn't involve anything invasive and volunteers are not required to do anything that makes them uncomfortable. "We don't perform anything like a colonoscopy or a gynecological exam," laughs Dr. Nolan. "It's mostly just getting students used to taking blood pressure, getting medical history or doing a nose, throat and ear check."

Simulated patients, real medical training

The program also employs the use of what it calls "simulated patients." Often trained actors, simulated patients have a script and a particular character or background story they adhere to during the examination. For the first seven weeks of the program, the medical students focus their attention on the simulated patients to build communication skills and become comfortable with patient interviews.        

"It's sort of like a game," says Yousef Mandourah, another first year medical student. "There are certain cues you have to hit with them to get them to continue and tell you more, so it's kind of like a puzzle."

After seven weeks, the students move on to examining the volunteer patients, building on and employing the skills they learn in classes.

"We try and build towards them eventually performing a fully integrated and comprehensive history and physical examination," says Dr. Nolan. "Over the last few years we've modified the program and tried to synchronize it with the curriculum, so the students are learning these bodily systems and examination skills and then employing them."

Honing their people skills

In a society that is increasingly concerned with having things done faster, easier and more impersonally, Dalhousie is hoping the program will foster a more communicative and personal bedside manner amongst its hopeful physicians.         

"I can already see it starting to carry over to my real life," says Mr. Mandourah. "One of my electives is working in the emergency room, and already I find myself connecting better with the patients I see. Sometimes it just feels like I'm still playing doctor, but these sessions make it much more real."        

Whether you want to commit to a full year of medical scrutiny or just drop in for one session to see what it's like, the program is always looking for volunteers. If you’d like to help educate future physicians, just drop an email to vppinfo@dal.ca or call 902-494-7746.