Babies"R"Us

Today marks the start of the second week in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Unlike most other units and departments, all the patients in the NICU are babies; many of which are extremely tiny, premature babies with respiratory issues. This is how tiny some of them are. I observed several interesting procedures too. Of particular interest last week was a case of gastroschisis, in which the baby is born with an open abdominal wall, such that the intestines and some of the organs develop externally. Surprisingly, the survival rate for such cases are actually relatively high (~90%), and the treatment procedure is rather simple - the surgeon just tucks the organs back over time and applies pressure until the wound is healed. The organs cannot be tucked back all at once, as it would lead to compartment syndrome. How would you know how much to tuck back in though? Tucking too much can cause compartment syndrome, but tucking too little over time may increase the chance of infection too. I guess experience really helps here.

Apart from the procedures, I also learnt a lot from going on daily rounds with the NICU team. The first couple of days were confusing, as I wasn't accustomed to all the medical terminology and numbers used in the reports. An afternoon in the library reading up on the relevant terms and data used (such as typical laboratory values) helped a lot. The subsequent rounds I went on made a lot more sense, and I was able to keep up with the progress of some of the babies, from admission to diagnosis and through therapy.

This coming week should be busier and more exciting, with more surgeries and procedures that I may be going for (I finally managed to get scrubs! Now, if only I can get a photo ID...). I've also begun some background reading for the project that I will be contributing to. On a side note, the one thing I love about NYC (and most other places) is the food!