M.U.S.T. Vice President, Chair Professor Paul Tam delivered a lecture on neonatal gastrointestinal surgery
Chair Professor Paul Tam, Vice President of the Macau University of Science and Technology (M.U.S.T.), attended the “2022 Neonatal Medicine Symposium” at the Hong Kong University Shenzhen Hospital (HKUSZH) on 22nd October. Prof. Tam delivered a lecture on neonatal gastrointestinal surgery. Other speakers at this symposium included international neonatal medicine experts: Dr. Cao Yun (Pediatric Hospital of Fudan University), Dr. Chi Yueer (Hong Kong Children's Hospital), Dr. Huang Mingqin, (Hong Kong Children's Hospital), Professor Jessica Duby (Montreal Children's Hospital, Canada), Dr. Michael Stewart (Royal Melbourne Children's Hospital, Australia), Dr. David Tingay (University of Melbourne, Australia), Dr. Dianna Wang (University of Alberta, Canada), Dr. Ding Yiqun (HKUSZH), Dr. Liu Wei (Tianjin Children's Hospital), Dr. Zhou Xiaoguang (Eighth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University), and Dr. Rong Xiao (Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center). 36 fourth-year M.U.S.T. medical students on their senior clerkship rotation at HKUSZH also attended the symposium to benefit from the seminars delivered by international pediatric experts.
M.U.S.T. Vice President, Chair Professor Paul Tam Kwong Hang (center), Dr. Dai Kanglin (third from left), and Dr. Zhao Yunqiao (third from right) with fourth-year M.U.S.T. medical students during ward rounds at HKUSZH.
M.U.S.T. Vice President, Chair Professor Paul Tam giving bedside teaching medical students on clinical diagnosis
Chair Professor Paul Tam believes bedside teaching and the cultivation of clinical knowledge are important for our medical students. The day after the symposium (23rd October), Prof. Tam led ward rounds accompanied by Dr. Dai Kanglin (Clinical Instructor of Pediatric Surgery, HKUSZH), Dr. Zhao Yunqiao from M.U.S.T. University Hospital, and 14 of our medical students. During the ward round, our medical students saw and discussed clinical cases such as choledochal cysts, gastrointestinal volvulus, and tracheoesophageal fistula. Our students indicated that the experience improved their clinical knowledge and diagnostic abilities.
M.U.S.T. Vice President Chair Professor Paul Tam held a discussion session with our medical students
Vice President Paul Tam also chaired a discussion session on 24th October with our 36 medical students. He discussed the learning environment, and the students indicated that the senior clerkship allowed them to come across numerous clinical cases and offered many practical learning opportunities. The clinical instructors at HKUSZH were willing to share their knowledge and expert opinions. The main difficulties they encountered were the local epidemic restrictions, as well as adapting to a different language of instruction. Vice President Tam believes that students can solve these problems with more use of the bilingual medical dictionary/online resource. Problem-based learning (PBL) which is adopted by the Faculty of Medicine, places greater emphasis on the student’s development of an enquiring mind and logical application of knowledge, as well as the leadership qualities of the clinical instructors when compared with the traditional didactic teaching model. Nevertheless, at this stage Vice President Tam believes that students should focus on mastering basic skills in history taking, physical examination, and diagnostic thinking. This is the foundation of medicine, irrespective of the clinical specialty. Since there are no established linear teaching and learning models, medical education is based on integrating case studies and basic textbook knowledge and constantly refining diagnostic and practical skills. This can be achieved through ample patient contact intercalated with core knowledge teaching during the clinical clerkship years. These experiences can be assimilated in later professional courses and training. Finally, Vice President Tam suggested to the medical students that they should adopt a more long-term vision in their learning and training because medicine is a life-long learning and training discipline.
Leading by example, Vice President Tam also mentored the HKUSZH Surgical Team in completing an excision of a choledochal cyst in an infant and repairing oesophageal atresia and tracheo-oesophageal fistula in a preterm infant by minimally invasive (key-hole) surgery.