I saw more of the same as yesterday. However, the continual exposure is definitely helping me solidify a lot of things I learned yesterday. I immediately noticed that I did not need the doctors to point out aspects on the video feed every single time like yesterday. Today, I was able to reverse the scenario and point out abnormalities for confirmation by the doctors. I was not able to catch every single thing but the patient's today had some new problems I did not see yesterday.
Today, almost all the procedures were done under sedation. Their was an anesthesiologist present to provide injections of a hypnotic/amnesic agent called propofol. This drug seems to have similar effects as benzodiazepines in quickly inducing sedation and leaving short term memory loss. Other than this, the procedures were basically the same.
One of the most common abnormalities gastroenterologists face is ulcers. I would say out of all the patients I have seen in these last two days at least 80% had ulcers of some form. Whether they are in the stomach or intestines, ulcers have a specific staging system. They are divided into three categories, A (Active), H (Healing), and S (Scar). Each of these categories are subdivided into level 1 or 2. Active means there is penetration into the muscular layer and probably bleeding. Healing means the mucosal layers are starting to converge onto the ulcer to repair the damage. Scar means the ulcer is flattening out and the three stomach layers are intact. After learning about these different stages, I have been trying to visual stage them myself during each endoscopy. The idea is simple but looking at it and figuring it out was definitely much harder.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, but the gains from yesterday really make me feel like becoming a gastroenterologist is highly plausible.
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