Projects 485

Among everything I have enjoyed in Germany, some of the things I really appreciate have been all the experiences I have received through the 485 projects. Below is what I learned from each one of the three 485´s I did.

Dilated Cardiomyopathy at Hannover
Dr. Schmitto and Dr. Hanke did a good job explaining everything to us. Dr. Hanke first taught us what a dilated cardiomyopathy is in really simple words. I enjoyed her way of explaining because this is exactly how I would like to teach my students in the future. It helped a lot that we had physiology background, but even if we did not, I am sure we would of been able to understand. After teaching us about dilated cardiomyopathy, she explained to us the humanitarian side of being a doctor. It is important to have a lot of medical knowledge, but it is also important to understand people and know how to interact with them. This allows patients to have the confidence they need to have with the doctors, something critical in order to diagnose properly and have an adequate prognosis. Dr. Hanke didn´t only talk about it, but she showed us by going into the room and interacting with her patients. During the surgery to treat the dilated cardiomyopathy, a medical student was there to explain to us the LVAD procedure.
Things I learned: The heart is just awesome. I definately would like to do something with the heart. I know that specializing in the veterinary world is not that common, but I believe I would fill fullfilled if I specialize in cardiovascular medicine. Also, I now have a teaching model to follow whenever I become a professor. The way that Dr. Hanke talked to us makes me work even harder to be that one professor everyone would like to take because he explains things very well in a simple way easy for everyone to understand. And last but not least, being a good doctor is important, but being a good person with your patients might be just as important.

Uniklinik
At the Uniklinik, I was able to witness a really messed up heart. This patient had an aortic aneurysm, stenotic coronary arteries, and an insufficient aortic valve. In order to treat the patient, the cardiac surgeons performed a Dacron aortic graft, a coronary artery bypass graft and an aortic valve replacement. During the surgery, the surgeon and the anasthesiologist wouldn´t stop testing my physiology knowedge. They would show me what was wrong and then ask me how this would affect the health of the patient. After talking about physiology, I told the cardiac surgeon that I had thought about becoming a cardiac surgeon in the past. This really made his day, to the point in which he kept trying to persuade me into going back to that path.
Things I learned: I really want to be a professor. The surgeon having me explain to him all the heart concepts made me realize I like explaining. At the same time, it made me see my fear of saying something wrong. It was fine if I would of said something wrong with the surgeon because he was there to correct me, but whenever I become a professor, the students will expect me to always tell them the right info. Also, cardiac surgeons are really proud of their professions, or at least here in Germany. The way the surgeon reacted when he heard I love the heart was unforgettable.

Homeopathy and Zoo in Wuppertal
Homeopathy is a really hard concept to understand. Just thinking that something that gets you sick can actually get you well confuses me. Ms. Fürll, a homeopath, came to the AIB to teach us more about homeopath and allowed us to ask her many questions. Something that really surprise me was the fact that homeopathy can actually cause side effects. This doesn´t make sense to me because there is really no active ingredient in homeopathy treatment. Also, I was surprised on how Ms. Fürll would talk to the animal. When I asked her if there was a homeopath reason for doing so, she said it was important to talk to the animal in order to create a special relationship with it. This will allow the animal to create confidence towards you. This same concept was emphasized even more at the zoo. After talking to our guide and the trainers, they emphasized how understanding the animal´s behavior was important for their job.
Things I learned: It is important to be open minded. As stated above, homeopathy is a really hard concept to understand, but Ms. Fürll actually demostrated us with her own dog that it works. I believe homeopathy should be something that Americans should at least care to listen about. We tend to believe almost only in traditional medicine and forget about alternative medicine, when it seems like alternative medicine can actually work. One never knows if the cure for cancer or AIDS is actually in a plant. Also, animals also have a humanitarian side we should care about, just like Dr. Hanke had explained before. If we want to become great veterinarians, we should try to understand their behavior and create confidence with them.