ICM 3

ICM 3 is actually the second introduction to clinical medicine class that you take at AUC. But, you take it in 3rd semester, hence "ICM 3." I still have not been able to make up my mind on what I think about this class. On one hand, it is probably the most interesting of the classes since everything we learn is directly clinically relevant. We discuss a couple of cases throughout the 10 classes which make up the class, and learn how to do a full physical exam. The cases are interesting, so far, and you do learn a lot about how to manage whatever that particular case covers. For example, the last case taught us how to differentiate between the many causes of pneumonia, along with treatments and when you would admit to the hospital.

On the other hand though, it's a pass/fail class with no written exams, and it's only 10 classes long. So, it essentially becomes the very bottom on a list of priorities for the semester. We also have the class from 3:30-5:30 in the afternoon (since the 5th semesters are in ICM before us), which is probably the absolute worst time that they could possible schedule a class. It gets in the way of studying for classes that require a whole lot more studying, and count for a whole lot more of our grade. It's bad enough to lose 2 hours of time, but like I said, the specific times couldn't be worse. Also, I have never been a fan of group learning. I don't particularly enjoy working things out with a large group of people who know either the same as me or less than I do about whatever we're talking about. It just seems to make learning go a lot slower than it needs to. It would probably be a lot nicer if our groups were about half their current size. Also, because of the big groups (12 people), we spend an awful lot of time watching other people try to get through an interview rather than actually doing them ourselves. Throughout the 10 classes, you probably spend at least 8-10 hours watching other people interview, and less than an hour doing them yourself.

So, very interesting, but very annoying at the same time. After this semester though, the 5th semesters will be gone, and they are the last class left on the old curriculum. So, maybe the schedule will be a little better next semester.