Today was my second day getting to shadow Dr Lawton, but my first day getting to observe him in the Operation Room.  I was able to watch two total knee replacements, one arthroscopic surgery of a knee that had already been replaced, and a rotator cuff repair.  The knee replacements were by far the most interesting.  I was even able to see a piece of bone that had been affected by arthritis..  Originally, I had thought that arthritis was something that was more of something that affected, not occurred in, the body.  But once I was able to examine the bone that had been infected by arthritis, I saw that arthritis is simply when the cartilage wears down to almost nothing, resulting in bone-on-bone contact, which can be extremely painful.  
I was also able to observe how the OR functions regularly.  There are generally two circulating nurses, one anesthesiologist, a surgeon, one or two PA's, and one person responsible for the handling of all of the medical tools.  It was amazing to watch them operate as a team so fluidly, almost never having to ask one another to do something.  The best part of observing the surgery was watching the body part get completely mutilated and altered, and watching it get sewn up again as if nothing had happened, even though the surgery had helped to increase the patient's quality of life.  
Tomorrow, since Dr Lawton will be out of the office, I will be working with Trent Pansze, a pathologist at mercy.

Today was my first day getting to work with Dr. Lawton, and it was a very interesting experience.  Dr. Lawton's practice operates by alternating between office and surgery days; during office days, he meets with patients, and during surgery days, he operates on those patients.  Today was an office day, so I got to see how the office fucntioned and how his team worked.  Dr. Lawton works with two Physicians Assistants, and one Licensed Practical Nurse.  It was interesting to see how they all worked together and interacted with the patients.  I began to notice several patterns in the way they worked.  
Typically, Char, the LPN, would bring the patients into one of four waiting rooms before they were seen by either a PA or Dr. Lawton.  If they were first seen by a PA, the PA would briefly confer with Dr Lawton outside the waiting rooms and brief him on the patient's symptoms.  Next, Dr Lawton would follow-up with the patient, by either filling out a prescription, giving a diagnosis, or suggesting means in which to help prevent or end the pain the patient had been feeling.  
I also noticed that Dr Lawton interacted with his patients in a way that was mostly uniform, but altered a bit to fit the personality and characteristics of the patient.  He would typically start out by asking how they were feeling, what symptoms they were experiencing, etc.  Then through a series of yes or no questions, he would determine specific symptoms and the exact area of pain on the patient, and come up with several possible diagnosis.  He would then test the patient's range of motion of the joint or problem area, and based on the outcome, make a diagnosis that he would suggest how to fix.  
My first day was very interesting, to see how surgeons generally interact with their patients and teammates, as well as what they deal with on a daily basis.  Tomorrow, I will be observing Dr. Lawton perform surgery, and am very excited!

Click here to view where I will be working over the course of three weeks!