Hi guys! Last week was a bit different because I started my shadowing experiences. On Tuesday I went to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit with three of my fellow Travelers. When we got there, we sat in a room full of medical students, interns, fellows, and attending physicians. They were discussing the EKG and medical history of some patients, but we had no idea of what they were talking about. I was somewhat confused with the medical terms they were using but it was hard to ask questions because most of them were learning as they talked. After all, Weill Cornell is a teaching hospital and the attending had to teach many others before teaching us the basics of cardiology. Although I did not learn much about cardiology and the different conditions they were discussing, it was interesting to see the dynamics of a teaching hospital and compare it to my previous shadowing experiences. 

On Wednesday and Thursday night, I met with my clinical tutor, a fourth year medical school student. She taught us the basics of diagnosing a patient by identifying their chief complaints and examining other aspects of their current, past, and family history. It was completely different from the ICU rotation of the previous day because I was able to ask questions and comment on anything I wanted. I felt more relaxed and at ease with the fact that I basically do not know anything about diagnosing. It was super fun diagnosing one of her patients using the method that she taught us. We even got to perform physical exams on each other to practice what we learned. It was really awesome!

As for the research, we got to test our eluates for their concentration of ferrous gluconate, a compound that prevents sperm motility. We also made a couple of rings using several chemicals to test of it would be possible for us to make our own ring and then test it as well. However, we do not have enough chemicals to make the ring that we wanted to. Other than that, it has been mostly the same procedures that we have ben doing with the ring.