Week 5:
The Children’s Hospital

June 27, 2013

This past week I have learned a lot about the process of research, not excluding the frustrating parts. I have continued to work on my research project as diligently as possible, however there have been a few setbacks this week. For example, I still have been unable to obtain the medical records that were not uploaded into Epic (the database where patients’ medical information is stored). These records needed to be ordered, so that I can look through the paper copies of patients’ medical records. In addition, although I had begun measuring x-rays for degree of curve and pelvic obliquity, I found out that many of the x-rays were also not available in Epic. So, I needed to contact radiology, who ordered the x-rays from a big warehouse. These will be copied into another program, called PACS, so that I can view them online and perform the correct measurements. However, I am still waiting for these to be uploaded so that I can access them. These problems occurred because this research project is looking at patients who had spinal fusion surgery up to fifteen years ago, so their medical information is not all centralized in Epic. The research assistant who has been helping me (over the phone now that she is in a summer program as I mentioned in my last post) had not worked with patient records this old before, so even she did not foresee these problems arising. These factors have set back my progress a bit, which is very, very frustrating for me. I am used to finishing projects very quickly, and if these setbacks had not occurred I feel I could be much farther along in collecting data. The tough lesson I have learned from this experience is that sometimes you just have to “roll with the punches” as my fellow research assistant Kiara stated. The good news is that I have come to feel fairly comfortable reading and interpreting the information I need to be collecting-really the more difficult part as of lately has been simply finding the information. However, another research assistant working in Orthopedics told me that research is all about the details; I am definitely starting to understand that statement. Everyone here has been so encouraging and helpful, which I am very appreciative of because I can be very hard on myself when something I am working on does not go the way I intended.

On a more positive note, I had the chance to shadow in orthopedics clinic again yesterday. Much of this research project has been focused on spinal fusion. However, the doctor I shadowed yesterday specialized in operating on hips. He works with a lot of patients who have hip dysplasia. It has been really informative to shadow here, as the doctors I have followed are very specialized. In the past, I have shadowed my family physician. I live in a more rural area in central Illinois, so my family doctor especially saw a very large variety of cases, as well as a large variety of patient ages. Here, not only are most of the patients children (although occasionally the doctors will see adults), but the doctor may only be looking specifically at the spine, or in yesterday’s case, the hips. It has been very fun to compare and contrast these different aspects of medicine. I have found both interesting in their own way, which encourages me to pursue a career in healthcare (though as to what specific field, I am still not sure). Almost every time I have shadowed, I have had the chance to meet a new doctor. This is another aspect I really appreciate about this experience because it has allowed me to see the different ways doctors interact with their patients. I am looking forward to the rest of my experience here at Children’s Hospital Colorado.