This summer I had an internship at the Central Utah Surgical Clinic working under Dr. Nelson, an orthopedic surgeon. It was a great experience, as I got to see all parts of the surgical process. I would begin by doing clinical visits with him, where we saw people before and after their surgeries. For those coming in pre-surgery, Dr. Nelson would use subjective assessments of pain and mobility, as well as medical imaging to determine a course of treatment. What most struck me about these meetings was how friendly and personable Dr. Nelson was with everyone. He greeted each patient as if they were long time friends, and after the consultation he would usually spend about 5 to 10 minutes talking about some common interest they shared, whether it was sports, fishing, or even a mutual acquaintance. It always seemed they had something in common.
After the consultations, the next step was the surgeries themselves. I was fortunate enough to be able to actually be in the operating room during the procedures, and got a close-up view of what was going on. Dr. Nelson would explain to me what was the steps in the operation, and would help me understand and see the anatomy in the area he was operating on. What most surprised me about the surgeries was how intensive they were. Many called for power tools such as a power drill and a bone saw. It reminded me of a carpenter's shop, where instead of working with wood, they were shaping bone.
The last step in the process was to visit the patients a few weeks after their operation. He would check up on them to make sure there had been no complications, and that everything was healing correctly. Although they were sometimes still in pain, almost all of the patients saw improvement and were very grateful for Dr. Nelson. Being an intern with him was a great experience, and helped solidify my desire to go into orthopedics.
For more information visit http://www.centralutahclinic.com/departments/surgery-center.
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