DISCLAIMER

This is my fourth time today trying to blog.  The first time I sneezed and hit the back key.  That was funny enough.  The second time my browser crashed because this loaner computer cannot handle PDF files and freaks out everytime I try to look at one.  The third time while I was inserting a picture I clicked the backspace key to delete something, but instead it went back to the previous webpage.  Blogging four times in one day.  Nichole would be so proud.

BLOG STUFF

Today.  Patient files and data entry.  Aline keeps asking me how I like data entry and I keep forgetting to answer her.  So here we go.  The hardest part about data entry is reading the patient files.  Sometimes the same things are in different places, sometimes the type of sheet is different, and sometimes things just aren't there at all.  The doctor's handwriting can be hard to decipher, but it's pretty easy to get used to that.  The most difficult part is figuring out all the abbreviations.  Some make sense, like IOP.  IOP means IntraOcular Pressure.  Pretty easy right?  Now guess what OD, OS, and OU mean.  Ocular dent?  Optic disk?  Overdose?  Open sclera?  Ovation utopia?  No those are all wrong.  OD means right eye, OS means left eye, and OU means both eyes.  I'm not sure how any of these make sense, it probably refers to the latin roots or sometihng like that.  If anybody (Aline) knows why they are like that, please let me know.  Anyways, back to data entry.  So its not my favorite thing in the world but its not unbearable.  I would rather be working with Dr. Shen or watching surgeries (which I will hopefully be able to do this week now that all my paperwork is complete).  I might be teaching someone who is coming to work with Dr. Mansberger in June about databases and stuff.  That would be fun, hopefully our time overlaps a little bit.

SCIENCE STUFF

One of the surgeries I am including in my database is a glaucoma valve implant.  The code for this sugery is 66180.  The type of valves used are Baerveldt valves.  They look like this. They are placed in the eye like this .

These surgeries are done, like most glaucoma surgeries, to relieve the IOP of the eye.  The valves bypass the trabecular meshwork of the eye and directly drain the aqueous humor into an outlet chamber.

Here are two videos which I found fairly informative regarding the Baerveldt devices and surgeries.  These are videos of surgeries done on eyes, so don't watch them if you don't like seeing that kind of thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X42PpKepXnw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNKuAjMDfHw