Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

[Last time I went to mentorship, I observed the removal of a gall bladder. On the left is the surgeon, and the right my mom, the anesthesiologist.]

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).

Yes, I do have a mentor. I have already conducted my interview,  I just need to transcribe.

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   

After these past few months, I've found an interest in the safety of anesthesia and I'm leaning more towards this aspect of anesthesia. What I've observed is that safety is the most important caution that any anesthesiologist considers. It gives me a lot of options to talk about

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?


I plan on interviewing more experts in the field to get their insight. There are a lot of doctors at my mentorship, so I plan on asking if I can talk to them. I will also continue with my mentorship and observe more surgeries. It's the best source I have because I get to see the things I read about in action and it's very exciting.

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

How does an anesthesiologist best ensure a patient's safety and comfort for surgery?

[Prepping the medication for the surgery.]

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.