Week 1 Blog 1/5/23 - 1/6/23

I started my internship on January 5th 2023 and the first day was already very exciting, I started my day off at 8 am and as soon as I got there I was introduced to many different people. I then began filing specimen slides into blue sheets that would later be scanned for storage. Filing the specimen slides was very relaxing but it was not as thrilling as the next part of my day. I got invited into the gross room to shadow Dr. Mindy, a pathologist grosser. I learned that the term "gross" in pathology means that a specimen undergoes an extensive and precise examination. During this process the pathologists send the grossers a list of tissue they need samples of as well as a general diagnosis of what the specimen looks like. I shadowed Dr. Mindy for about 2 hours, during that time we looked at 3 different placentas. Each of the placentas were unique and had distinct features that the previous ones didn't. I ended my day by shadowing a different grosser, Dr. Nico, he showed me cancer that was recently removed from someone. Dr. Nico also taught me how to use different machines in the gross room as well as how to carefully store samples in their designated boxes. Entering the gross room and shadowing the grossers was by far the most interesting part of my first week. It surprised me how calm and casual the grossers are around different types of specimen. I asked a few of them if they ever felt uneasy being around organs and body parts and they all said that it's definitely something to get used to but since they have been doing it for so long its become like a second nature to them. I'm really excited to see what my next week has to offer! (Last 3 pictures contain graphic images)