Week 6 - Nathaniel Wright

Reading echos is some form of art that is not mastered instantly. It is mastered and perfected by reading more and more echos to the point that one can see things that a beginner will never understand. So is the challenge of coming into the hospital to analyze strain on echocardiograms which you have never had the chance of reviewing before. This past week I have taken the time to revisit my previous strain measurements to improve on what I could not see before. It is disheartening and satisfying to see where you were and how you have improved over the course of the program. I have improved significantly over the time I have spent studying echos and looking at strain but only doing more of the same will allow me to perfect my techniques. Cardiologists will spend three years of fellowship reading echos and making the same measurements before they are ready to take the boards. So my goal of learning in seven weeks is somewhat of crazy but at the same time a challenge I enjoy undertaking.

This past week I was able to observe MRIs of various kinds. While my work is not with MRIs, it is the gold standard for medicine over echocardiograms. The issues that are present are obvious though after observing the procedures. MRIs tests take a lot of time to perform. This is by far the biggest constraint on the system currently. Talking with the techs who run the machines, I learned about how MRI has been around for many years, but computers were just not able to handle the data that is gathered. This reminded me of how there are other devices that were similar in that sense, a leadless pacemaker was thought of many year ago; However, the batteries that existed previously were not able to handle the needed charge and so the idea sat. Not every idea that is thought of will be used immediately but in the future, advances in other areas of research will allow for an idea to flourish. This highlights the importance of multiple backgrounds on a team, not a single field is in use for many biomedical devices. This is something to keep in mind moving forward.