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This blog post was written by our medical student in Bratislava, Isabella Raber.
Physiology is one of the most popular subjects among pre-clinical medical students. Nowadays, we believe that we have fully understood the basic processes of our body. The rapid discoveries and successes in medicine over the last hundred years, combined with the technical advances in diagnostics, have expanded our knowledge horizon exponentially. This enables us to better understand the biological, biochemical and biophysical processes in the human organism. Almost everyone deals with their own body and its most important functions either involuntarily or consciously. At the latest when a health problem affects us, we try to find out where it comes from and what is going on inside us. Physiology provides the basic understanding of such problems, as it teaches us about the normal functions of the human body and its processes. This covers a broad spectrum from the musculoskeletal system to the cardiovascular system and therefore represents the interests of every medical student.
Blood: The first physiology lecture
At the medical faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava The structure of the lectures and practical parts is organised according to body systems: In the 3rd semester, the first lecture of the physiology subject is introduced with the topic "Blood". This deals with the composition and function of blood, the sedimentation of erythrocytes and, accordingly, the measurement of the haematocrit value, which is important for determining the number of red blood cells. The topics of blood plasma, oncotic and osmotic pressure and the different blood groups are also covered.
Practice makes perfect
In the practical part, students practise taking blood samples at Comenius University. This can be done on a model arm or on fellow students, if they agree. Students also learn how to determine blood groups using various sera, the anti-A and anti-B serum. If the blood agglutinates when the serum is added, for example anti-A serum, we know that it is blood group A. Conversely, if anti-B serum is added, blood group B agglutinates. If the blood group is AB, the blood agglutinates in both cases, with anti-A or anti-B, whereas no agglutination with either serum is observed with blood group 0. The Rhesus factor is also important to consider when determining the blood group. Whether the blood is Rhesus negative or positive is determined in the practical with the anti-D antibody serum. If the blood clumps together when it is added, it is rhesus positive.
As you can see, the physiology internships at the medical faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava the opportunity to try out a lot yourself and learn methods that are also important later in everyday hospital life. If you have the opportunity to practise yourself, learning is much more fun. In addition, the procedures learnt and the theory behind them are better remembered in this way.
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