Heart Dissection Project

A Senior Presentation by Andrew Archer

Internship
I began my senior internship last year, at the Aloha Surgical
Center. I spent over a week studying under my mentor, Dr.
London. As an anesthesiologist, his job (and at times, mine)
was to keep the patient either lightly sedated or completely
asleep during procedures, so they felt no pain.

Internship
While I was working with my mentor, we discussed how drugs came about through
trial and error, how modern medicine exists through the experimentation of other
people, and the fact that most of the technology used to keep someone alive today
didnt even exist a few hundred years ago. Among these machines we discussed the
Electrocardiogram (EKG), a machine that monitors a patients heart rate. He
educated me on how its used, and how it can analyze a persons heartbeat using the
electrical feedback produced by the SA and AV nodes.

Internship
As we talked about the EKG, Dr. London had an idea for how I could show I was
using this knowledge. He tasked me with doing some at home study on the EKG,
and to make a presentation on the machine that demonstrated what I learned. So, I
started to research the EKG, and compiled a powerpoint. The powerpoint contained
info on who invented the EKG, how it measures heart rate, and how to attach the
machine to a patient. When I finished it, I emailed the final project to Dr. London,
who commended me, as a lot of the information was new to him, specifically the
information about the inventor.
The Electrocardiogram Presentation: http://bit.ly/1PXJmau

Clay Heart
While I worked on my Senior Project, I was
given the chance to learn even more about the
human heart in my anatomy class. We spent a
few weeks learning about how it functioned,
information that I have since applied to my own
Senior Project. We were also assigned to
create a model of the human heart to show off
to our classmates. I decided to make my heart
out of clay, and labeled each part of the organ
with toothpicks and scraps of paper.

Project
After I concluded my internship, I began preparing for my first heart dissection. I
ordered three hearts off a website that provides organs for dissection, and asked the
school for permission to use the dissection tools and dissection pan. After studying
my notes about how to properly dissect a pig heart, I settled on a date with Mr. Fitz
to dissect the heart in class.

Project

Inspiration and Interest

I chose to have my internship focus on something that I felt was a legitimate option
as a career choice. My mother being a nurse, I was treated to hearing stories about
the procedures shed assisted in. Add that to a natural gravitation towards the inner
workings of the body, and a love for things that would put normal people in an
uncomfortable place, I loved the idea of watching surgeries happen right in front of
me.

Struggles
Most of my problems with this project came after the internship was completed. My
first set of pig hearts had to be sent back after they had been damaged in packaging.
So I had to wait longer for the hearts to arrive. After they arrived, I had to find a
time to dissect the hearts, since I wasnt really sure when or where I could dissect
them. I originally planned to use all three hearts; One for practice, one as a public
demonstration, and the third was to be recorded more professionally, and have the
final video included in my presentation.

21st Century Skills

Information- Demonstrated through thorough research of diverse topics, and
applying aforementioned research to projects and further understanding, as well as
educating audience.

Communication- Performed a dissection in front of class, showing off its parts as

well as educating audience on the functions on each specific part. Kept a cool and
calm exterior throughout presentation.

21st Century Skills

Thinking and Problem Solving- Critical thinking and effort put into project.
Retained enough knowledge to perform heart dissection, while knowing enough to
educate audience as dissection was performed, showing off parts and functions
throughout.

Interpersonal- Kept a kind and upbeat attitude during presentation. Answered

questions and took comments, using them later to improve upon work.

21st Century Skills

Self Directional- Kept track of what needed to be done and in what order. Practiced
lab safety and kept instruction sheet close by in order to keep mistakes during
dissection to a minimum.

Civic Literacy and Engagement- Participated in an internship that actively educated

myself as well as helping care for patients.

The End