February/March 2009

The medical interview and the physical exam are the most important tools available to a physician.  To be able to listen to your patients is just as important as knowing how to perform a physical exam.  It’s simple: all it requires is a chair for your patient and a stethoscope for the physician.

I am currently receiving a clinical introductory class at the Latin American School of Medicine.  The main objective of this class is to give the student an introduction to the physical exam.  The class conjugates the first clinical elements relating them with the techniques for performing a physical exam.  It serves as a platform for a better-prepared, faster learning process during the third year of medical training at the teaching hospital. 

As part of my training for this class, I attend the policlinic one-day per week.  The policlinic is the center for multiple healthcare services in a neighborhood.  At the policlinic I have the opportunity to practice with patients the techniques we learn in class.  Visiting the policlinic also gives me the opportunity to work side-by-side with students completing their final year of medical training.  These students are a great resource to my classmates and I.  They are always sharing information with us that will be useful in the years to come.       

Cuba is a developing country, which means that we don’t have the medical equipment that may be available to other students in other countries.  This is why they insist so much on the medical interview and the physical exam as a diagnostic tool.  I find this to be an advantage because, as they tell us, they are preparing us for real-life situations.  When we leave Cuba we should be able to practice medicine in a hospital setting or in remote area where all we will have available is our stethoscope, which, by the way, was given to us by the Cuban government. 

Most of our professors at the Latin American School of Medicine have been on medical missions around the world.  These missions have been mostly in remote areas where they had no other form of diagnostic tool but their stethoscope and their experience.  This is why Dr. Omar Palomino Trapaga strongly encouraged me on December 2007 to get as much experience as possible while in medical school so that when I return home I can be prepared to confront anything that crosses my path.  According to Dr. Palomino, the best doctors are those who are experts at performing physical exams.   

Contact information: 

Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina
Carretera Panamericana Km 3 ½
Santa Fé, Playa
Ciudad Habana, Cuba
C.P. 19108

Email:  Ramon Alejandro Bernal  alex238209@yahoo.com
Joanna Mae Souers  jsouers@gmail.com