Labs

We have several different kinds of labs this block. For anatomy, we only have two sessions, but they were fun. In the first, we took the heart out of the mediastinum and dissected out the chambers and coronary vessels. That was really neat. While I don't find most anatomy labs fascinating, I really did like following the flow of blood through the different chambers and tracing the coronaries (sites prone to heart attack) on the outside of the heart. I dissected a pig's heart at Stanford in an introductory seminar, and I was thoroughly confused then. Now, I have a much better idea of what an actual heart looks like and the importance of anatomy in determining physiology. In the other anatomy lab, we dissected out vessels in the neck. This one was much harder; the neck is a very complex area. But it was very educational.

We also have pathology labs. We look at diseased tissue under a microscope, very similar to histology, but there's a lot less. The more exciting part, though, is seeing actual specimens. We have been able to feel the thickness of hypertrophied hearts, poke our fingers through calcified valves, and look at scar tissue from a myocardial infarct. It's immensely interesting. One of the labs, they had specimens out and we had to try to guess the pathology from simply inspecting the hearts. That was difficult, but very fun.

Lastly, we have physiology labs. These labs mainly help us solidify material we learn in class. We have taken EKG's and PV-loops on each other, helping us learn how these tests work and how they help diagnose clinical condition. That's pretty fun, though it's extremely crowded.