Day 3: Defining "Futility"

For a disease with a high mortality rate such as sepsis you would think that less than 44% of America's had heard of it before. But, as Mr. Colt Shop discussed in his presentation for shows such as Grey's Anatomy the slow onset of sepsis isn't as dramatic as a heart attack; the infection wouldn't fit the fast past shows that the public uses to educate themselves on hospital life. Learning about all these diseases does make me slightly paranoid because many of them begin with signs such as a high/low blood temperature, low blood pressure, and an increased heart rate that could be applied to multiple different possibilities. Another thing I enjoyed hearing from Mr. Shop's presentation was how he hadn't initially planned on entering a career in medicine. I find that many health care professionals I've meet are very similar in that respect; not many of them had even gone into college with the idea in mind.

As always, Dr. Eprights talks are extremely interesting. I would love to have her as a professor and its such a shame she doesn't teach at USC! One thing I enjoy about her lessons is how she tries to make it interactive and asking us questions instead of simply lecturing. One topic we discussed today was, again, the Lakeberge case and the "futility", ineffective treatment, that was imposed on the twins. I like how Dr. Epright said that "no care is futile but the treatment itself can be." I understand that when someone is put in the position of either saving someone they love or letting them go they'll usually chose the former yet at the same time it is very frustrating as to what lengths some people will go to that are very much so futile. Discussing eugenics was also very interesting as most of the time people only bring up the example of the Nazis instead of other cases that are closer to home. I hadn't realized that the US government was still, in some cases, coercing women to take semi-permanent brith control to lessen their sentence.

The writing workshop was interesting but I really did enjoy ______ brief talk on the perception of different generations. It was very interesting how he said that both generations need to learn from each other, especially with the younger generation being much more proficient in technology. When ____ came in to talk about how Physicians are hired I was a little surprised at how long the process takes; you always think that doctors get hired on the spot since they are very much in demand but it does make sense to have a thorough screening and interview process. It certainly isn't something that I need to be worrying about now as much as getting into med school but it isn't a bad thing to keep in the back of my mind either.

We also received our rotations for the next few weeks and I am very excited! I saw that I have the amazing opportunity to shadow an orthopedic trauma surgeon. I've never thought about surgery as something I could potentially do but it will be interesting to watch.

#MedExTierII