Why I Am A Physician Dr. Charles Katzenberg

I shadowed Dr. Martin Skie at the University of Toledo Medical Center when I started contemplating a career as a physician. He is an orthopedic surgeon and I had the privilege to shadow during several surgeries, and throughout clinical rotations. I spent over fifty hours shadowing him over the course of a month. I also had the opportunity to shadow Dr. Zachary Ginsberg, an intensivist, in Kettering Medical Center’s intensive care unit. I was able to discuss the patients, their conditions, the lab results, imaging studies, medications, procedures, and the science behind the thought process while shadowing for over one hundred hours over several months. Both opportunities provided insight into different specialties and sparked my interest.Since

It is a fact that we have a longer life expectancy than ever before. This has been achieved through years of thorough research, technological development, and most importantly resilient individuals. Doctors are constantly faced with different enigmas with no right or wrong answer. What first attracted me toward medicine was the desire to help and support, in particular, disadvantaged people. Coming from a country with an underdeveloped health care system has made me realised the impact it has on people’s life.

African American male that is seen today for followup post hospital discharge. He is a 48-year-old gentleman with complicated cardiac history as well as neurological history including congestive heart failure. History of strokes 01/2017, possible sick sinus syndrome. He has an implanted pacemaker that was placed in 06/2017, as well as hypertension. He was taken to the Central Hospital on 09/01 with presentation of chest pain, noted to be around his pacemaker site. He identified being in seizure and suddenly felt chest pain with shortness of breath, and was offered nitro, he developed headaches and dyspnea post nitro treatment, of note is that the EKG that was obtained during that process, did not identify any pacemaker spike despite having a

You are working in the internal medicine clinic of a large teaching hospital. Today your first patient is 70-year-old J.M, a man who has been coming to the clinic for several years for management of CAD and HTN. A cardiac catheterization done a year ago showed 50% stenosis of the circumflex coronary artery. He has had episodes of dizziness for the past 6 months and orthostatic hypotension, shoulder discomfort, and decreased exercise tolerance for the past 2 months. On his last clinic visit 3 weeks ago, a CXR showed cardiomegaly and a 12-lead ECG showed sinus tachycardia with left bundle branch block. You review his morning blood work and initial assessment.

One night in the Emergency Department (ER) I was able to use all four patterns when caring for a patient. Mr. XYZ had come in for feeling “not him self”, weak, overall fatigued, and having minimal chest pain. Based on his symptoms we immediately begin a cardiac work up. Mr. XYZ was stable for the first hour or so he was there. I was in another room when my charge nurse came to get me and said I was needed in Mr. XYZ’s room. I immediately when in there to find him sitting up in bed, awake, with his heart rate on the monitor reading asystole. I locate his pulse and feel a very faint, but palpable pulse. As I am assessing him my

I stood with a look of wonderment as I watched the beehive of physicians, radiologists, nurses, and paramedics collaboratively save a man’s life. The scene initially appeared chaotic with scrubs flying around and doctors swarming all over, but in actuality the team was extremely single-minded—as if driven by instinct. I was amazed by the speed and conviction with which the attending doctor made his decisions; his training and experience was evident with every move. Seeing the tearful wife thank the doctor highlighted the impact of his work—his actions had saved a husband and a father. I left admiring both the competency of emergency physicians and their ability to touch lives in such a dramatic way. While my enjoyment of high school biology sparked my original inclination towards medicine, my first hand experiences in the hospital deepened my motivation and left me steadfast in my decision to become a doctor.

Today, I split my time shadowing between Dr. Qaiser Shafiq, a non-invasive cardiologist, and Dr. Ehab Eltahaway, an interventional cardiologist, both of the University of Toledo Medical Center. I shadowed Dr. Shafiq at the inpatient care center. Inpatients are patients that are admitted and stay at a hospital until discharged. Dr. Shafiq was "rounding" - checking on patients that aren't his but making sure they are healthy. I saw four patients with Dr. Shafiq, although none of them were very significant, other than asking questions about how they were and if they had any concerns. Interventional cardiology is a catheter based treatment. Doctors use a CAT scan to look at the heart and blood vessels. Dr. Eltahawy's patient was healthy, until they found a blood vessel lesion.

On arrival at the ED, the physician auscultates muffled heart tones, no breath sounds on the right, and faint sounds on the left. A.W. is

Mr. Howard was evaluated by his family physician after a prolonged episode of chest pain. The results of an electrocardiogram (ECG) were unremarkable; however, in view of the progression of his symptoms, he was referred to a cardiologist. Mr. Howard underwent a stress treadmill

I had previously shadowed 3 other doctors, but nothing was like my time spent with Dr. Sastry. I had the unique opportunity of being both his patient and his shadow. From the moment I stepped foot into the office in 2013 as a patient, he infused my mind with his infectious spirit of medicine and the beauty of healing. He made me feel very comfortable, and I was very grateful for the fact that he cared so much. I was always drawn to the healthcare field, but I didn’t know who to go to for the abundant amount of questions I had in becoming a physician. Due to his affable and invigorating personality, I knew I wanted to shadow him because I believed that there probably isn’t a better physician and mentor who retains such an optimistic view of life and medicine.

Having the opportunity to shadowing in primary care practices was most profound to my introduction of the practice of clinical medicine. It was through observing patient interactions centered upon the diagnosis and treatment of common medical conditions that I was able utilize medical information I had learned as an undergraduate to the actual application of practicing medicine. For instance, information about diabetes mellitus learned from my anatomy and physiology course was transformed into the physically diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of the chronic condition in medical settings. Thus, shadowing in such a practice truly brought medicine to life for me. Likewise, while shadowing, I had the opportunity to listen to patients

Collaborate with your preceptor to interpret your patient’s EKG rhythm and list your patient’s rhythm.  Discuss the implications this patient’s heart rhythm has for circulation.   How does your patient’s specific rhythm impact the physical assessment findings?  What if the rhythm changes:  what would happen if the rhythm became slow, fast, or irregular?  How could these changes manifest in the patient assessment and how would you, as the nurse, proceed?

Shadowing has been an incredibly satisfying experience for me. During the months of June- July 2016, I assisted in many medical areas including pediatrics, family medicine, pediatric emergency, obstetrics and gynecology. I have seen many different patients from an infant born with HIV to a teenage girl with severe bed sores who doesn’t want to leave her bed because she feels disabled in her wheelchair. Over the course of 17 hours, I shadowed five doctors, who gave me a personal glance into the day in the life of a physician. During this time, I assisted in taking patients to their rooms, ordering tests, and interacting with patients on a medical basis. Throughout the entire experience, one patient stood out to me. This patient was a regular

The patient was seen last in the office on March 6th. Please see that note for complete details. At that time, she was having anxiety and panic attacks. We did talk about options. She had previously taken Celexa and thought that she wanted to try that again. However, when she did try it, she did not like the way it made her feel. She says that she felt spacey on it. She only took it for two days and stopped using it and says she does not want to use it any longer. She says what she did do, however was change her Synthroid dosing from daily to every other day. On top of that, she went to a half a tablet every other day and she has been noticing less palpitations, overall. She did that about a month ago. The only down side is, she has been noticing increasing fatigue, which she has found in the past with her hypothyroidism. She is in need of an updated TSH and would like to see where her level is at this time. Her next appointment with Dr. Sutherland, her cardiologist, is next week and she plans on discussing her palpitations with her as well. She does have a known history of mitral valve prolapse with mitral valve regurgitation.

Have you ever wanted to help someone that was hurt or unable to heal on their own? Have you ever felt the need to assist in saving someone's life? That’s what I would love to accomplish when I grow up and I believe that cardiology would be the best fit for me! Cardiology has always been a part of me in certain ways. When I was younger, I would always say that I would wish to be a cop or a soldier within the army, but then again what eight-year-old boy didn’t say that. As I began to grow physically and mentally, my view of the world became much more transparent, and I began to lean towards the profession of cardiology. From there, leaning lead to believing, and that’s where I currently stand, for I strongly believe that cardiology is the finest