This past Tuesday, seniors who are part of the Science National Honors Society took a trip to the Irvine Medical Center where they learned about the field of medicine.
The day began with a lecture from Dr. Landman, who taught everyone about the advancements that have been made in the urology, a branch of medicine that focuses on the urinary system and reproductive organs. We learned about the old methods in which kidney stones would be removed. He also allowed for us to look and actually hold at some of his father’s old tools. Senior Roni Mercado said, “I loved the lecture and it was super insightful! I liked how he also inspired us the whole time to discover medicine on our own.”
After breakfast and lecture, we were taken to the lab, where all sorts of training goes on! We were able to use tools such as the robot “DaVinci” to simulate how doctors remove tumors and growths.
Everyone was at different stations, which was super fun. Senior Sophia Aquino adds, “My favorite station was the sutures station because we got to practice how to stitch wound together. It was super realistic and really fun because we got to use real surgical needles and thread.” We also got to use an ultrasound machine where we practiced finding objects in a block of Jell-O. At the respiration station, we learned how doctors train to intubate patients who need help breathing. Furthermore, we saw how in the near future, doctors may be using virtual reality to plan for surgeries instead of MRI scans.
Throughout the day, Royals were encouraged to pursue medicine, as someday they may be the inventors of the next leap in science. Many of the inventions that we used began as an idea from people who were around our age. Overall, the SNHS field trip was a success and we cannot wait to see what these science-oriented Royals do in the future!
