A case of mistaken muscles

Oxford Clinical School recently piloted a scheme in which final year students serve as mentors to first year clinical students. The assumption is that near qualified students are not too far advanced to have forgotten those first anxious steps on the wards and can, therefore, provide a type of support that qualified doctors cannot. Equally important, they have sufficient experience to teach the basic clinical skills of history taking and physical examination.

During a teaching session given by Hashim Uddin Ahmed (a finalist) to Sarah Ali (a first year student) on the dreaded neurological examination, we both gained valuable lessons beyond those related to the intricacies of the nervous system.

While …