Hello again! Week 7 has come to a close, and as always, I have learned so so much. This week I saw multiple patients we had seen before, and had the interesting experience of offering them the survey and them saying no, as they already completed it!
An interesting visit I haven’t written about yet that we had this week was a pre-operative visit. The exact content of these vary based on the type of surgery it precedes, but the gist stays the same. We review an EKG, order labs, run a urinalysis (UA), review current medications and discuss the procedure.
EKGs are run to make sure the patient’s heart is stable and healthy enough to handle anesthesia. The labs check liver and kidney function (by measuring levels of compounds like creatine) to make sure these organs can as well can function properly with anesthesia. Labs also ensure the patient has the proper amount of blood cells, hemoglobin, iron and more (and thus won’t bleed out or clot on the table). The UA checks for any signs of current infection, as any standing infection puts the patient at risk for sepsis (a surgical complication that causes a severe infection of the bloodstream). Then medications are checked as some need to be stopped a week before surgery, especially those that thin or thicken the blood (i.e. Aspirin).
And finally, perhaps the most important part of the visit: we discuss the surgery with the patient. We reviewed the physical procedure, as well as preparation for and recovery from surgery. As someone who just had surgery a couple months ago, I can confirm being able to ask questions and have them fully answered is the most important part of pre-op. It makes a daunting medical procedure manageable. This is just another time Dr. Barker’s fantastic bedside manner and ability to communicate with patients comes into play.
Although our patient this week was calm going into her procedure (as she had had it before and it was low risk), lots of patients are not. This is a crucial time when being a down-to-earth, empathetic human-being is critical. Interactions like these are another that so strongly draw me to the medical field.
So that’s this week’s highlight! I’ll be back for Week 8 on Monday, ready to learn more and keep reading surveys. Thank you all for reading as usual, and have a great week!
