A medical student can practice forever, but like any bedroom guitar hero or backyard footballer, there comes a day when it has to be done for real. This is where Griffith University depends utterly on our clinical partners.
QML Pathology have been a significant partner with Griffith School of Medicine since the school began training its first students. In an era when commercial partners have begun cutting back placements or charging for the privilege of learning, your corner pathologist has kept a steady pace of medical students, who nearly all draw their first real blood sample in a QML clinic.
Calm and positive
LyndallNurzynski did her first phlebotomy work in March at Ashmore Plaza (Gold Coast) and can’t speak highly enough of the experience.
“Not only are they extremely good at their jobs, but the lady I did my placement with, Anna Baldock was great at working with me. She made me feel calm, gave really positive feedback and after a few clients, I felt confident,” she said.
“It’s a small but really crucial part of medicine and their commitment to students really comes through in the people who run the service.”
Just a bit nervous
2nd year student Cedric Ng Liet Hing, did his placement in Labrador and it takes a bit of coaxing to get an admission of nerves at drawing his first blood sample.
“What do you say? We’ve done lots of practice to get ready, I was more excited than nervous, but yeah I suppose I was a bit nervous,” he said.
“I told the guy it was my first time and he looked a bit alarmed, but he was young, so it was pretty easy to find a vein and it all went pretty smoothly.
“You could tell the lady in charge had heaps of experience, she was really nice, so when it came time to take my first client I didn’t think about it too much, didn’t turn it into a big thing.”
Get it right and its easy
The school’s professional learning director, Associate Professor Gary Rogers can’t speak highly enough of QML Pathology.
“We often think of the big hospital internships or some remote clinical placement as a feature of studying with Griffith, but it’s businesses like the local QML Pathology which are our learning bread and butter,” he said.
“What is learnt on a placement like this is a skill perfected through basic repetition. Get it right and its easy, ignore the lesson’s these phlebotomists can teach and you will struggle to be a good doctor.”