Janet Fulks, microbiology professor at Bakersfield College, will be setting up her final exam for her class. A guest “patient” will be brought in, and the students will have to examine the patient, create a medical history, and come up with a diagnosis, as well as a treatment.
Fulks will not be grading the students on whether or not the students come up with the correct diagnosis, but instead on how hard they try to figure out the patient’s illness and how well they critically think.
To qualify as a potential patient, an individual must have an infectious disease, or a disorder. One of her past patients was Moya Arthur, who is a teacher at BC. She woke up one morning and discovered that she could no longer hear.
She went to a doctor where she was prescribed a cochlear implant, but was hospitalized after the surgery for a blood infection. Another patient was Susan Pinza, who is an Academic Development teacher at BC.
She had a reoccurring abscess, due to gall bladder surgery. Jerry Scheerer got an infection from being bitten by a feral cat in his garage, and failed to have it checked out immediately. He finally went to a doctor who prescribed him the wrong medicine, and the day after he was hospitalized. He was at risk of having his arm amputated, because of the cat bite infection and the fact that he’s diabetic.
Peggy DeStefano, criminal justice teacher, was diagnosed with having shingles, which develops from the same virus that causes chicken pox in children. In adults, it causes painful lesions.
Patients like these are examined by the class and asked questions about their history, such as if they smoke, have diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, etc. After the students finish examining the patient, they are given a handout indicating the grading standards before they finish their write up.
The report includes their diagnosis, analysis, rationale and their suggested treatment. They are also graded on how thoroughly they studied and questioned the patient. All the patients have stated that they had fun during the exam.
When students from her class get sick, Fulks said, “They are always excited, and come up to me telling me that they should be the next live patient final.” If you or someone you know is interested in being a patient for the class, you can contact her at [email protected] or call her office at (661) 395-4381.