October Extra Post

At last I finally was able to do my first mentorship today. I had gotten confirmation of who my mentor was in the summer, but he is such a busy man that it was hard to make a schedule on when I could come to shadow him. I witnessed myself today how busy of a man he is. I went to his clinic, Chaparral Medical Group, which is literally right in front of the Pomona Hospital. I went inside the waiting room where all the nurser and offices of the cardiologists were (my mentor worked in this area). I was talking to the nurses and asked for Michelle, who is the medical assistant of Dr. Muthiah. In the meanwhile while I waited, the nurses were having fun by teasing me and they taught me a new word: "baller". They asked me if I wanted to become a doctor and I said yes smiling and they said I was going to become a baller. I honestly didn't even know what that is, so I asked for the meaning. This one nurse started cracking up and then told me that it is someone that makes a lot of money. The nurses and staff are very friendly and nice, so i'm glad I will be working with them for my future mentorships. I finally got to see my mentor again and almost immediately he took me into his next patient's room. He conducted a Stress Test on the patient. The patient was put on a treadmill and Dr. Muthiah was measuring his heart rate for prognosis. He was using Standard Bruce Protocol. I observed Dr. Muthiah dealing with 6 more patients with the last patient conducting a Standard Bruce Protocol as well. Funny enough, when Dr. Muthiah started doing paperwork, the nurses asked him about "baller" and he didn't know what that was and he found out then. He made a joke immediately out of it by patting his hand on my back and asking me, "So, you're going to become a baller in the future?" It was pretty funny. I tried doing my interview on him as I was finally able to see him. It was hard enough to get 1 question done. He had to leave to the Pomona Hospital then to check on his patient (the 7th patient I saw for the day). I asked him the remaining questions on the way to the hospital. I learned a lot from my observations from my mentor on how he dealt with different kinds of patients. He really does have good character like the nurses at the Pomona Hospital stated before I mentored him. I am truly blessed and lucky to have him as my mentor.

Blog 8 - Research and Working EQ

1. What is your working EQ?


What is the best way for a cardiologist to perform surgery on a cautious and fearful patient?


2. What is a possible answer to your working EQ? Please write the answer in thesis format.


My EQ: What is the best way for a cardiologist to perform surgery on a cautious and fearful patient?

• Cardiologists can perform Cardiac Catherization on their patients which is a form of minimal surgery
• Cardiologists can perform the surgery using a machine while operating it from a different room (remote surgery)

3. What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?


It was the article, "Robot-Assisted Surgery." In this article, it talks about remote surgery and the benefits of it. It also talks about how this will be in the future and many doctors will be implementing this.


4. Who is your mentor, or where are you doing mentorship, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?


Dr. Muthusamy Muthiah

I have yet to do my mentorship but it will be in Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center (PVHMC) and his clinic which is right next to PVHMC.

He is a cardiologist and a interventional cardiologist in which he tries innovative styles to treat patients. He performs surgery regularly and I can observe him which help me answer my EQ.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

One thing I plan to do is have my dad mentor me for about 10 hours. He is an Ultrasound Technician and I by shadowing him, I would be able to see people's hearts through Ultrasound which would be pretty cool. My dad could teach me medical terminology, especially about the heart. For another 10-15 hours, I can ask my volunteer director, Stacy Mittelstaedt, if she put me in heart related department in the hospital in which I can volunteer in. Since I already did the Cath Lab, I can maybe be allowed to do Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). And for the remaining 5-10 hours, I could also ask my dad if his hospital would let me volunteer in a heart department for a temporary time. His hospital, Arrowhead Hospital, is much more large-scale than my hospital, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center (PVHMC), is.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

I would take pictures of my dad doing what he does for job. I would take pictures of myself with my dad (and maybe even trying out the Ultrasound Tech stuff on my own). For the second part, I would take pictures of myself in the department and then also pictures of me doing errands or jobs. For the third part, it would be the same as the second.

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

With the first part, I would actually gain access to see a real heart (well in ultrasound, but close enough) while also learning about the anatomy and physiology of the heart. I would possibly learn terminology that my dad uses on a daily base and I can apply those words to my Senior Project. With the second part, since i've already been in the Catherization Lab, I would get another feel of what it is like in the hospital since I haven't really volunteered in the ICU yet and since this is for Cardiac patients, it would help me. For the third part, it is basically the same reason as the second part is except that I would get a feel and new perspective from a different hospital.

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.

Updated.

Extra September Post

In this month, I honestly didn't do anything with my mentor except see him on September 4th. He went on vacation right afterwords till the 22nd and I haven't seen him since. But when I did see him on the 4th, I got to see part of a surgery which was interesting.

The most interesting thing regarding my senior project was probably the Research Checks. I was finally able to decide on specific articles rather than random articles. I researched Angina and Coronary Artery Disease. Angina is basically chest pain which can potentially lead to a heart attack. And coronary artery disease is the number 1 killer in America. I also researched about robotic surgery, remote surgery, and similar things. It was quite fascinating how doctors can now and on a mass scale in the future will be operating on their patient while not operation on their patient; they will be in a different room controlling a robot. One robot that exists right now is the Da Vinci. Another is ZEUS.

I hope to talk with my mentor in October so that I can set up times to meet with him and mentor under him.