In which our heroine goes to OR

I was in the OR today, shadowing anesthesiology residents. (Cheesy title, I know.) It was really fantastic -- one showed me how to put in an IV and another let me watch him give a thoracic epidural for a double lung transplant (!) and afterwards explained the differences between thoracic and lumbar epidurals -- what to watch out for, etc. That was particularly exciting because we just did the vertebral column and spinal cord in anatomy. Who would have thought that all those spinal ligaments are actually clinically relevant? I can tell you that I remember them a lot better now. After weeks in the classroom, it's always really exciting to see Medicine in Action.

And then I helped the anesthesiologist set up for an operation and stayed until the pt went under. I thought I wouldn't really like the OR, but it's actually a cool place. There is definitely a vibe of Go Go Gadget O2 Sat! Still leaning towards the medicine side of the med-surg division, though. We do 15 weeks of surgery rotations here (5 gen surg, 10 surg subspecialties), so I'm sure I'll get all the exposure I need in 3rd year. But it's nice to get a little flavor early.

Mostly, I was impressed at how willing the residents were to have me and my classmate there. I'm sure they must be exhausted and everything, and we were these two happy, well-rested first-years bouncing in and being all naive. They all had great things to say about the program, too. It's gratifying to know that not all residencies have malignant "beat you and eat you" mindsets.