**Help New Instructor**Teaching Medical Assistants

[or.nurse]

I am teaching for the first time, are there any teachers/students/nurses willing to collaborate on ideas/labs/interactive medical activities for the different subjects? I am really excited to make an improvement in the medical care that the MA gives. please anything helps. thank you.

[SubSippi]

A couple times during the semester, our teacher had us full out "patho man." It was an outline of a person, with all the body systems (CV, respiratory, GI, GU, endocrine, neuro, and even skin, bones, and eyes) listed around at the side. We put the primary diagnosis on the top of the page, and then, with the patient's meds and labs, filled out how the condition would affect each body system. Then we would present it in preconference.

It was pretty time consuming for the student, and now that I think about it, I think each student did patho man once each semester. She also used it as a way to make up assignments, instead of having us write a paper. When it was out turn, we would pick out a patient from that day (with the approval of our teacher, so we didn't all use the same type of chest pain or SOB patients), and then have the whole week to work on it and present the next week.

Some students hated it, but I am a nerd about that stuff and I loved it. It helped get us to think about the "big picture," which can be really difficult for students and new grads. It was a great way to stimulate discussion.

[SubSippi]

I just realized that was for medical assistants! That was something I did in nursing school. We don't have medical assistants in my area, so I don't really know what they do or if that would be useful for them. Sorry!