UMC Shadowing Day 3 (7/16) || Evelyn Le

We started our day bright and early at 7am, Michelle was very kind and ordered Viet coffee for everyone. It was much warmer today, so it was super refreshing! We arrived at the University Medical Center much more awake and ready to tackle the day. That being said, the trek up the multiple flights of stairs was even more daunting with the added heat.

Today, my shadowing rotation was gastroenterology (GI) - the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system! We saw a patient with some built up fluid in their stomach, so we got to watch the doctors drain that. It looked like the fluid was very uncomfortable, so I’m glad that the patient was able to get some relief. We also got to learn about the most common GI cases like GI bleeding and cirrhosis. And that concluded part one of the shadowing day!

After lunch, I went to cardiology for part two of shadowing. We got to watch the doctors perform a stress test on a patient! They tested the patient’s breathing, and then hooked the patient up to a breathing machine while they began the stationary bike. The test runs for about 15 minutes, the difficulty of the bike increasing as time goes on. Once the patient completed the stress test, the doctors made sure that everything was normal and we were dismissed. UMC shadowing day 3 was officially over! Overall, I’d say it was a pretty successful day - I learned so much and I can’t wait to learn more on the rest of the trip! This is Evelyn Le, signing off~ Until next time 😉

Dr. Nguyen shows us a CT scan of the stomach!

Equipment for fluid draining - not too complicated :)