Tuesday May 25,2010 Research

Today, I researched different things. SUCH AS:
1. How to become a surgeon
2. Colonoscopies
3. Endoscopies
4. Sentinel Node biopsies
5. Life as a surgeon

If you want to see my findings, come look at my poster on Thursday!

Time: 2 and a half hours

Monday May 24, 2010 Final Day

Today, I stayed with Peggy. We canceled and booked appointments with different patients and talked with Dyna, the nurse. There was a lot of sitting around while Peggy made phone calls. Then, we looked at the CT results for a patient, which was really cool. Then, it was getting near 12:30 so Dr. Bears came up and did my sponsor evaluation. Then, I thanked everyone for their help and said good bye.

Sunday 5/23/10 Weekly Reflection 2

This week was definitely different than the first week. On Monday, I worked with Peggy and went to a meeting with her and Linda. I learned about sentinel node biopsies and how they work. I learned about the dye the doctor’s inject into the patients. It is radioactive so sometimes the doctors wear radioactivity safety suits or badges that tell them how much radioactivity is present in the room. Then, Tuesday and Wednesday I was sick so I learned about how a patient feels! On Tuesday before I left sick, I walked around with Dyna, the nurse, and learned about how to set up each exam room. On Friday, I learned how to make insurance calls about benefit’s for patients, I learned about x-rays, and about the OR and everything in it.
I really liked working with Annette and Dr. Bears. I liked going around setting up exam rooms with Dyna too. Going down to see the x-rays with Dr. Bears was really cool. I liked seeing how the light matters when looking at an x-ray. For example, when the light is dim you can see one thing but then brightening them makes you see completely different things. Going to the OR with Dr. Bears was the best part. I loved seeing how busy it was down there and seeing where they operate. I also had to put on a scrub suit which was interesting.
Going down to the OR was unexpected but Dr. Bears really wanted me to see it and so did I. It was just so interesting and it makes me really want to actually live life as a surgeon and do all of the hard work and schooling to become a surgeon. I will definitely benefit from this week because I now really know what I want to do in the future. Dr. Bears also told me that majoring in microbiology as an undergraduate in college is really helpful for the first year in medical school. I hope this week is as exciting as the last.

Ninth Day. Friday

Today, I worked with Annette. She showed me how to make calls to the insurance companies to ask about benefits for patients. Then, Dr. Bears came in and took me down to where the doctor's look at x-rays. It was so cool and they have all the x-rays on computers now. Then, I went back and worked with Annette for awhile while Dr. Bears was with patients in the office. We entered information into the computer. Dr. Bears came back and took me down to the OR after that. He showed me around and I had to put on a scrub suit. He showed me all the rooms and the place where the patients go after. It was so cool! After, I worked with Annette again.

Eighth Day. Thursday

Today, Dr. Bears doesn't work. Therefore, I don't either. I thought about what I was going to put on my poster board for when we show off our senior projects. I am going to write about sentinel node biopsies for breast cancer and melinoma, colonoscopies, and endoscopies. I am also going to research next Tuesday about what it takes to become a surgeon and write about that on the poster. I am excited to finally get back tomorrow after two days of being sick and not being able to go to the hospital.

Seventh Day. Wednesday

Today, the plan was for me to go in. But, I was still sick so I stayed in bed to make sure I didn't get anyone else at the hospital sick! Tomorrow is Dr. Bears' day off so I don't go in. I will think about my poster and other senior project stuff then!

Sixth Day

Today, I only stayed for an hour and fifteen minutes because I am sick. But, while I was at the hospital, I worked with Dyna, the nurse. We set up the examination rooms and made sure the white paper was over the chair and all of the cabinets and supplies were unlocked and ready. Then, I sat with her while she called patients and corresponded with other doctor's to find out information about patients.

Fifth Day

Yesterday, I worked with Peggy and Linda again. We scheduled patients and made sure everything in general surgery was in working order. Then, I went to a meeting with them to discuss scheduling sentinel node biopsies. The nuclear technician was there and told us all about doing them. You need a probe as long as a big suitcase for the biopsy and there are so many other aspects involved like keeping the tissue in a lead box so no radioactivity leaks out. Also, before any surgery the patient has to be injected multiple times with the dye. These sentinel node biopsies can be done for breast cancer and melanoma and it is very effective because this way the doctor's don't have to take out all the lymph nodes just the sentinel node. The morbidity rate for patient's has gone down because of this surgery. So, after that meeting I just stayed with Peggy until the end of the day.

Weekly Reflection 1

I had a great time this week at the hospital. I learned all about the computer systems at the hospital. I learned about the frustrations with those computer systems as well. There are two and the patients and schedules have to be entered into both. This makes the patient care coordinators annoyed at times. I also learned all about the general surgery section of the hospital. In order to schedule patients, the patient care coordinators have to correspond with the workers at the OR and whatever else they need such as pathology, radiology, nuclear technicians, x-rays, or almost any other part of the hospital that the patient needs. This is frustrating because when Peggy (patient care coordinator) is asked to schedule a sentinel node biopsy it is difficult because this involves all of the above except x-ray. It gets worse because the nuclear technician comes on Mondays and both general surgeons, Dr. Bears and Dr. Eberly, have operations all day. I also learned how to make charts and how the exam rooms are organized.
When planning my project, I was very excited because I was going to be able to go into patient’s rooms and surgeries but near the beginning of my project I was told that that was not the case. So, I am only allowed to stay in the administrative sections of the general surgery area. However, I really liked being with the patient care coordinators. They taught me about everything they do. Near the end of the week, I started helping Annette enter information into the computer, entering recalls into a spreadsheet, making charts, and sending letters to patients. I didn’t really know what I was expecting going into the week because of the abrupt change of plans but everything worked out for the best. I benefited from the week because even though I did not get to see the real life of a surgeon, I spent all day in the general surgery area and know about everyone’s jobs in that section of the hospital. This will help me decide if I really want to go pre-med or not. I am excited for what this week has to offer.

Fourth Day

Today, I worked with Annette. She also handles referrals and enters people into the computer system. She has to call all of the insurance companies for every patient general surgery has and make sure there are charts for all of them. Today, I entered patients into the system and made charts for patients. While Annette called insurance companies for patients I took a huge stack of patients that were going to need recalls and entered them into a spread sheet. I also learned more about colonoscopies and endocscopies. I learned about the polyps in the colons and that if they are ademona (I think) then they could turn malignant so the patient needs a recall in five years. However, if they are the other polyps then they are fine and the colo is normal and the patient would just be recalled in ten years. There is so much behind the scene stuff that goes into surgeries and patient care that these administrative employees have to do. It is crazy!

Third Day

Today, I got to the office and Peggy had a dentist's appointment so I sat with Linda for a bit. I learned about lung nodules and lung cancer. Linda was having trouble because there was no real referral for the patient and the labs were from a different hospital. So, it was confusing but in the end, the patient was scheduled. Then, I walked around with Dyna, the nurse. She showed me all of the exam rooms and the procedure rooms. She showed me how it is all organized and the medical closet and the lab area. She was already doing labs on something by putting them in the machine that separates chemicals. She told me that usually the chemicals are blood and urine (gross!). Tomorrow is my day off so I am excited to sleep in!

Second Day

Today went almost exactly the same as the first. I worked with Linda first who schedules the referrals from other areas of medicine into general surgery. She taught me about her job and how she does it. There are two computer systems that all of the hospital and patient information is in and when the hospital gets a new patient, the new patient has to be put into one system and then again into the other system. This is tedious because the "putting in" of the patient is their basic information such as address and name and also their insurance and why they are coming to the general surgery and what they are in the hospital for or coming into the hospital for. This gets very confusing as she showed me. I also sat around with Peggy again and saw more of what she does. Dr. Bears had surgery most of the time I was there then near the end he came in and we got to talk. He asked me if I was really interested in medicine and I replied that I was and he answered, "Well after two weeks here, you won't be." He was very funny and is so busy that I barely get to see him because I can't follow him into patient rooms or surgeries (unfortunately). Peggy said I might get to go around with Dyna, a nurse, tomorrow to help prepare the patient's rooms. I am excited!

First Day

Today was my first day shadowing a surgeon. I can't wear jeans or casual clothes to the hospital (I have to live by the dress code), so I woke up and pulled on nice pants and a shirt. I arrived at New London Hospital (NLH) at 8:15 and went straight in through the staff door to Pegs Lucarelli's office. She is one of the administrators and was helping me orient myself for the first day. I took a quiz about the hospital's codes and regulations and bonded with Pegs about Glee (the television show). Then, she took me to the General Surgery area of the hospital and handed me over to the Patient Care Coordinator, Peggy Prew, who I was going to spend the rest of my day with. Dr. Bears (the surgeon) had scheduled surgeries all morning so I couldn't see him at all. I spent the day with Pegs in her office. I learned about all of the systems in the computer for the hospital and how confusing it all gets having to schedule multiple surgeries with multiple members of the staff. I also learned about a sentinel node procedure. Radioactive dye is injected into the patient and the sentinel node shows if there is cancer in all the rest of the lymph nodes. I can't go into surgeries or patient rooms so there was a lot of down time in which I talked with Peggy about different aspects of the hospital and her job. I also learned about her dog, Sally, a half lab-half terrier. The day was very fun and I am excited to get a chance to talk with Dr. Bears more tomorrow.