Week 1 - Brandon

The week went by very quickly and was very interesting. It started off with some moving around, which was tiring but fun nonetheless. Move-in over the weekend was pretty smooth. Everyone seemed to get into the groove of the city pretty quickly. I was excited to start shadowing my mentor, Dr. Roger Härtl in Neurological surgery.

After our orientation meeting and getting our IDs, I went over to Baker to meet with Dr. Härtl's fellow Dr. Andrew James. We sat for a bit and discussed some research and about the summer in general for about a half hour. Then he took me down to the OR where Dr. Härtl was preparing for an operation. Before I knew it, Andrew had left and I was observing my first surgery, a full discectomy (with total disc replacement). This was awesome since I was able to witness OR team interaction, follow what was being done on a TV linked to the scope and also witness how an engineered product was put into play real-time. One interesting aspect of this was that just like any major technology, a tech specialist was present in the OR during installation who helped guide the surgical teams though specific assembly and use of the installation tools, etc. Although it does make intuitive sense that someone like this tech specialist would be present, I had always assumed that the implantation of replacements never required it. But the tools are so specialized for many different types of implants that it now seems impossible to efficiently install the hardware without having the specialist present.
The second part of the surgery was a decompression procedure in which they removed bone using a surgical dremmel tool to grind away at the bone until it was thin enough for it to be broken apart and removed. Both surgical procedures related directly to my current research and helped me put things in perspective for future research goals.

I also got the see the clinical side of things in which Dr. Härtl met with patients, both follow-up and new patients. It was enlightening to see the different interactions that he had based on factors like severity and past history. I also got the see the importance of medical imaging in beign able to make a full and proper diagnosis, and the emphasis that surgeons put on having all of the necessary information. If a particular film had not been taken, it was very important for him to have that information before he moved forward. The whole thing was a very efficient but personal process. During the clinical visits, I also got to see a industry representative give a short (5 min) presentation to Dr. Härtl on a new total disc replacement product. To me, this was another role that industry plays in the clinical practice world. Dr. Härtl knew what questions to ask and how the product should work to make the surgical process better, so he was able to discern whether or not the product would be worth using.

The week ended with me following Dr. Härtl on his rounds to talk to recently admitted surgical candidates or patients that were recently out of surgery. We visited 4-5 patients half of which were new patients. He discussed the different surgeries with them and went over the risks/benefits of the options after listening to their symptoms and general feelings. I look forward to observing more surgeries in the upcoming weeks, both Dr. Härtl's and other surgeons'. Also, I look forward to getting started on a research project.