Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

[Top: Me and my mentor in the Operating Room at Desert Valley Medical Hospital. Middle: My mentor showing me around the operating room on the first day of my mentorship over the summer. Bottom: Most recently, when I went to the hospital, I followed my mentor around while he was on call throughout the weekend.]

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

My mentor is Dr. Richard Kakes who has been an anesthesiologist for over 20 years. He is Board Certified and is very experienced after several years in the field. He did his anesthesiology residency at UCLA. Additionally, he works at the Desert Valley Medical Hospital in Victorville, CA. 

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

1) Why did you ultimately choose to go to UCLA for your residency?
2) What keeps you going in the field of anesthesia?
3) Why did you want to be an anesthesiologist? What influenced you?
4) Have you always wanted to be an anesthesiologist? If not, what did you want to be before?
5) Do you have any routines before and after a surgery? What are they?
6) What do you love most about being an anesthesiologist?
7) What other places have you worked at before Desert Valley?
8) Have you ever had any other jobs?
9) How did you start working at Desert Valley?

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

[Top: Prepared medications for the hip surgery. Middle: The patient's being cleaned and put under anesthesia. Bottom: An x-ray is used to see where the fracture is.]

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?  

So far this year I've had some pretty amazing opportunities regarding my senior project. I feel so lucky to be able to follow my mentor through the OR to observe actual procedures and watch my mentor at work. I've already had some interesting experiences, such as the most recent time I went to do my mentorship, I was watching my mentor do anesthesia for an elderly patient receiving hip surgery. The elderly patient's teeth were already loose and as my mentor tried to intubate the patient, a tooth just popped out and casually the nurses nearby just picked it up and put it in a little cup to give to the patient afterward. It's things like that that have made this project so much more enjoyable because most of the time I do observe procedures, the doctors doing the cases talk to me and allow me to ask questions as they work. During that hip surgery, the surgeon was open to me asking any questions and as he continued with inserting screws into the patient's fractured hip, he explained what he was doing and my mentor would explain how he maintains the patient's vital functions.  

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

Though I'm able to get so much information whenever I go to my mentorship, I can't go as often as I would like. Not only is my mentorship all the way in Victorville, but most of the time, surgeries are scheduled during my school hours during the weekdays. There are very few cases that happen during the weekend when I'm actually free, so I can only go once every other week or so. Even if we get off at school around noon, it's still quite the drive from school to Victorville, and by that time, cases are already wrapping up. This puts a lot of pressure on me to get more mentorship hours in because I really do want to gain more knowledge while I'm actually at my mentorship, but I don't want to get too stressed over not being able to go as often as even once a week sometimes.

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

[Top: Dr. Lorna Wood (the first person I interviewed) standing by an anesthesia machine in the OR. Bottom: A surgeon performing a small procedure in the recovery room.]

Interviews:

Interview 1 - Dr. Lorna Wood
Interview 2 - Dr. Nathan Remolona

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?

From the interviews I conducted, I can thoroughly say that you have to be really interested in anesthesiology to successfully pursue it as a career. It's definitely something you have to be committed to because it takes a lot of sacrifices. As Dr. Wood was telling me, you give up time with your family in order to be an anesthesiologist. Taking calls isn't easy because of the crazy hours spent doing cases. Not just that, but just to become a doctor in the practice, you have to go through rigorous training. Dr Remolona explained that the years spent in medical school are all about studying and hardly any social life. It only gets tougher with residency training because anesthesiology is a specialty that takes specific skills. As he said, it takes up 80 to 100 hours of work per week as an anesthesia resident. Overall though, I'd say that it is a very rewarding career though, because I could tell that the people I interviewed truly enjoy what they do and they're truly dedicated to being anesthesiologists.

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?

When I asked Dr. Wood about who I should talk to for more information, she actually suggested that I interview one of the nurses that help out with anesthesia. Anesthesia done during surgery is done by a team after all, so I really look forward to interviewing a nurse about what it's like to help out the anesthesiologists during procedures. Dr. Remolona suggested that I find a current anesthesia resident to interview because it could give me a better sense as to what it's like to be pursuing the field with the science we have today. He felt that getting to talk to someone going through all the emotions and hard work can help me figure out if that's something I will end up doing myself in the future if I want to be an anesthesiologist as well.

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 

Dr. Wood has been an anesthesiologist for over 30 years. I have actually known her for many years of my life and I have seen her in practice before when I was younger. She is a very well experienced professional in the field. Dr. Remolona has been a practicing cardiac anesthesiologist for over 20 years now and is Board Certified, meaning he is qualified as a specialist for his expertise in the field.

[Just a funny cartoon I found while browsing :) ]

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

[These are some pictures I took at the Chino Valley Medical Center when I went to interview an anesthesiologist.]

Write a short explanation of what you are hoping to accomplish through your senior project topic.  You will be sharing out on what you've written here with your house advisory and classmates on Friday, 9/11.  Don't forget to start off with an interesting visual!

Through my mentorship, I hope to learn about what makes an anesthesiologist. The academics, the study, but also importantly the experiences. Observing surgeries and watching the procedures closely are things I find to be the most important aspect of my senior topic. Standing right next to the anesthesiologist is the most fascinating part of this project so far and I hope to have many more opportunities in the future. I want to be able to shadow my mentor throughout the year and be able to understand what it's like to be in the field working with patients and helping them get through surgery safely.

Also I hope that my experiences this year will help me figure out what I want to do as my career in life and what I should be aiming for. Currently, I'm not completely sure I want to be an anesthesiologist, but I do know that I want to end up somewhere in the scientific field. Hopefully by the end of this year I'll have a better idea of what I want to major in when I get to college.

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?

• Initially I would like to interview my mother regarding the extra questions I typed up because she is an anesthesiologist herself and a very valuable resource to my project. However, if I'm able to schedule a time to meet up with one of her friends, Dr. Lorna Wood who is also an anesthesiologist, I would take the opportunity because she is very knowledgeable about the topic and has been in the profession for over 20 years.

2.  Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  Ask open-ended questions.  

• Knowing what you know now about anesthesia, would you still choose to be an anesthesiologist?
• What's the most difficult thing about being an anesthesiologist?
• What's your most memorable experience while on the job?
• Why did you want to be an anesthesiologist?
• What's the most important thing you learned while in medical school regarding your job now?