Hello! My name is Christina and I am a rising junior studying Anthropology, Biology, and HSSP. This summer I will be shadowing Dr. Samer Sbayi at Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook, NY. Dr. Sbayi is the Director of Exigent General Surgery, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Chief of the Mastery in General Surgery Fellowship, Deputy Chief Medical Information Officer and a Brandeis alumni! I am extremely excited to be able to shadow Dr. Sbayi in the Emergency Department, as this is a department that I have only visited and never spent a great deal of time there.
During high school, I volunteered at a local hospital in the Courtesy Department where I escorted patients and delivered medicine and flowers. This experience led to my first visit to the Emergency Department where I was sent to deliver a stool sample to the hospital’s lab. Not the most glamorous first visit, but I was just happy being able to volunteer. This summer I am excited to be doing so much more than just carrying stool samples and actually be in the operating room. While I am nervous about the intensity of emergency surgery, I am eager to be stepping out of my comfort zone and grow in both medical knowledge and my own maturity.
I hope to gain a better understanding of how the emergency department functions, how patients are transported post-surgery to their respective departments, and how doctors and nurses communicate during surgery. During my time there, I expect to learn more about the different jobs that people take on in the operating room as well as ask questions related to the surgery and patient afterwards.