MedEx Day 15 - July 27th, 2018

To begin the day, Mr. Joshua Anderson, an Orthotics Resident, came to speak with MedEx Tier I about what a career in Orthotics and Prosthetics entails. Mr. Anderson works for Hanger Clinic which is the largest Orthotics Clinic in the USA. Mr. Anderson was able to bring several of his orthotic braces and prosthetic hands (shown above) and discuss the case studies of each one. I enjoyed talking about how a compression fracture might cause one to develop more of a scoliosis spine leading to a back brace. It was fascinating to see all of Mr. Anderson's equipment, however, I know that Orthotics is not the career for me. After this, we split into groups and toured the Greenville Health System's Pharmacy. On the tour I was able to learn about why stroke patients are given anti-coagulant medication, like an aspirin, and when stroke patients might require surgery. I was also able to ask questions regarding how the Pharmacy deals with the Opioid Crisis and how they fill anti-inflammatory medications, even when it has a devastating effect on one's kidneys. With regards to the Opioid Crisis, the Pharmacists said that they consider the patient's circumstances such as how large the prescription is and how many different doctors have written a prescription for the drug. With regards to the anti-inflammatories, he said that they just try to do the best thing for the patient in the long run. I enjoyed looking at the Pharmacy/ learning about their major contributions to the healthcare field. To conclude the day, we took a personality test called the Enneagram. The Enneagram is a method that attempts to typify one's personality into a number group. The people running the discussion wanted us to look through the card numbers and find which numbers corresponded to our personality. I decided to not partake in the actual choosing of one's personality card because I do not like personality tests/ the test was optional.