News
An Interview with Sahar Khazaian, 1st year dental student at Nova Southeastern
August 9, 2007
Sahar Khazaian has been one of our moderators for the organic chemistry forums. She has contributed greatly in service of science students and has been a tremendous addition to our ScienceAide team!
ScienceAide: Tell us about yourself
Sahar: I am currently a first year dental school at Nova Southeastern University, School of Dental Medicine. I graduated from UCSD with a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Cell Biology in 2006. I was not quite ready to apply to dental school so I took a year off and worked for the California Children’s Dental Disease Prevention Program and was the program coordinator for one of the counties in Northern California.
ScienceAide: How did you know you wanted to become a dentist?
Sahar: My uncle’s mentorship along with my passion for art, science and preventative care led me to explore the field of dentistry. I began by interning as a dental assistant. My tasks initially included greeting and directing patients and helping (more…)
An Interview with Dr. Ching-Rong Cheng, Anesthesiology Specialist and Assistant Clinical Professor at UC San Diego
June 7, 2007
Ching-Rong (Steve) Cheng, M.D. is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Anesthesiology at UCSD Medical Center. He received his M.D. from Taipei Medical College in Taiwan and his specialty in anesthesiology from University of Louisville. He is in charge of the Simulation Lab. He works at the VA Hospital, San Diego and one of his recent projects was featured in an Union Tribune article: Model Patients.
ScienceAide: Describe your job.
Steve: I divide my time as an attending physician at the UCSD Medical Center and the VA Hospital in La Jolla, but the majority of my time is at the VA hospital. My job is to teach the residents how to perform anesthesia smoothly and safely during the operation. Usually I start the day at 6:30am. We will get together with the residents and attending physicians and discuss difficult cases for the day, or any current research. We then start the cases. The number of cases we perform each day will depend on the difficulty and length of surgery, but on average usually 4-6 cases per day. Typically in teaching hospitals the cases will be more difficult.
The patient gets a pre-op evaluation the previous day, which the resident discusses with me. The resident prepares for the operation the day before. In the morning, we will meet with the patient and explain to them what we are going to do for them. We calm them down and tell them what kind of anesthesia we will give to them. Afterwards, we review the entire procedure with the surgeon. The patient sometimes receives a sedation drug, and then we send them to the Operation room. We’ll the put the IV into the patient, and hook up monitors. Inject the drugs, and the patient falls asleep. Throughout the procedure, we keep the patient’s blood pressure and heart rate stable. We support the patient during operation by administering blood product when needed and carefully monitoring their vitals.
Once the procedure is over, we wake up the patient and send them to the post anesthesia care unit. We need to observe them in the postoperative care unit to make sure their vitals are okay, clear, are they awake, blood pressure, stable. We need to treat some side effects of the drugs, or pain control.
A Thousand Smiles
May 26, 2007
By Kjeld Aamodt (Kell) UCSD Pre-Dental Student
If you can ever judge a book by its cover (or title), it is with the Thousand Smiles Foundation. Conceived in 1985 by San Diego Rotarians, the project is dedicated to “making a difference, one smile at a time.”
The Foundation specializes in cleft lip and palate reconstruction and provides general dental care for those who may not have any other access to care. With the professional efforts of general dentists, audiologists, maxillofacial surgeons, and physicians, the program is designed to serve approximately 150 children during each two-day session, which occur every three months. The work is stripped down to the basics, no messing with payment or insurance companies; it’s all about providing health care to those who need it. Moreover, the general sentiment is that helping in such a pure form becomes an immensely gratifying experience for everyone involved. In line with such a suitable name as Thousand Smiles Foundation, generally, smiles are not only exuding from of the patients and their families as they leave the operatories, but also effusively spilling out of the dentists and volunteers who all seem to share the joys of altruism. After meeting in the dark San Diego fog of the early morning on Friday, you can expect a full day ahead of you working in the Ensenada clinic. We start out early, setting up the operatories for the weekend, starting up the check-in computers, and making sure the antiquated x-ray machine is ready to function. Within a short time, the patients and their families begin to arrive, filling in the taped-off street in front of the clinic. At this point, we all break off into smaller groups to work various parts of the operation- check-in, x-rays, patient charting, and chair-side assisting.