Monday, July 8, 2013

Week 3 - McCoy

This week was a bit less busy and was much more involved in the operations of the different technologies within the hospital and how each of these technologies worked. Particularly was the seminar that was set up for us, one concerning the ins-and-outs of medical imaging. Microscopy and other imaging technologies have always been somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me, I spend far too much time using confocal imaging and too much time reading about imaging techniques that I will never need to use, but each and every time I encounter something new it always amazes me how we’re able to use unseen principles and abstract ideas, concepts, and mathematics to reconstruct hidden truths and images. Particularly, MRIs are very interesting and though I have certainly learned about their principles within the context of coursework, having an expert describe to me how they use it within the hospital as an actual means of diagnostic was more than fascinating.

It’s all too easy to forget while in the lab and academia that there are actual people in the world that benefit from what we do, it’s invigorating to know that technology that was only developed within the last half of the century continues to be a life-saving piece of equipment and has forever altered the ability of physicians to conduct medicine.


Following this and further shadows of Dr. Boockvar, while the week wasn’t particularly full or booked, was very rewarding in my understanding of hospital mechanics and how the medical field, and consequently its patients, is at the mercy of researchers and the technologies that they develop. I have also began to finally pick up on all of the medical jargon that is being tossed around between doctors and nurses, though I have to admit it isn't from context but rather from an attempt to constantly write these words down and then looking them up later once I’m back within the confines of my room and have more time to piece the words and associated concepts together. Who knows, soon I may even be able to understand these doctors and nurses in real-time!

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