In our residency program we rotate with a private vascular surgeon to gain a better understanding of what patients who have vascular disease may require in and out of the operating room.
We would meet patients in clinic each day and offer them surgical options or nonsurgical options to help treat their problems. Some of the problems they may have include large varicose veins, painful veins, pain in their legs with walking (from clogged arteries), wounds that will not heal on their legs due to poor blood flow, clogged carotid arteries from atherosclerosis that caused people strokes, large aneurysms in the aorta, and many amputations. We also placed lines for patients to go on dialysis.
After we met patients in the clinic we would usually go to the operating room the rest of the days and then follow up and visit all of our patients in the hospital who recently had procedures done. I also was able to practice putting lines in arteries and getting vascular access which will be useful for my future as an anesthesiologist.
It was good rotation to learn about the main risk factors that cause the arterial disease (for example diabetes and smoking). It also was fun to see all of the minimally invasive procedures that are offered. Patients who have disease in their arteries often have other health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease so it was a good way to practice taking care of patients at higher risks for complications.