Breathe deep, Jim Bob

Mood: Relaxed
Music: Young the Giant - "Cough Syrup"
Medicine: Respiratory Physiology

This entire week has been devoted to physiology. And rightly so, seeing as it was neglected for so long before Anatomy ended! Now, I'm usually a fan of physiology, but I just want to say that the minute nuances explored throughout respiratory physiology are PAINSTAKING. Don't get me wrong, I love it. But it's painful. Then again, once I get it down, I'm sure I'll feel like a master. This book learning is a very important foundation. I could go for the passing grade, since essentially that's all that will be seen by future residency programs when I apply after these four years (well, 3 and a half now). But you know what? No. I want to know this stuff so I can actually be a good doctor. I don't want to miss a diagnosis. Shuffle a patient off to another specialist. I'm going to be good at what I do. And it starts here.

This week was more interesting, as we were given a break from the purely lecture based learning to explore a respiratory simulation and ultrasound. The simulation was fantastic. Basically, the simulations comprise of several medical students surrounding a simulation dummy. Let's call him Jim Bob. No idea why. Anyhow, Jim Bob has a certain physical ailment that we need to diagnose based on his symptoms, his history, and examination findings. We ran through several different commonly seen scenarios that a patient might encounter when facing a respiratory crisis; such as asthma, fluid in the lungs, a collapsed lung, and a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolism). This last one was amazing. Though we don't know much about which drugs to push in certain situations, it was exciting to hear Jim Bob explain (yes, he talks to you) how he was feeling, the swelling he had in his legs, and how he was now having difficulty breathing. Immediately my mind jumped to the pulmonary embolism. A clot in his leg must have broken loose, and shuffled its way to his lungs. And, sure enough, as I predicted, once the embolus (clot) passed through his lungs and into his heart, and lodged in a coronary artery, he started to crash. Now, it wasn't particularly exciting to see that Jim Bob was going into ventricular fibrillations (heart attack), but it WAS exciting knowing that I had predicted the outcome with my extensive (okay, very limited) knowledge of physiology. Awesome! I'm definitely looking forward to interventional medicine!

As for the Ultrasound, that was quite amazing as well. Though it's hard to visualize the lungs, since they're full of air and ultrasound doesn't sense this very well, we learned what to look for to rule out a collapsed lung, blood in the lungs, fluid in the lungs, or pleurisy. Most of it was looking at artifacts to determine these potential problems. It's exciting to think we're starting on ultrasound so early. Many of the fourth years just started it, but with our new curriculum, they've introduced ultrasound to us in the first year. We're going to be experts by the time we graduate!

Alright, I have the physiology test on Tuesday that I really need to focus on. About 5 more lectures of material to cover, then I need to review like a madman. Do madmen review?


"If I could find a way to see this straight, I'd run away, to some fortune that I should have found by now"