Working 9-to-5!

Today, I went on a mentor visit for 8 hours, which was the longest I've ever been on a mentor visit. It was such an incredible experience as I got to learn and witness so many more procedures and conditions, but also got to live out the complete day of an OB/GYN. Today was a relatively slow day, so not many patients filtered in, but it was nonetheless very exciting, educational, and interesting to learn about. I got to witness an endometrial biopsy and a check of hormone levels to regulate irregular menses. Dr. Bellanger first cleaned the cervix with an iodine solution and applied pressure to the region similarly to a Pap smear. She then used a biopsy pipette-like structure to extract cells from the cervical region. Although this procedure was similar to a Pap smear, it varied in the fact that a Pap smear detects HPV (human papillomavirus) and does pre-screening for cervical cancer, while biopsies screen for uterine cancer. This information will be incredibly useful to include in my final product, as patients often do not know the difference between the cervix, vagina, and uterus. If I could clearly outline the distinction between these 3 regions and their cancers, it would be easier for patients to understand what exactly a Pap smear is targeting.