Things I learned in Med School - Weeks 131-132
Still trying to catch up with these (sorry for the slackness!).
Finished up my two week rotation in anaesthetics!
I was pretty lucky as I had a bunch of short emergency lists - which meant a nice high turn-over of patient, unlike my friends who had often had long transplant lists or neurosx lists where they didn’t really get to do... anything.
Over all it was a quite practical rotation - lots of bag-mask ventilation, putting in LMAs, trying (and failing) intubations, and the occasional cannulation. After failing one cannulation, I did feel a hell of a lot better about when the two anesthetists took MULTIPLE attempts to then get a cannula in the patient, while having the same problem I did.
But honestly, the most useful thing I did during the two weeks was being one patient’s emotional support while they got a bunch of cannulas and arterial lines put in despite their hate of needles. At the end of it all, when I had walked away from the bed, the patient got the staff to bring back over so she could say Thank you and apologise to me for being a ‘bad’ patient... can you even imagine?! That patient was honestly an absolute trooper.
But that interaction is honestly a highlight of my med school career - when you start the clinical years they like to remind you the thing you bring to the team is ‘time’. You have the time to go the extra mile for a patient as you don’t have the responsibilities that the rest of the team normally has, and I know if I wasn’t there, there would not have been anyone free to hold their hand through that experience. Finally... USEFULNESS!
Beyond that the other major thing that happened over these two week were the end of the internship application window. As a domestic student, without the need to apply interstate or rurally, it’s been pretty straightforward for me. I made one tiny change to my rank list this week, to keep it in line with the old list that has been making its way around. Now it’s time for to just wait... and keep my fingers crossed for my international friends!
Anyway, here are some things I learn in med school over the past two weeks:
1. 90% of the cases of hypercalcemia are either due to primary hyperparathyroidism (from parathyroid adenomas) or malignancy-induced hypercalcemia
2. There is something called ‘Holiday heart syndrome’, where people give themselves arrhythmias (mainly AF) from excessive alcohol consumption
3. 2/3rd of your airway resistance comes from the nasal passages
“Number one rule in medicine - fake it till you make it” - Surgical SRMO
