REFLECTIONS

​

​For me, the most influential part of my work experience at the UBC Centre for Cardiovascular Innovation was acquiring first-hand insight into COMPLETE TAVR, the flagship research project that the team of CCI researchers is working on. Once again, this developing research study is aiming to develop a method to treat a condition known as aortic stenosis in patients with coronary artery disease using cardiac catheterization, which dismisses the need for surgical procedures. As part of this experience, I got to observe the day-to-day tasks of Dr. Brady Robinson (as a reminder, the Clinical Research Project Manager of CTAVR), who regularly hosted meetings with scientists from different health institutions across Canada and the United States who are participating in the study and sought to recruit new patients for the study based on a set of inclusion/exclusion criteria to determine whether they are suitable to participate in CTAVR. As previously explained, as part of one of my favourite activities, I played the role of a research coordinator as I got to review these criteria and decide whether a set of four patients with different cardiac conditions and medical histories were eligible for the study. And of course, I had the opportunity to observe live cardiac catheterization procedures in the Cath Lab at Vancouver General Hospital, which was a tremendous experience!

​

During my time at CCI, I learned a lot about how new research studies are formulated and developed through an extensive process of research design development, patient and researcher recruitment, and innovation — one that may take several years to prepare and perform. I also learned how and for what purposes cardiac catheterizations are performed to diagnose and treat cardiovascular conditions like coronary artery disease, as well as how modifications to this cardiac procedure can open up a whole new scope of opportunities to treat cardiovascular diseases without the need for risky surgical operations. After completing this work experience, I have developed an even greater understanding and passion for medical research.

​

The biggest challenge I had during my placement was probably in the Cath Lab at VGH as I tried to understand step by step what was going on during the cardiac catheterization procedures through the monitors in the control room that displayed the angiographic images and ECG recordings. The angiographic images were black and white and — before the dye was injected by the catheter to highlight the coronary arteries — showed the heart, its arteries and the surrounding parts as faded objects, which sometimes made it difficult to identify where the catheter was during the process and thus what exactly was happening at each stage of the catheterization. The way I overcame this challenge was by simply asking the specialists in the control room to explain to me exactly what I was looking at on the angiogram as well as what was going on at each step, whether it was the insertion of the catheter through the aortic arch and into the heart or the injection of iodine dye into the coronary arteries (a more visually prominent step). Always satisfy your curiosity by asking questions, which in turn will satisfy your thirst for knowledge!

​

                                                                      CONCLUSION & APPRECIATION

​

My goals for this placement were to deeply explore some of the innovative research taking place at CCI and acquire experiential exposure to the process of research in medicine, which I would love to pursue in the future. I have certainly achieved these goals as I am now much more aware of the large-scale preparation that goes into making studies like COMPLETE TAVR possible.

​

I sincerely thank Dr. Brady Robinson for spending time off his busy schedule to show me around and teach me about CCI as well as the COMPLETE TAVR project and Dr. Jacqueline Saw for demonstrating first-hand how cardiac catheterizations work in the Cath Lab at VGH. This work experience certainly wouldn’t be so rewarding without them.

 

I laud the efforts being made by researchers at CCI-CIC to innovate in the field of Clinical Cardiology and wish them the greatest success in the future.

​

CCI-CIC website: https://cci-cic.org