Special Olympics student-athletes from Fort Worth ISD spent Wednesday at UNT Health Science Center interacting with medical students. Project DREAM BIG pairs medical students with students with special needs.
"It's truly an indescribable feeling being able to teach this while learning it myself at the same time," says first year medical student Miranda Martinez.
Students starting by playing games together. Then they went into physical exams supervised by faculty. Students at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine say starting with games could help them build a rapport with the students from Fort Worth ISD.
"It's really cool for the transition students to see someone they were just playing with ten minutes ago is also their physician doing a physical exam on them," says medical student Anaiza Raini.
"The student I'm paired up with, learning about the heart, just constantly repeating the 'bum, bum,' I think it's the best thing in the world seeing them connect the dots," Martinez says.
Medical students say they could help make others more comfortable, but they also learned from the time spent together.
"It's important for medical students to get exposure to this really important population," Raini says. "We're learning, not only how to advocate for them, but getting more comfortable in medical school training is really beneficial for students to practice inclusive healthcare."
Students also heard from doctors and patients about what they want each other to know. Asked what he wished doctors understood, one person answered, "Talk to me. I understand what you are saying. Be patient. It takes me time to answer."
That person's mom said she appreciated an anesthesiologist talking directly to her son to explain what he could expect while he got ready for a procedure.
Some doctors said they received no training in medical school or residency on how to interact or treat people with disabilities.
"You've got to take full advantage, if you're working with a provider who has patients you're interested in seeing, watch how they're interacting with those patients," one doctor said. "Watch what they do that works. Listen to what they're saying and see how they interact. That's the best way you're going to learn those skills. Every patient is different. We can't group them together."
Medical students say the panel discussion and spending the day partnered with a person with special needs will help them communicate with patients in the future. They say they also hoped to show their partners what they can achieve.
"Whatever you have, a disability, an inability, anything, there's always a place where you can fit in," Martinez says. "Especially in health care, we always need someone to advocate, we always need someone to stand there and show, 'I was able to do this. You can, too.'"
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