A Day as an Anesthesiologist

Today I went to shadow at a catholic hospital in Medellin, Colombia called Pablo Tobón Uribe. It is one of the most recognized teaching hospitals in Medellin. Students from different universities in the city and the country that are in partnership with the hospital practice there. Professionals from other countries also go there for internships.

My day started at 5:30 am when my mother’s cousin, chief of the anesthesiology department, picked me up. We were the first to arrive at the surgery department. We headed directly to the operating rooms and checked in with the security guard. I traded my Colombian ID card for a key to a locker. Then we obtained the scrubs from a small closet, which also required checking in with another lady. She handed me small baby blue scrubs and size five pink crocs along with a plain blue bandana to wrap my hair in. From there I went into the ladies locker room to change into the scrubs and put away all my belongings in the locker.

There were a couple of nurses getting stuff ready at the front desk. Since my mother’s cousin is the chief of anesthesiology, he arrives earlier to set up the schedule for the day. He assigns an OR to each anesthesiologist. I was placed with an anesthesiologist named Dr Paulina Vega. It is common to call a doctor by their first name not their last name. She was very nice and helpful. She explained everything she was doing despite my confused facial expressions. Not only was I confused with all the medical terms but also the SPANISH medical terms. I tried using context clues and translating everything in my head. It worked sometimes but I definitely asked if I did not understand something. She explained how she examines each patient to verify all the medications needed for the surgery. She looks at the inside of the mouth to choose the correct tube size for intubation. 

The first patient was a 37-year-old male named Mauricio Vega (yes, same last name as the anesthesiologist). He was very nervous so Dr Paulina told him she would be extra nice to him since they had the same last names. He had a couple vertebrae that were not functioning properly so they had to be surgically removed. Dr Paulina and I put him to sleep. I included myself because she let me hold the mask on his face. She told me to hold it firmly by making an E with my forefinger, middle and thumb with my left hand while the right hand ventilated manually. When he drifted to sleep and was intubated, everyone cooperated in turning him over on the surgery table face down. The surgeons removed some of the broken/useless pieces throughout a simple procedure that did not take more than two hours. The patient had history of waking up disoriented and agitated from surgeries so Dr Paulina gave him some type of relaxant. The patient woke up perfectly fine with no sign of disorientation. We slowly took him back to recovery and said our goodbyes.

The second patient was a 21 year old that broke his right foot. I wasn’t really sure how it occurred but he had a hole on top that continued through the bottom of his foot. He went in to get the wound cleaned because they could not close it the first time due to infection. Dr Paulina introduced me as Doctora Natalia, it felt pretty cool. She let me use her stethescope to listen to his chest so I pretend I knew what I was doing. I also held the mask on his face while he was drifting off to sleep. Dr Paulina asked me if I had ever intubated anyone before, and I said no. She responded with, “Okay, today will be your first day”. I was thrilled! I was so nervous but excited at the same time. She talked me through it of course, and then checked to make sure everything was okay once I was done. I taped it in place and voila! My first intubation was perfect. 

The surgery went well, but there was a lot of blood that poured out of his foot. The doctor then closed him back up and advised me he had to come back in 72 hours for another cleaning. The wound was left open but covered with a plastic wrap because if the doctor stitched him up, the wound would not heal right and the skin would stretch dramatically. Dr Paulina slowly woke him up and again we took the patient to recovery. After every surgery, Dr Paulina made sure to document everything that was happening before, during and after the surgery. Everything had to be documented for legal purposes. 

Although I only saw those two surgeries I had a blast. I learned a lot and met amazing people in a great atmosphere. Maybe I should come to Medical School here. You never know…