Junior orientation began on Wednesday this week. Wednesday began with a review of school policies — especially pertaining to 3rd year issues. I also went to the office and picked up my new pager. The pager is the reason I was so excited for orientation. And I know perfectly well that I will probably soon hate being tied down with one. But please, let me wallow in delusional excitement for the time being.
Wednesday afternoon I took a 2 hour course in accessing the hospital’s computer system. Hopefully I will remember the important stuff. Today we had some more sessions. One of the sessions included making sure that we could properly wear the N95 masks. These masks are supposed to be able to keep us safe from catching things like Tuberculosis or SARS.
In the pictures above, the hood was used to check if the mask created an adequate seal around our face. After we put on the masks, we put on the hoods and a bitter tasting substance was pumped into the mask. If we could not taste it, then we knew that the mask was sealed correctly. (And that bitter tasting stuff is really bitter! No bueno.)
We had to try two different masks since the hospital uses two different kinds. Both do the same thing. Those are 3 of my classmates. I figured that their identities are pretty safe unless you already know who they are.
At this point, there is not much studying to do. We just go back and forth to different sessions making sure we are set up to rotate through the neighboring hospitals. The hard work will begin next week. I start my 3rd year with Pediatrics. I really don’t know how much I will be able to continue to blog during the upcoming school year. I’m sure that with more hands-on training, I will have more things to write about. But I also need to make sure that HIPAA regulations are not violated. So in addition to other measures taken to protect privacy, I may end up writing up posts and waiting a while instead of posting things immediately.
