Cardiology Physiology

During fall quarter, we learned the anatomy of the heart, but this quarter, we moved onto the physiology portion of the heart. Known as the dreaded class of winter quarter, Cardiology Physiology is only five "short" weeks long. We quickly cover material on how the heart works and functions (it's the same in people as in your typical mammal). Our text is actually a human cardiac physiology book. 

This class has been a challenge, but the professor is wonderful! Dr. Jones really knows his stuff, I wasn't shocked when I asked him how long he had been teaching this course and he said, "about 24-25 years." We are a lucky class to have him since we are his last class with the old curriculum. The same class will no longer continue with the new curriculum (not that they won't learn Cardio Physiology, but it will be in a different class structure/format than before). 

We had our final exam (only exam for the course grade) this Monday morning. It was a surprise to everyone when we were handed a test with 17 True or False questions. A merely 2 pages, I don't think any of us would have suspected that Dr. Jones would manage to ask us the major details we should have taken away from his class in a true or false format. 

Dr. Jones had provided us with his exams from previous years classes and they were all short answer/essay type exams. It came to a shock to us that we had studied and prepared for one of his typical 10 page grueling exams. I studied all day Saturday even though it was sunny outside and gorgeous weather (I did bike to school to print something). But needless to say, I spent a lot of time studying on Saturday.

On Sunday, in the morning I volunteered at the Sacramento SPCA feral cat spay and neuter clinic (off Florin-Perkins Rd). My primary responsibility was induction of our feral cats (administering the anesthetic) prior to surgery prep. This is often the most dangerous position, but is not dangerous if done correctly and safely. We use a comb to isolate the cat in a side of it's cage so we can give it the injection through the trap without having to physically handle the cat. It doesn't get them super stressed and we are safely and easily able to induce them. 

Later in the day after inducing a cat, we had a "crash" were the cat stopped breathing and was getting inadequate perfusion to it's peripheral tissues. We have a crash station and a crash kit and did everything we could to revive the cat, but unfortunately our efforts didn't work. But the whole situation really drove home how important knowledge of basic cardiology physiology really is. I mean if we didn't have a basic knowledge about how the heart actually works, we would have had NO chance in saving this cat. It was a really sad day, and is rather uncommon to loose a cat with the drugs we use in our clinic even though there is always a risk of death with anesthesia.

But back to our Cardio Physio class, I'm sure everyone did well on the exam and if we didn't, we have a chance to "re mediate" or re-take the course if we failed it. Dr. Jones is a wonderful teacher and I'm sure the last thing he wants is for anyone to fail his course. He's so cool, he held two review sessions for the exam, one was last week, and the other was Sunday evening (last night) at 7:30 (after the super bowl). He spent two hours answering questions and adding in additional hints of "things we should really know". He has a great passion for teaching as well as learning. 

On the morning of the exam, he brought us cookies and put a Kermit the frog on his head (students often tell him that he sounds like Kermit the frog). After discussing the exam with my classmates out in the lobby after I had submitted my test, I was surprised at the reactions. Some people were upset with the test format, others didn't think it was too bad, but we were all surprised to receive a T/F exam. I think that Dr. Jones was trying to make a point with his exam (or maybe it's just my thinking applied to the knowledge he shared with us). But I think he meant to communicate to us that if we studied hard and were prepared for the exam, we would do well, even if it was just T/F (50/50 chance) on each question. Getting straight A's doesn't make you the best veterinarian, although doing well on exams is great. But I think it's more important that you take major concepts and applications from a course in vet school rather than memorizing specific values or equations. To be a good vet, you really have to apply yourself and your knowledge. 

I think Dr. Jones couldn't have said it better in an email he sent to us the night before the exam, "Remember everything, forget nothing." I don't think he really meant it, but I'm sure it gave him a good laugh. 

I really did enjoy the course and learned way more than I would ever thought I would know about the physiology of the heart. Now we start our Respiratory Physiology class!!! Yeah, you gotta love vet school.  

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