Week 2:
The Children’s Hospital

June 5, 2013

This has been a very productive week for me. After all of the reading I did last week, I was ready to start entering some data. This past week I have been working on calling patients to see if they are willing to help us with our research project. If they say yes, then we mail them consent forms and questionnaires. It was exciting to get to actually talk to some of the patients and to put a personality to information on a patient chart. In addition to that, I have started gathering important data, such as demographic information. I also have been working with the research assistant and my site mentor to decide what information is the most important to collect. I have already started to look through the medical charts of those patients who have agreed to participate in order to start collecting this information.

Another exciting part of this research is that I will be taking radiographic measurements of pelvic obliquity and the degree of curve the patient had in their spine, both before and after spinal fusion. These are important variables we will be collecting for our study, to see if they have any relation to complications in spinal fusions for patients with spina bifida. It is really exciting to be learning such an important skill. I met with my site mentor, Dr. Georgopoulos, on Tuesday so that she could provide me with instruction. I was really glad because I had only briefly met her before. She was very patient with me as she was teaching me this new skill, which I’m sure was very easy for her. Often times, the x-rays may be an image of poor quality, making it difficult to interpret the x-rays correctly in order to perform the correct measurements. This can be frustrating at times, however I am excited to be learning a new skill such as this one. I am finding all of the information I am learning to be extremely interesting, confirming my desire to enter the field of medicine.

Below is a photo of my office-that’s right I get my OWN office! I like to think its because I’m the boss around here, but really it’s just where they had space for me.

This past weekend was very fun and relaxing. On Saturday, I picked up fellow Cornellian, Ari Penalva, at the airport. She will be working with another research team, but she will also be in Aurora for the summer. It was fun to help her move in to her apartment in Denver, and I am excited to have another friend close by. After helping her settle in, I had the chance to attend a local festival. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I had fun walking around to see the different arts, crafts, and other festivities. I am looking forward to the rest of my summer here in Colorado!