It’s a Great Day to Save Lives…Blog #2

I channeled my inner Derek Shepherd (Grey’s Anatomy for those who aren’t familiar) as I sailed through the first week of my internship. I worked a 40 hour week for the first time in my life, and it felt good! It is hard to get up in the mornings, but knowing that I will get to spend all day in the emergency department hanging around doctors is enough to get me up and ready! The free coffee in our research office helps quite a bit too. I must say I am liking the office life. For my internship, I will be flying solo on a research study called STOP, which is testing a new highly sensitive troponin test which looks at heart enzymes. I consent the patients all on my own, come back to get the blood from the nurse/paramedic every hour for three hours, and I process the blood. There are a ton of other studies in our department too, so if there are not any patients in the ED that are eligible for my study, I can assist my coworkers on others. My expectations for the summer are to finish up this research study for my coworkers. They are on #259 of #300, and I hope to get them completed by the time my internship ends. One highlight of my week was getting to meet the attendings in the ED and seeing patients from a wreck where a train hit a car. I am excited for the next week!