Congrats on your journey so far!
How have your two years at DMU been?
Thank you! It’s been challenging, but a great ride so far. Looking forward to starting rotations.
Since you finished the pre-clinical phase, what should we expect going into the first year?
Depending on when you finished undergrad, it may be a bit of an adjustment initially. There’s no way to prep for it, IMO, you just have to adapt as you go and find ways of studying that work best for you.
1st year you’ll do basic science stuff like biochem, histo, general path, micro, immuno, etc. you’ll also have anatomy, omm, and clinical medicine labs spread throughout each week.
Each semester will be split into 2 blocks that are 8 weeks long. Exams are every other Monday, with the final week of the block including a cumulative exam, anatomy practical and omm practical.
And would the second year be the same, and if not, what is the difference between 1st and 2nd?
2nd year is block style as well, but exams are every 4-5 weeks instead of every other week like in first year. There is a finals week with a normal exam, omm practical and then a cumulative exam.
Anatomy is only in first year so you won’t have that lab. Clinical medicine (basic doctoring course) changes a little bit 2nd year. Instead of weekly labs learning physical exams and history taking (part of first year), you’ll be doing simulated group encounters with the mannequins (lots of fun), SKIPPs - group case based learning, and you’ll have more 1 on 1 encounters (aka OSCEs).
2nd year each block is focused on specific systems where you’ll learn pathophys, pharm, etc for the given systems being covered. The SKIPPs and SIM sessions will be related to what you’re learning in class, so they are opportunities to apply the things you’re learning in a low stakes environment.
OSCEs can be thought of as cumulative, so as you learn more, the faculty expect more out of you. For instance, our capstone OSCE at the end of 2nd year involved us doing a full H&P, assessment and plan with the patient + oral presentation + SOAP note. ——it seemed very daunting going into the first standardized encounter during 1st year, but by the end of 2nd year you’ll be very comfortable doing these encounters. DMU does a great job getting you ready to be in the hospital + clinic.
And do you feel that what you learn prepares you effectively for the boards/STEPs?
Because it’s a DO school, I’ll preface this with the main priority is to get you ready for COMLEX.
There’s a lot of overlap, obviously, between the exams, but I did do a lot of prep outside of school stuff to get ready for STEP.
COMLEX felt very much like a DMU exam to me. My form included stuff that I never saw in a STEP prep book, but stuff that I was taught by the faculty at DMU.
There’s a reason the board pass rates at this school are great. You’ll be plenty prepared for boards in my opinion.
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