Week 3

My third week during the summer immersion was one of patience. After two weeks of good contacts and meetings, I was ready to begin my clinical research. This consisted of reviewing patients TEE echocardiograms and comparing the hemodynamics of the ascending and descending aorta in diseased aortic heart valves to that of healthy aortic heart valves. Monday morning I was supposed to meet Dr. Skubas in the OR, for him to show me the potential of GE’s echocardiograph machine. Diameters of the conduits, stress and strain both in radial and longitudinal directions, blood velocity profiles, blood pressures, and stroke volumes were all on the list. However, I get a call from my doctor explaining to me that my summer immersion ID was not applicable enough for observing surgeries. Therefore, more paperwork and patience was needed. Consent forms, information forms, and a drug test to be exact. This process took about a week to complete because I could only schedule the drug test for Wednesday at it takes a couple days for
the results to come back from another lab.

While I was waiting for the paperwork to be completed, I completed rounds in the ICU and figured out where I could get scrubs. It turns out, scrubs can be found right outside the OR and there is a locker room which can be used to store your close since scrubs are not supposed to be worn outside without some sort of lab coat or jacket. I also worked with Dr. Skubas in his office looking at past patient data (general information) in order to be ready for next week.

However, writing this now in the 4th week, I gained access to the OR and have observed a few surgeries. My next blog should contain more information about my clinical research because now I am trying to make up for lost time. All in all, I am where I should have been about a week ago but, at least I am there.