a day-by-day
susu alkhalili
8/29/2018 0 Comments day 7: applying my knowledge I was only able to shadow for half of the day today; however, I was still able to learn quite a bit from this half-day. My goal for the day was to finally apply my hematology research from a few days ago to the conditions of the patients we would be seeing today, as I knew there were many patients with blood-related diseases coming in.
Our first patient of the day was a consult, meaning the patient was coming in to the office for the first time. She explained to the doctor that she had an elevated white blood cell (WBC) count, and she was concerned about this. When the doctor was asking her routine questions that he needed for her charts, the patient told him that she had suffered from depression due to a bad breakup, and, as a result, had lost about 100 pounds in a short amount of time. The doctor asked her if she had been taking any steroids, as this can typically lead to an elevated WBC count, but she stated that she had not. Dr. A found that in previous years, her WBC count had always been elevated; this meant that it was unlikely that she had leukemia, as, at that point, she would have been in much worse of a condition after so many years. However, there was no way to be sure without more information, so the doctor recommended that she had some more blood work completed, in order to rule out cancer, before proceeding. My prior research on the components of blood and hematology allowed me to have some background information on the roles of white blood cells. As a result, when he was explaining to the patient the role of white blood cells, and what an abundance of white blood cells can mean for her health, I already knew what he was referring to! Today showed me the importance of doing research in advance. I was able to identify what was wrong with the patient, even before the oncologist explained to her her condition! This gave me a great sense of satisfaction. I will likely continue read up on more of the common diseases that we see at the office, such as lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and, of course, breast cancer.
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AuthorSusu Alkhalili, senior at Maumee Valley Country Day School. ArchivesCategories |