FIRST TIME IN THE OPERATING ROOM

​During the week of February 19 to February 26, I went on my second mentor visit, where I observed my first cardiothoracic surgical procedure. Along with watching my first surgery, I also researched two more procedures that are commonly performed in cardiothoracic surgery. While researching, I realized that this field is constantly growing and changing and innovating, and that there is so many procedures and medical advancements to learn about that one can never ever know everything about this field. One of the biggest accomplishments this week was observing the surgical procedure, which was an ascending aortic aneurysm replacement followed by an aortic valve repair. This surgery originally should have lasted six hours, but due to a complication with the aortic valve, the procedure ended up taking about seven and a half hours. The reason that this experience was a huge accomplishment for me was because I had never watched a surgery in real life before, so I didn't know whether or not I might get queasy of pass out, or if I could even handle the sight of that much blood. When I finally stepped on the stool and looked down into the patient’s open chest, I got this new motivation and interest in the field, as well as reassurance that this is truly something that interests me and I can see myself be a surgeon in the future. In the past week, before entering the operating room, I kept on questioning myself if I could handle the sight of blood, or even the sight of a person’s heart beating. Once I was watching the surgery, my questions became more technical. How long could this patient live without having the aortic aneurysm fixed? How did the aortic aneurysm form in the first place? What are some preventative measures that can be taken to avoid this problem at all? How do I read an echocardiogram? As the surgery went on, I asked Dr. Brinkman and the anesthesiologists these questions and they explained everything to me very well. Although there aren't many challenges that I faced this week, there was a slight confusion that was caused with one of the nurses who said I could not shadow in the OR since I am only 16 years old, when the hospital policy states that I must be at least 18 years old. I explained to her that I am part of the ISM program and Dr. Brinkman also came at that time to explain to her that I am his student, so the issue was resolved. In the future, I would like to observe some more surgeries as well as further progress with my final product. In the following week, I will be making a comparison chart of all of the current aortic valves in use and list their advantages and disadvantages.