Lightwand

Over the summer, I got the chance to trail an anesthesiologist in the OR. It was a really cool experience for several reasons. The resident wanted to learn lightwand intubation, a technique the attending was particularly good at teaching. In normal intubation, a laryngoscope is used to visualize the tube passing through the vocal cords. Instead, the lightwand is a device with a bright LED at the end; it's a blind intubation that does not require direct visualization of the vocal cords. However, the light allows you to see if you're correctly in the trachea (as opposed to the esophagus). It's similar to newer fiber optic scopes; these blind techniques decrease dental trauma and help in tough intubations (for example, bleeding).

Also, I got to put in my first IV! It was really exciting. The patient was already anesthetized through one IV, and the attending asked if I wanted to put in the second. Though it took two tries and was nerve racking, it was quite an experience. The other silly thing I got to do was "draw and push." It was really fun even though it was simply drawing medications into a syringe and pushing them into the IV. We of course reviewed pharmacology and physiology. I even calculated an A-a gradient. It was really cool, and both the attending and resident were fantastic.

Image from airwaycarnival.com