MedEx Day 12 - July 24th, 2018

Today was the 12th day of MedEx. To begin the day Tier I did presentations on the body and how different organs fail/ what might happen if it were to occur. Part of the purpose of the assignment was to be extremely creative, so our group decided to do a skit. I played the host, Gastric Greg, while other characters included Intestinal Isaac, Dr. Celia, Dr. Crohn, and Patient X. If you haven't guessed it, our skit involved the stomach and GI system. In our skit we portrayed a talk show where the two doctors discussed Patient X's case with the audience. Patient X had a BMI of 48, metabolic syndrome, and was recommended to undergo gastric bypass surgery. Our group decided to talk about all of these things and other possible treatments. A BMI of 48 indicates that someone is extremely overweight - over 100 lbs overweight, so it is urgent that they lose weight for their heart's health. Metabolic syndrome is characterized by hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and abnormal blood sugars/ it appears in overweight patients typically; because of these things, we recommended gastric bypass surgery. This is a surgery that reduces the stomach to the size of a walnut and helps a patient lose 10 - 20 lbs a month for a year after surgery. Gastric bypass also involves rerouting one's jejunum to the reduced stomach to ensure that some nutrition is received. This surgery is accompanied by diet and exercise changes that enhance one's quality of life. Other options would include liposuction surgery or Endoscopic Sleeve Surgery (ESG). Neither of these are as effective in reducing weight, however, so gastric bypass was chosen for our presentation. Other presentations were on the ovaries, heart, pancreas, and liver. After presenting/ questions, MedEx Tier I watched a movie called Something the Lord Made. The movie was fantastic! It detailed how "blue baby" was fixed/ how cardiology became a field of medicine; it went over how shock was treated, as well. The movie was mostly set at Johns Hopkins University where most of the research occurred/ it centered around Dr. Vivien Thomas and Dr. Alfred Blalock. To end the day our group visited the Simulation Center where we discussed how the lab worked, and we discussed how resuscitation works. Overall another fantastic day!