Sunday, July 24, 2016

Dr. Cortez is Reporting for Duty.

Thursday was the day I went into the OR. I proudly wore my scrubs to breakfast and rushed with my group into the Vanderbilt University Hospital where we were assigned surgeons and residents. I was assigned to David, who was finishing off his residency to become an anesthesiologist. The room I was assigned to was primarily for surgeries concerning the Urinary system. We had some pretty cool cases and I got to see some really cool stuff throughout the whole OR, but for confidentiality reasons I cannot say what happened. Just take my word for it, the OR was really great and has me reconsidering the profession I may want to go into.

While I was in the operating room, I got to see how the anesthesiologist and medical assistants prepared the patient for the surgery, how cautious the surgeons were while performing some really complicated procedures, and how the anesthesiologist woke the patient up after the surgery. The whole process was incredible and has made me want to go into medical school to possibly become a doctor.

This desire was made even stronger on Friday. My instructors brought in 14 medical professionals to talk about medical school, their career pathway, and why they wanted to go into the career they chose. We had residents in Internal medicine, Dermatology, Med-Peds, EMT, General Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Gynecology, Optometry, Orthopedics, Cardio-thoracic Surgery, Psychiatry, Neuro Surgery, and Pediatrics. We had representation from a lot of the major medical professions. This was an amazing way to get input from many different people with their experience in getting into medical school, applying to residency, and actually working in the field they have chosen to work in. 

Although I loved learning about all of the different medical professions, the one that interested me the most was Psychiatry. I have always been fascinated with the psychology of the brain and how it plays a significant role in mental illness. This rotation was very engaging and it was really cool learning how psychiatry is seen in forensic fields, not just simply within a hospital to help treat people with mental illness. Forensic Psychiatry involves with potentially diagnosing and determining whether individuals going on trial for murder have a mental illness. This got the attention of many of my peers from MED101 and had us attentive for a great amount of time. We even stayed after time ran out to continue asking questions about the awesome field of Psychiatry. 

Both Thursday and Friday were wonderful because they helped me get a better understanding of what I am and not interested in. After these two days, I know that I want to learn more about the field of psychiatry and look much more into the different cases that are seen in the OR.

1 comment:

  1. I could get used to calling you Dr. Cortez.

    This was one of your best blogs yet, Jackie. You explained what was going on, how it affected you and what your next steps might be. I feel very good about this blog.

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