Page 18 - ANZCP Gazette MAY 2014

Original Article
A TRAINEE
EXPERIENCE by Jessica Ozdirik
“Dr Peter Grant and I dissecting a sheep’s heart”
People often ask me how I entered the perfusion profession and I reply with a story which includes a little luck combined with some effort. I first visited the cardiac operating theatres during my Medical Science undergraduate studies. I was fascinated by the whole intraoperative procedure and was really impressed by the important role of the person sitting behind the fancy blood- pumping machine connected to the patient. I needed to know how I could do that and after some homework I decided I would enrol into the Swinburne Perfusion course, only to discover it had been discontinued (...NOOOOOO!!). Not being easily discouraged, I returned to Prince of Wales Hospital to ask Andrew Lahanas for some advice and learnt that the unit was advertising for another perfusionist, a trainee! “I’m going to go for it”, I said to myself. The rest is history.
“One of the Rwandan kids and I post-op”
My traineeship over the past three years has been an incredible experience for me. Over this period I have managed to learn so much and have become a valuable member of a great team. Early on, one of the highlights was dissecting a sheep’s heart with Dr Peter Grant, who really helped me apply my anatomy knowledge
while also visualising the surgeon’s view when making the incision into the heart. It was exciting, feeling the various anatomical components and appreciating how delicate, yet resilient, they are. I was also glad to be on the other side of the operating table!
I have attended a number of conferences and have had the pleasure of meeting many of you. It’s nice to know that I’m a part of a group of true professionals, who share an incredible wealth of knowledge. Presenting my NIRS research project at the 2013 AGM in Melbourne was a nerve-racking experience but something I considered a personal challenge. It was also good to hear many of my points reiterated in other presentations by more experienced colleagues. I have always felt supported as a trainee, even from colleagues from other units where I have seen various set-ups and techniques. I was fortunate to visit Andrew Dinale and his team up the road at St Vincent’s Hospital. I gained an insight into how tough it is to work around the clock with ECMOs, TransMedics retrievals and heart/lung transplantations.
“The giant wall of perfusion boxes I was greeted with in Rwanda”
From a training perspective, we are a unique department here at POW, servicing adult and paediatric patients. Paediatric perfusion is an area that I really enjoy, especially when learning about the complexity associated with various stages of congenital disease. There are so many additional aspects to consider when managing extracorporeal circulation within the paediatric population. The exposure to paediatric perfusion has taken me further than I thought possible, literally, all the way to Rwanda! When I was approached about joining the Open Heart International team on their upcoming mission to the tiny African country last year, I jumped at the opportunity, although a little reluctant initially (I hadn’t finished my traineeship yet). Do I really know enough to be going on a trip like this? – I was reassured by my colleagues and the OHI team that, although I would be out of my comfort zone, I would be working alongside another experienced perfusionist and a supportive team. The first day in Rwanda was overwhelming for me. I was alone for the first 36 hours and had an entire wall of
16 MAY 2014 | www.anzcp.org