Cardiorespiratory is a combination of cardiovascular and respiratory system. Cardiovascular is related to heart beat and pulse, while respiratory is the exchange between oxygen and carbon dioxide. Cardiorespiratory becomes one of the branch for the competition in Indonesian International Medical Olympiad (IMO) 2018. IMO is a Medicine Olympics for university level held by the Medical Students Association Senate Indonesia (ISMKI) since 2010. In 2018, IMO held a national competition for four branches as well as two branches for international competition.

The Faculty of Medicine UPH (FK UPH) has successfully won gold for the Cardiorespiratory branch in IMO 2018. The gold medal was won by Kusena and Steven William Halim after they had managed to win over other teams from Universitas Indonesia and Universitas Sriwijaya on the final.

This achievement was obviously a result of the hard work and the guidance of the supervisors. According to Steven, he and Kusena has been supervised by a number of lecturers from the Faculty of Medicine of UPH who are experts in their respective fields. They are Dr. dr. Sunanto Ng, Sp.JP, FIHA, FICA, Dr. dr. Allen Widysanto, Sp.P, CTTS, dr. Bernard S. M. Hutabarat, PAK, dr. Darti Isbandiati Wibisiono, Sp.PA, and dr. Jane Florida, Sp.ParK.

Aside from that, Steven and Kusena also said that they use the independent learning strategy in between their busy schedules. Another important thing is frequent discussion which is very crucial in order for them to have the same perspective in handling each case without hesitation.

“We had to face a number of obstacles, the biggest one is managing our time to study the materials for the competition, that are not little, and at the same time, carry out our obligations as a student of Faculty Medicine UPH. However, we still try our best to do well in carrying out all of our targets,” said Steven.

Overall, participants of IMO 2018 came from a variety of universities around Indonesia, as well as Philippines, and Thailand with a total number of 297 teams with 2 people in each teams. This competition consists of Preliminary Phase, Semifinal, and Final. The preliminary phase was a multiple choice test and an Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE). It was then continued with an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and Objective Structured Practical Identification (OSPI) for the Infectious Diseases branch. Lastly, the participants were given a test in form of Student Oral Case Analysis (SOCA) and speed and precision race.

The Faculty of Medicine of UPH sent six teams to follow all branches in this competition which was held at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Jogjakarta, from October 16-19, 2018. Aside from winning a gold medal, the Faculty of Medicine UPH also became finalist in the Musculoskeletal branch, and semifinalist in three other branches namely, Neuropsychiatry, Digestive, and Genitourinary. All of the team members are students of Faculty of Medicine UPH from batch 2015 and 2016.

The IMO is not a new thing for the Faculty of Medicine of UPH. Because as known by many, the Faculty of Medicine of UPH hosted IMO 2016 and has also successfully won a gold medal for Tropical Infection branch. After this achievement, Steven will get back to his routine and preparing his thesis proposal for next semester, whereas Kusena will continue his last block and will be getting ready for his clinical clerkship next semester. In the future, they hope that more FK UPH students are able to have their own achievements, so they can be impactful for the institution and the society. (it)