Medical School Hotline: Medical Student Insights on Pediatric Neuromuscular Disease in Hawai'i.

The experience at the MDA Camp reinforced the importance of adopting a patient-centered approach to healthcare that is individualized and adaptable to patient needs through time and circumstance. Engaging in daily activities with pediatric patients affected by neuromuscular diseases can provide deeper understanding of the various limitations patients face, of how they adapt, and of their perceptions of their diseases. This in turn can provide insight into how to best approach patients in the clinical setting to optimize their health and quality of life.This experience was also a lesson in working with individuals with neuromuscular disease. This subpopulation of pediatric patients is a unique one, with specific needs that may be difficult for health care providers to approach. Learning how to interact with these patients and to ask the appropriate questions comes with experience, and volunteering at the MDA camp provided an opportunity for growth.The medical students found it surprising that much of their experience was learning about the psychosocial aspect of the neuromuscular disease when they were expecting to learn more about the clinical aspects of the disease. Medical education teaches students the facts and figures related to the pathophysiology of disease, and it introduces them to management algorithms in disease treatment. This is necessary, given the vast amount of material one needs to learn in four short years. However, there are still some experiences students and physicians can participate in — even in the context of clinical education — that can help remind physicians of the human elements of our profession. These experiences help strengthen the more intangible skills of medical practice in ways that classroom learning cannot. In this case, all participants—campers, MDA Hawai‘i, and the students—benefitted from the collaborative effort.