first official day of work!

Hey hey!!

After waiting 2 months I've finally started my summer internship at UCLA!!

The process to get certified to work with confidential patient information was STRENUOUS, but I've finally made it and I'll have a good month and a half to gain some experience!

So I'm working as a lab assistant in the Cardiac Outcomes Research Laboratory, or the CORE Lab (not sure where the E is from lol). Basically, it's a lab in the cardiac surgery department that gathers patient data from actual procedures for a bunch of different projects! The project I've been working on these past few days is looking at how changing the dosages of warfarin (an anticoagulant) after cardiac surgery can affect patient outcomes. My part in the project was to gather patient data from the UCLA database and recording all sorts of different measurements and information such as their daily doses of the drug, the type of procedure they received (usually a valve replacement), and the amount of days they spent in the hospital after their operation.

I actually learned so much in only my first few days!! It's exciting to see how real post-op notes are written and how diligent doctors and nurses are in recording the results of every single patient's labs and tests. I'm excited to learn more from my super intelligent med-student lab mates and to be on the road to med school myself!!!!:)

Also, stay tuned for more fitness posts!! ;)