DESPITE being new in the pool of medicine schools in the Philippines, the Brokenshire College’s School of Medicine proved that they can stand out and excel amid the stiff competition.
For instance, the Brokenshire College team emerged as the champion in the 51st Association of Philippine Medical Colleges (APMC) Student Network National Convention – Clinicopathologic Conference (CPC) last February 7 to 9 at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, besting over 40 renowned medical schools around the country.
“We weren’t expecting to achieve this, but we really worked hard for it. This is a good start for us, we are only on our second year (as a medical school) but we were able to win the regional and national competition, we brought home the trophy,” Dr. Cheryl Anne A. Dela Cruz- Tan, MD, FPCP, CCD said.
The APMC National Convention is an annual gathering of medical students in the Philippines for the purpose of producing future physicians who are more productive, competitive and receptive. This year’s event was centered in the theme, “Linang: Shaping physicians to respond to challenging times.”
The APMC’s CPC is a competition among medical students wherein contenders are given actual cases of patients and are challenged to come up with their own diagnosis which they can defend before the panel.
The school’s other awards during the event include: Top 9 in National Quiz Bowl competition; Best Presenter; and Best Visuals Award.
The school was represented by Vanezah T. Amil (best presenter), Kimberly Juvy Marie Apostol, Monique Erleen Ann Carillo, Marl Nikko Cel Nabor, Jerel Fernandez, Ryan James Francisco, Ruth Nasibig, Holden Arvin Ong, and Rophele Salinas.
These medical students are guided by the school’s faculty and administrators: Dean Warlito X, Vicente, MD, FPCS; associate dean Edgar B. Ramiterre, MD, FPCP; MEU-Head Edmundo J. Visitacion, MD, FPS; Cheryl Anne A. Dela Cruz- Tan, MD, FPCP, CCD; Laricelle Paguican, MD, FPAFP and Michael Itnati, MD, JD, Ph. D, JSD.
Carillo, who is part of the APMC – Student Network CPC team, shared they did their best for the school and for the people who supported them.
“At first, it is very intimidating because we are competing against the representatives from prominent universities. Even though we are still a starting school, we did not let it stop us from performing our best,” she said.
Amil, for her part said, they only had 10 days of preparation for their case. What made the competition more challenging to them, she said, is they are competing against third and fourth year medical students who are more experienced in clinical, disease management, and internal medicine.
Brokenshire’s team is composed of second year students.
Nabor also shared that for the case assigned to them, they brainstormed and thought of different findings and chose the best diagnosis that they can defend.
“The school, especially the faculty and even our classmates’ support are overwhelming, we really are doing this not only for ourselves but for our mentors, family and of course for the school’s name,” Apostol said.
Dr. Paguican, one of the coaches of the students, said this batch raised the bar of the school’s position in the industry despite being new and it is the school’s challenge to keep the bar high and to defend what they’d achieved.
“It is really important as a starting school to make our mark, our participation in APMC is for the exposure and development of our students. We also saw this as a window for the school to introduce itself to other medical institutions,” Paguican said.
Brokenshire College opened its school of medicine in 2016.