M3-- WEEK THIRTY THREE

I spent the majority of this past week with GYN Onc -- and it was even more heart breaking than I imagined. I did enjoy being back in the OR! One of our cases this week used a da Vinci robot:

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A case with the robot begins as any other laparoscopic case does, however, once all the instruments are in the inflated abdomen, robotic arms are attached to the instruments. The surgeon then controls the robotic arms from a separate console in the OR. I had heard about this technology previously but it was really neat to see it in action! It will be interesting to follow this technology over my lifetime to see how it continues to be used. As someone who is very interested in a sustainable health care system, I'm not sure how we can afford these surgeries.. The other interesting thing to think about with the robot was the possibility of tele-surgeries. I can now imagine how it could be feasible! 

Speaking of tele.. I attended a lunch meeting sponsored by our rural health student organization this week and the presenter was a physician that works in a tele-ICU. He basically monitors ~50 patients at a time via computer for rural hospitals that cannot feasibly keep an intensivist in house all night long or wants a second set of eyes on their patients. The ICU rooms using this technology have a camera system in place so that the tele-doctor can see the patient and interact with them as needed but the tele-doctor interacts mostly with the local doctor as problems arise. It was amazing to see the money tele-ICUs are able to save a hospital by keeping such an intense watch over patients! They can play a big part in preventing complications such as hospital-acquired infections and helping patients transition off ventilators quicker, etc. If you think about it, a physician can only be working in so many rooms in an ICU at once so this can be a great solution! It could also be a great option to extend the careers of physicians who can no longer physically run around the hospital but are still capable of quality patient care. 

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Finally, I have to brag about my husband's handiwork this weekend-- Our laundry area has been sub-functional since we moved in. There was a shower curtain rod suspended in the corner over our dryer to hang shirts on and whatnot. But, if you loaded it up, your shelf no longer became useable. So then your laundry soap and dryer sheets end up on top of the dryer and you knock them over when you reach for the knobs and other annoyingness. So T found a couple of hooks and (with his bare hands!) screwed them into the joists in the ceiling so we could transplant the curtain rod and clear up that corner shelfarea. It's one of those totally unglamorous but functional home improvement projects. Plus! It cost us zero dollas - holla!

(Next time I take before and after pictures showing the usefulness of the corner shelf, remind me to wait until I have the corner shelf loaded back up! Blog fail!)

I took my OB/GYN shelf on Friday so tomorrow I start my next rotation - psychiatry! I'm headed to the VA for the next few weeks (a much different population than I've been with recently!). Take care!

xo,

Krista