New UCSF Fresno residents take part in clinical boot camp

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- From sutures to life support, new physicians at Medical school UCSF Fresno learned some of the most vital life-saving techniques Friday morning.

"It is not like this is the first time they are learning these skills, they have learned these in medical school, but it is good to get comfortable with it in this environment and also to get comfortable with each other," said Erika Gastelum Pediatric MD.

All week long they have been putting their knowledge to the test, rotating from station to station learning skill after skill as part of their Clinical Boot Camp. Gastelum is overseeing some of the nearly 100 new residents as they learn how to become practicing doctors.

"Today is a brand new start for everything or these new doctors and we are really excited to have them here and we are really excited to be training them and hopefully we can get a lot of them to stay in the Valley," she said.

The procedures they learn they will preform for the next three to seven years as they complete their residencies. Among the group is Fresno native and internal medicine physician Neetu Molhi.

"There is always scope for learning and on our first day we want to make sure that we are prepared to give our best to our patients and this boot camp helps us fine-tune those skills that we have learned already," said Molhi.

Monique Atwal from Selma is a resident physician in psychiatry. She said she is grateful to serve her community as she continues to learn.

"Today we can make a lot of mistakes because these are mannequins, these are teaching tools that we can use to learn," said Atwal. "When we are out on the floor with real patients we obviously don't want t make those mistakes, so the more practice we get, the better physicians we can be for our community."

Next week they will be put to the test. Starting Monday they will start seeing patients, but until then, they have a little more time to fine-tune their talents.