Just recently, the class of 2011 (the one above us) released the schedule for the orientation week that they’ve been planning for us! It looks like an eclectic mix of fun activities, an introduction to the school and its academics, and even already some time in lectures and labs. The fun activities include a med. school olympics, a dance, barbeque at the Dean’s house, movie night, pub crawl, and a boat race on lake Ontario!
This week will also involve meeting our first patient: the cadaver that will be helping us to learn anatomy. After a memorial service for the people that have donated their bodies to this purpose, we have six hours scheduled during which time we’ll be looking at the thoracic cavity, lungs, and pleura. Now that’s diving into the deep end – couldn’t we start with the hand, or a shoulder or something?
During orientation week we begin a program-long study of the history of medicine. Instead of being a distinct class, Queen’s teaches the history of medicine fully integrated with the curriculum. So as you study pharmacology, you may have a lecture about its history. During O-week we actually have an assignment that should help us get started on the right foot for history. In groups, we study the contributions of some well-known doctors and decide whether they were ‘heroes’ or ‘villains’. The lesson is that each of them is neither, or both. Historical judgement is warped by the subjective perspective that we view it from. That’s an important lesson for analyzing the past, and for questioning our current dogma.
So I’m looking forward to a packed, thrill-ride, inspirational week! Oh, and did I mention that I have to move mid-way through it? Heh heh 
… should be fun!
