Today I had 3 meetings where I got to meet two new faces. A resident who I think I'll be working with quite closely during this process, Dr. M, and a research nurse, N. G. I actually had three meetings in all, the first one being with Dr. S. Dr. M and myself, Dr. M is just beginning to get a feel for the topics that we're going to be looking at so that was meeting was more updating her on what Dr. S and I have done so far. Then I met with N. G. who I talked to about retrospective research versus prospective research. It turns out I'm doing retrospective research because I'll be looking at charts from patients that the hospital has had in the past and drawing conclusions from that information. Speaking of drawing conclusions Dr. M and I met again after my meeting with N.G. and began thinking about what our possible hypothesis would be. Overall todays trip was a very fruitful one.
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Dr. S, upon first meeting him, comes across as a man who oozes intelligence and experience. I had the privilege to sit down with him and ask him a few questions.
M: When did you know you wanted to be a doctor? Dr. S: When I was 7 or 8, my dad was a physician. M: What kind of doctor was your father? Dr. S: He was a family practitioner. M: So if he was a family practitioner what drew you to surgery? S: I had planned on being a family practitioner but when I went on my surgery rotation I realized that surgery was much more fun. M: Do you still think that today? S: Of course, I love the scientific side of being a doctor. M: If you could go back in time and do it all over would you? S: Not at all M: When you wake up in the morning what do you look forward to every day? What gets you out of bed?: S: Well my job has changed a lot. I’d say there are two things that I love the most. Right now I have more of an administrative role but I’ve always enjoyed taking care of patients. One patient in particular that was very memorable was a mother who had really bad appendicitis. She was very sick and had an abscess. I performed the rather routine surgery and a couple of weeks later I received a hand written thank you note from her. It said: “Dear Dr. S, I could never truly express my gratitude for all that you have done for me and my family. While this event may have been routine from your perspective, it definitely was not from mine. You have not just saved me, but my husband and two boys as well; allowing us to continue being a family is something I can never repay nor forget. Your expertise and skill as a surgeon healed me physically but your kindness and caring demeanor helped heal my spirit… With inexpressible gratitude, L. S.” After allowing me to read the thank you note he launched right back in. S: The most gratifying part of being a doctor is patients; it’s taking care of a patient seeing them fully recovered and understanding how grateful they are. The second thing is being able to train doctors. The hospital that Dr. S works at now is a teaching hospital. S: A couple of weeks ago I got a text from a former resident of mine who saw started out as a general surgeon but eventually became a cardiac surgeon out in California. That’s the second thing I love about being a doctor; it’s being a part of people’s lives and having an impact on them that allows them to have a career trajectory that will touch hundreds of patients and may even surpass you. M: So we’ve talked about what the best things about being a doctor. Now what are some of the worst things about being a doctor? S: There’s nothing as bad as having a patient die, it’s especially heart wrenching when you don’t expect it, like when a patient has a heart attack or lung clot that wasn’t expected, the conversation is always very difficult for you and the patient’s family. Part of that is learning to bounce back from failures. M: If you could give someone in my shoes, a high school student who is very interested in becoming a doctor some advice, what would it be? S: There’s a process of mobbing through for every step, getting your grades, standardized tests, it’s a long process but don’t ever stop believing that you can do it, do well in organic chemistry, keep your eye on passing every step, don’t ever think that there’s anything you can’t do. This week Dr. S was out of town but I came in any way to meet with Dr. A to get some more questions about statistics answered. Dr. S also wanted me to get started working on a draft protocol for the project. Next week I'm supposed to meet with some other people that are begining to be involved in this research. At the begining I was just learning the basics but now it feels like this project is becoming more and more real. I'm excited to continue working.
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Michaela BentonI'm lucky enough to go to this amazing school that has this amazing program that lets me learn amazing things. Archives
December 2017
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