Bronchoscopy

This semester I was able to sit in on a bronchoscopy of a patient who had suffered lung cancer and had had previous surgery to implant a stent in her right main bronchus. The consultant who performed the inverstigative procedure was kind enough to explain to us the entire procedure from start to end including the process of anaesthetising the patient and its effect on the respiratory system.

Although I have been able to observe surgery and video assisted procedures before, what made this experience so valuable was that the consultant, medical students and anaesthetists all took the time to treat the procedure as an educational tool. What would of taken 10 minutes to see whether the stent was still in situ and to laser off any scar tissue ended up taking half an hour due to the consultants willingness to explain and allow us to get as much out of the experience as possible. He even ended up quizzing myself and the other physio student in a non threatening way, assuring us that we know more than we think!

I valued this expreience greatly as it was nice to know that there are other professionals out there who insist on sharing their knowledge and time rather than seeing us as annoying students and ignoring us which I'm sure we've all experienced by someone this year. It makes such a difference to our learning when people strive to get the best out of us.