Exploration 2

Exploration 2:

On Febuary 28^th I got the privilege of going home again for a second time. I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to do another observation. This time instead of going to a hospital I decided to go to a private practice and follow the surgeons there. I met with a surgeon Dr. Erin O’Rouke. She was a bubbly really out going lady, much different then my uncle. The office was set up a lot different then that in a hospital. She had her own receptionist and personal nurse. They had a team of four doctors each with their own specialty. She happened to be in orthopedics. This meant that she was a foot surgeon. She wasted no time and we got right to work.

I noticed that this environment was a lot less stressful then that of a hospital. She talked to each of her patients in many appointments before she operated on them. Even after she operated she had follow up appointments. There was a lot more interest in the patient then at the hospital. I saw that there was a surgeon who wanted to know who the person she was going to operate on really was.

After observing her a lot of questions come to mind. I want to find out what makes a surgeon want to be in a private practice rather then in the hospital. Also what are some stressful things that happen in a private practice that don’t occur in the hospital? Also do surgeons think that patient-doctor relationships are important? And last how do they not get emotionally attached to each case?

This community continues to fascinate me. I really would like to learn more about the technicalities of the surgeries that surgeons perform. I am so interested in exactly how they live their lifestyle. I feel like it would be hard to separate work from personal. They invest so much time into what they do that it would be hard to not live through surgery. I think that the more observations I do the more I can figure all of this out. They say practice makes perfect and I think this is the perfect way to test this out.

This community doesn’t fail to surprise me every time I see or read about a new thing. I thought a lot about this community before researching it. Im in shock that I was so wrong. There is so much more to these people then what meets the eye. I cant wait to see what other learning opportunities are thrown my way!