Countdown to Home
24 Days
My Problem
I encountered a slight bump in the road.
I cannot read or speak any Korean. (Whoops...)
I acknowledged that. I guess I overestimated the amount of English they use when collecting data. In actuality, since their trauma systems have just started, they have very little data. In addition to that, most to all of it is not in English. So, I'm faced with the challenge of developing a completely different way of analyzing the two hospitals.
Dr. Hong has suggested that I focus on following and perhaps observing different hospitals in the area. That gave me the idea of focusing on qualitative things. This isn't the best way of comparing them of course, but this is a problem that I can approach again once I get into college. Hopefully, when I return and expand this project, I will have learned enough Korean to get through it. Back on the topic, this means that I will be focusing more on the actual patient care and how the doctor's approach each case compared to focusing on how much the hospital has improved over the years and how economically/socially better they have become.
I can briefly touch on my original focus, but it won't provide sufficient information anymore as it is lacking. So, we're going to approach it this way. I've already started the questions and can hopefully have them approved as soon as possible.
Onto everything else
Yes. I actually did something over the weekend. That will be a seperate post as I want to keep this on the topic of my project.
So, I mentioned earlier that Dr. Hong wants me to present in front of her colleagues. Basically, the plan is to show case what I already know and what I can find out in the next couple of days. It's going pretty good actually and I've learned quite a bit more than I expected. (Partially because I didn't think I could get so far in a couple of days) I've made an outline and have been continuously modifying it as the idea of a trauma system is actually more complex that it sounds. I'll break it down in another post after my presentation.
As for my Monday (which is your Sunday), I got my laptop set up and continued to work on my research. After a while, I attempted to go and visit the patient that I'm meant to see an hour every day. However, amongst the three buildings, I got lost. Again. I went up and down the stairs and the elevators. But I still couldn't find it. I gave up after an hour and couldn't do much about it. Then, you ask, did anything good come out of it? Of course! I, once again, found a different balcony and gosh it was pretty. (Me and balconies...) Dr. Hong eventually told me that she'd show me to her some other time.
A little while after lunch, I was scheduled to go with Dr. Hong and her residents down to the simulation lab. They were going to go over how to intubate and how to do a central line. I've seen those done before, so even though she was explaining it in Korean, I had an idea about what she was talking about. To put it simply, an intubation is something that goes down your throat and lets you breathe. (Note that this is when you basically can't breathe on your own) A central line goes down a vein around your neck and is used to get blood or put in medicine when they can't attach a normal IV on your arm.
The dummies in the lab were pretty cool and they have this whole set up. It's similar to ones you would see on a television show, which I thought was pretty awesome. There's a room with cameras and all the necessary supplies. There are dummy patients on the bed. On the wall is a two way mirror in which doctors or teachers watch the residents work. I'm going to say it again. It was pretty awesome.
And that was it. My Monday. Onto Tuesday we go...
Interesting Fact of the Day
The first cloned dog named Snuppy was done in Seoul National University.
*Fact obtained from 10 Facts About