Page 33 - Healthcare News Jan/Feb 2022

Baystate Noble Ball Proceeds Fund Advanced X-ray Technology
WESTFIELD — Thanks to funds raised through the 2021 Baystate Noble Ball, Baystate Noble Hospital was able to purchase a portable X-ray machine that makes a difference in patients’ care experiences.
Rather than being transported to another area of the hospital and waiting for results to be read by a physician, the portable X-ray machine brings the technology to the patient’s bedside. The technology provides a high-quality image immediately, and the attending physician can then read the image and provide guidance on patient’s course of care quickly.
According to Tonya Cardenales, manager of Imaging Services at Baystate Noble Hospital, this game-changing technology will be used frequently, especially with the increased needs of chest X-rays due to COVID-19. “We are extremely appreciative that the community came together to help support our department and to bring this state-of-the-art technology to use,” she said.
Though the Baystate Noble Ball was postponed due to COVID-19, many sponsors, including Advance Manufacturing Co. Inc., and donors continued their support of the ball, allowing the Baystate Health Foundation to fund this important resource.
X-ray
tech Katie Unsderfer shows off Baystate Noble’s new por- table X-ray machine.
Residents
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and thus Baystate found its way on his radar screen.
He had been to Springfield only once, several years ago,
and had never been to the hospital before, and regretted that COVID made in-person visits to potential landing spots difficult if not impossible.
“With those in-person visits, you get to tour the facility, you get to know the residents one-on-one, and you get to meet with the program director one-on-one as well,” he said, adding that the “virtual equivalent,” as he called it, is effective, but not like the real thing.
“You watch a video tour and talk to residents on Zoom,” he said, adding that he came away from these sessions impressed with Baystate and its commitment to support its residents.
Since arriving in July, he and other surgical residents have certainly been impacted by the cancellation of elective surgeries, but there have been opportunities to practice in the simulation lab, while also getting work in the OR.
“The pandemic has taken us away from the OR, learning from it directly, but it opened up another venue — practic- ing simulation,” he told HCN, adding that, despite the can- cellation of elective surgeries, he has been able to partici- pate in more than 80 procedures in the OR, which puts him on pace to easily meet the requirement that he take part in 200 procedures during his first two years of residency.
That time in the OR, at the bedside, is critical to the overall learning experience, Zambrano went on, adding that “I’m of the mentality that you go the OR to perform, not to practice. The practice happens outside, in the simu- lator; when we go to the operating room, we also learn, but we’re performing at the same time.”
He anticipates that, with the restrictions on such proce- dures now lifted, he will getting more valuable opportuni- ties to perform in the ER.
As for his long-term goals, he said he’s still early in his training and getting a feel for what he wants, but he’s inter-
ested in the broad realm of vascular surgery.
“I’m still being exposed to new things every day and
learning to like new things every day,” he said, adding that this is the essence of the residency experience.
Betel, a California resident before joining Baystate, agreed, noting, as the others did, that the pandemic has
“
changed the learning experiences in some way, but it has not altered the basic mission of a residency — to allow doctors to learn while doing and sharpen the focus of their career path.
Betel said Baystate came onto her radar for several rea- sons. Her husband is an engineer, she noted, and opportu- nities for his career figured into the relocation process. A bigger factor, she went on, was the pathology program at Baystate and the support system at the medical center.
Like Bates, she said residents have adapted to Zoom,
as difficult as that is in some instances, and that remote learning has some advantages, especially when it comes to saving travel time for regional and national gatherings.
For the pathology residents, there are few other impact points from the pandemic because these individuals are
in the lab, not at the bedside, she explained. But while they’re not at the bedside, they are providing that evidence she mentioned earlier that helps all those who are at the bedside.
“Without pathology, you cannot say what a patient has,” Betel said while explaining the importance of this field and the reason she chose it for her career in healthcare. “I don’t think people appreciate pathologists perhaps as much as
they should, but I love this subject, and I’m really happy being in pathology.”
She said there are a number of subspecialties in this field, and she is leaning toward surgical pathology, mention-
ing biopsies for suspected breast cancer and autopsies as examples of work in that field, which is one of many career
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In the NICU, you get this adrenaline rush when a baby is delivered and they think they’re going to need NICU support, so they call us
down; maybe they need us, maybe they don’t, but you have to be ready for anything. It’s like emergency medicine — you don’t know what’s going to come in on that ambulance.”
options she’s exploring.
“I’m still sort of exploring everything,” she said, adding
there are several subspecialties she’s considering.
Bottom Line
This process of exploring options and gaining exposure to many different types of career opportunities is one as- pect of the residency experience that has not been impacted by COVID.
Residency involves learning and doing — and learning by doing. The pandemic has changed some aspects of how learning and doing are done, but not the essence of the experience.
The residents we spoke with are optimistic about the day when there will be less Zoom and more in-person learning; more time in the OR and less time on the simulator. When that day will come, they don’t know, but in the meantime, they are adapting and preparing for the next stage of their career. v