REFLECTIONS ON SHADOWING EXPERIENCES AND COMMUNICATION IN HEALTHCARE SETTINGS

Abstract

The capstone project of the Miami University’s Master of Medical Sciences in Biomedical Sciences (BMS) Graduate Program works to reflect on the intentional design of the program to bridge the chasm between didactic learning, theoretical discourse, and practical implementation in the clinical context. The aim of this report is to communicate the culminating experience of the BMS program through four different perspectives: “From the Classroom to the Clinic,” “Framing a Clinical Question and Interrogating the Literature,” “Reflection on Effective Communication in Healthcare,” and “Reflection on Psychosocial Determinants of Health.” Through courses deliberately chosen for expanding upon the foundations set in my undergraduate education, I have been introduced to material that has provided me with the building blocks to ask stronger and highly thought-out questions. Outside of the classroom, the program’s requirement in experiential learning has helped to contextualize concepts found in a textbook or PowerPoint presentation to the hospital and has exposed me to sides of medicine I had yet to witness. These include but are not limited to the importance of effective communication in the delivery of healthcare as well as critically considering each patient’s psychosocial determinants of health.