Week 7

This week I continued to spend time in surgical pathology, working more with the first year residents, who are just finishing their first month and will soon be transitioning to their next specialty within pathology.  It was interesting to watch them work, to talk to them about their experiences so far.  They also spoke about how they felt with respect to the transition--which specialties had a reputation for being busier, more challenging, etc.--which is a perspective I believe I wasn't able to get as clearly from the older residents I've shadowed.  I attended autopsy conference again, the first part being the same as last week's.  The second part was more focused on the first year residents this time; different organs were presented with various lesions, and one resident was tasked with identifying the lesion and the condition that caused it.  Most did not know the answer, but that was apparently to be expected. The questions were challenging, and the exercise was more to help them become comfortable with dictating what they saw and with communicating this to their peers.

I also was able to attend one of Dr. Otterburn's surgical procedures this week: a double mastectomy and reconstruction.  I was impressed with various aspects of the procedure, such as the duration and the amount of equipment and people it required.  I also continue to be impressed with how efficient every procedure I've seen has been.  In this case, multiple people carried out the surgery at once; at one point, two surgeons worked on distinctly separate parts of the procedure, all while explaining what they were doing, without interfering with each other's work.  I was able to assist the nurses with organizing some of the equipment, which I appreciated.  It always makes me feel more at ease if I am able to do something aside from simply watching.

This week I also continued to work on my research project with Dr. Simon, organizing scans for her and another doctor to view and compare next week.  I'm interested in seeing how that is accomplished, and how one methodology will be determined more efficient than the other.  I'm unsure if I will really be able to see any results for the latter while I'm here, but I hope that I can stay in touch and continue to be updated on the study's progress.