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Week 3: The data is in

June 22nd, 2013 etcare14

Let the games begin… Wednesday evening my physician mentor and I received the remaining majority of our data, signaling that our project has fully begun in earnest. I spent all of Thursday going through data and records to file in our working spreadsheet for the project. We’re looking at component separation, a specific, somewhat new method of repairing complex hernias. I spent the day doing data entry and reading up on this type of procedure. My doctor and I got lunch and had an interesting conversation on how he found his way to medicine and how he adjusted to life in the US after coming here from Nigeria.

After lunch, I went back to the office and did some more data entry. I then went to our weekly internship seminar, two of us each week present on a social or ethical topic surrounding medicine. This week we discussed Down’s Syndrome (trisomy 21) and how prenatal testing plays a role in detection and the pregnancy process. Definitely an interesting and emotionally charged issue to start us off, but it was an interesting topic and we had a great discussion. Throughout the presentation, I kept thinking about the experience I have with Holy Cross Goes Unified Special Olympics sports. After the presentation I went back and did a little bit more work before going back and going to the gym.

I spent Friday with my doctor in his office, shadowing him around and seeing him work in the office setting. We had an interesting discussion, as he said that as a surgeon, without compassion and the ability to connect with patients, you can have all the knowledge and technical skill in the world but still might have an upper limit to your success. This is because so much of a surgery’s success falls upon post operative compliance and trust. If you can’t get the patient to buy in to connect and trust you, you might run into problems. This resonated with me, particularly since the way he interacts with patients is superb. I’ve enjoyed all of his tips and occasional discussions as to what it takes to be successful and make a difference in medicine.

I was going to go up to Holy Cross this weekend, but turns out my family has Mets tickets in Philadelphia. Some might say that since they are so bad I made the wrong choice, but it may be my only chance to see a game this summer. I came home yesterday after I got out, and went to the movies with some friends. We’re leaving today (Saturday) around noon, so it should be fun.

Keep you posted.

ETC

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