A Second Chance at Life: HA Students' Field Trip to Allegheny General Hospital
by Austin Paukner, ~Health Assistant (New Castle) Class of 2023
On September 29, 2022, the third-year Health Assistant class made their way to Allegheny General Hospital. What would they see? Of all things – an open Heart Surgery! Talk about putting their textbook learning into reality!
Chaperoned by Mr. Pavia and Ms. Marino, thirteen students hopped in the school vans at 6:45 in the morning – way before the sun began to rise – and headed for Pittsburgh to the hospital, but not before stopping at Dunkin’ Donuts for a little wake-me-up.
The excitement of the morning began to waver as soon as we found ourselves in Pittsburgh traffic, driving along orange construction cones. After two hours of java-induced anticipation, we arrived at 8:30 AM where we were whisked straight to the emergency department waiting area.
Though we didn’t have a front-row seat to observe, we did have a clear view of the procedure. We had a birds’-eye view of the surgery from second-story observation windows. We watched as the surgeons and other members of the team carefully removed a vein from the patient’s leg to use within the heart.
Though we had a clear, overhead view, a TV monitor was able to fill in the fine details of what we couldn’t see close up. Over the next 5 hours, we saw the surgeons stop the heart for surgery, remove the blood from the heart, replace a microvalve, and collect all of the surgical equipment.
Because we are so used to the visuals used during instruction, seeing the inside of a human being given a second chance at life didn’t faze us in the least. And before we knew it, it was lunchtime and we were hungry; We learned that hospital cafeteria food wasn’t bad at all!
It was a good day for the Health Assistant students at the Allegheny General Hospital.
Rachel Carbone (New Castle, Health Assistant senior): “I thought this procedure was pretty realistic. I learned about the microvalve and where it belongs. I watched how they reused a vein pulled from the leg. this helped me determine the direction of my education — where I do want to study and don’t.”
Donelle Jones (New Castle, Health Assistant senior): “It was very interesting to see the procedure being done, knowing that I would pursue this. I wonder if the patient survived. Those were some good surgeons who gave this person a second chance at life.”
Mr. Pavia (Instructor): “I felt this was a fabulous opportunity for students to see what happens in a different aspect of healthcare, and it was decided to be a senior trip as it would allow students to have the most knowledge and understanding of the content so that the procedure would allow them to tie in their previous learning.
“This procedure was phenomenal. The students got to observe an artery bypass graft, AND they also saw a valve replacement! TIn the past, my students did not have the opportunity to see this procedure. It is the luck of the draw when you go in to observe, and this time — our students were lucky enough to see this.
“We got to see a lot of the beginning processes being done. In the past, we did not have that experience. Students were able to see much more than the open heart procedure. They were able to see the surgical asepsis process that occurs in the operating room, the anesthesiologist, the circulating nurses, snf the instruments which incorporated several parts of our lessons. Naturally, there was a HIPAA regulation that protected patient privacy, but all in all, I feel this was an invaluable procedure and experience for our students who are future healthcare professionals.”
Ms. Marino (Instructional Aid): “It was amazing to observe so many things going on at once. Everyone in the operating room had a job to do. To know that everything they were doing was going to give this person a second chance at life — it was incredible.”
