UMC Shadowing Day 4 (7/17) || Alvina Tran

Today is Day 4 of shadowing, our last day at UMC! My body was so sore from the long hours of standing over the past few days. For this rotation, I was placed in the cardiovascular surgery department with Michelle, Dalena, Bao, Danny, Clara, and our lovely Dr. Phung. I was already sweating as one of the staff led us to the department’s conference room. One of the staff, as well as the head surgeon, gave us a rundown of the department and the types of cases they typically handle. I learned that they perform both adult and pediatric cases, and about 60-70% of them are performed via an endoscopic approach. They even mentioned how they performed the cases that M.E.M.O. helped sponsor for the pediatric cases. We learned about the two different valves used in surgeries: mechanical or biological. Today, we were going to see two cases: an ASD VSD repair and mitral valve replacement via endoscopic approach. After the introduction, we were led into the changing rooms.

cardiovascular surgery department overview

We were instructed to change into blue scrubs, surgical caps, and masks, then went to take some photos of our team in our gear for memories. I felt a rush of excitement as I stepped into the operating room. We were split into two groups because two cases were going on. Bao, Michelle, Clara, and Dr. Phung went to the first room, which was a case with a pediatric patient. I went into the second room with Dalena and Danny. In our room, they were working on the mitral valve repair patient that we were given a brief rundown about in the conference room earlier. The staff member explained to us the different steps that have to be done before the procedure, such as preparing the body and lowering the temp. They even gave us these cool 3D glasses to see the screen. This was such a memorable experience because it is something I would never get to experience in the U.S, getting to stand so close to a heart surgery. The group from the other room later joined us. I learned about how they clamped the vena cavae and connected the patient to the bypass machine. The surgeons eventually fixed the mitral valve by tying the valve to the muscle so that the valve moves in the correct direction.

pics with the team

We left the OR around 11:30 to change out of our scrubs and head to lunch. After our delicious lunch, we went back to the hospital to observe another surgical case. Thankfully for this case, they haven’t started, so we were able to see the preparation stages for surgery. I learned about how they gave anesthesia, placed a breathing tube into the trachea, a central line, and a urinary catheter. Dr. Phung emphasized to us how important the sterilization process was. This whole process lasted over an hour! The surgeons finally started making an incision into the patient. They gave us a stool so that we could look directly down into the patient and view the work that the surgeons were doing. We unfortunately had to leave at 3:30, so the bulk of what we saw was the sterilization and preparation process.

I was sad that today was the last day of shadowing because I’ve learned so much over the past few days. Huge shoutout to Dr. Phung, as he was so helpful in explaining everything throughout the operation. The only con for today was that I lowkey had food poisoning, so I walked out of the OR over 4 times today.

inside the OR