Blogpost Week 4

    To restate my initial goals, I was hoping to learn to become an ophthalmic technician, understand some of the pathology and anatomy of ophthalmic diseases, and finally, learn about how ophthalmology and specialty care fits into the larger picture(and healthcare in general). This week, I feel like I finally have become an "official technician" as I have begun not only working up patients by taking OCT scans, visual acuity tests, and eye pressure, but also following up with prepping many of them for injections which requires an additional set of knowledge and skills. Patients' eyes must be numbed at least three times with a numbing drop, cleaned with a drop of beta iodine and a swab(for the outer lids and lashes), and lastly draped with a plastic sheet. This all occurs while the technician prepares sterile gloves, the injection medicine, and other items necessary for the shot( including a needle and specs depending on the type of medicine being used). I was able to complete all of this during my work this week-- and oh, how satisfying that felt. Before, I would examine patients and hand off the prepping to other technicians, adding more work to their plates. Thus, I am excited by this new development, and certainly feel that I have completed that first goal from four weeks prior. 

    Secondly, I have continued researching pathology and anatomy of ocular diseases, and with the most prominent one being macular degeneration(AMD) at the office, I continued to be fascinated by its impact on a patients vision and how rapidly it can develop, switching between dry and wet. The difference between wet and dry macular generation is that with dry AMD, yellow deposits, known as drusen, can began to form in the macula. This can eventually result in loss of vision, and can also lead to atrophy. With wet AMD, however, blood vessels will grow underneath the macula and will often leak blood and fluid into the retina. Since only wet AMD can be treated( which is a miracle) by the use of injections, the research I mentioned in my second week that has been ongoing at Eyehealth Northwest has been testing for treatments of dry AMD. And overall, I definitely feel like my knowledge of this disease and of other ocular diseases has increased in general, meaning I have met my second goal. Lastly, I have realized that specialized care, like the retina department where I work, allows for greater research and technological advancements in certain areas, like with the injections used to treat wet AMD. It is interesting to see the inner workings of the healthcare system, and how patients are treated depending on their diagnosis. I feel like I have made some progress in realizing my third goal, although this is one I will continue to ponder as I move onto college and pursue a pre-health track. 

   

     I would certainly recommend this senior project to others who are interested; It was an awesome way for me to be immersed into the medical field, interacting with hundreds of patients-- all who have interesting stories to tell. Even on one of my last days, which was yesterday(June 10), I scrubbed in on a lens replacement surgery and watched/observed from the side as a retinal specialist performed surgery while looking through a microscope. It was incredible to see him do tiny little stitches on someone's eye, and although I thought initially I would find the experience gross, I was instead fascinated by the ability of the surgeon to steadily replace the patient's lens while being both calm and friendly(there was even 80's music playing in the background!) 

    

This is a picture of me in the operating room(OR)

Just some of the tools used in the surgery

Overall, I feel like this has been a wonderful and extremely full-filling experience! I learned so much, interacted with so many different and incredible people( including patients and coworkers), and it was such a huge change from my time spent isolated during the pandemic(which made me so happy). What I now know is that a medical profession is even more so something that I am interested in pursuing, and I hope to continue helping people in the future, whether it be as an ophthalmic technician, or a different job in college.