Shadowing Experience

Tuesday November 27th I had an amazing opportunity to shadow multiple surgeons at the OSU Wexner medical center. Throughout the course of the day I gained first-hand experience of what a day in the life of a doctor is like. I was able to step into the operating room and see 3 surgeries. The first operation was a left femoral artery obstruction bypass using vein graft. This 3 hour procedure was truly amazing. Following this procedure I spent some time with a general surgery resident who described his daily activities and career thus far to me. He said his average work week is under 80 hours which is good for a resident. It is not uncommon for surgical residents to work 80-100 hours a week. He has been an M.D. for seven years, however he is only in his fourth clinical year of surgical residency because he tool extra time to conduct research for several years. The average surgical resident has 5-6 clinical year. While watching Dr. Starr, a vascular surgeon, operate I was able to ask her about her favorite and least favorite parts of the job. She said that the administrative requirements of the job are tedious and annoying.  However, it is all worth it to be able to help people while being mentally and physically stimulated. After spending 5 hours with Dr. Starr I was able to spend some time with Dr. Rushing, a CT surgeon. He was performing an open heart procedure involving an aortic bypass with artificial graft. Being able to see an operation of such a nature was a dream come true for me as I have been interested in CT surgery for over a decade.Spending 10 hours with surgical teams was an enlightening experience that motivated me even further towards becoming a doctor.