One More Day!

It was an exciting day today. During the first half of class,  we visited a place called CELA where medical students see fake patients; they can practice their skills on manaquins or actors who pretend to be ill. In small groups, we visited six different stations. In the first station, we had to draw blood from a plastic arm which had veins and fake blood. I had to sterilize the arm first. I was a little nervous at first, but I was able to extract blood on my first try. 

The other stations included a neurological, cardiology, ear, lung, and blood pressure exam. I was already familiar with the heart, lung, and brain exam because we had done them in class. I had a hard time performing the blood pressure and ear exam. I could not tell which eat was infected,  but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I also had the opportunity to examine my instructor's ear. We also had take a patient's blood pressure, and the task was not as simple as it had seemed; it was hard to monitor the screen and listen for the beats at the same time.

Afterwards, we had a guest speaker who talked about hospice care; she is a physician who handles hospice patients and their families. I realized that you have to be emotionally strong if you work in a hospice because you may see multiple deaths in a day. We ended class by presenting our group projects. Everyone had very interesting ideas to combat diseases like skin cancer and concussions.

The day ended with a talent show! I enjoyed watching all the performances which ranged from singing to reciting a poem. There is only one more actual day left of VSA, so I really hope to enjoy tomorrow as much as possible!