Scientific research has been the primary guide regarding my career choice. Curiosity that extends past our textbooks and other didactic material will reveal invaluable information about how the specialty operates, how clinical research is practiced and the common pitfalls encountered, and how exerts in the field communicate with each other about their innovative findings. Through my research experiences during medical school, I was exposed to the reality of perioperative clinical encounters and realized that I would be the strongest patient advocate through a career in anesthesiology.
Proud to have published our study in PLoS One on outcomes after surgery in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PHTN), based on a single-center study at the University of Washington Medical Center. .
☝️We ask our patients if they can walk up a flight of stairs, a self-reported measure of exercise tolerance or "functional status."
. ☝️Shortness of breath and/or chest pain with this simple task can predict poor outcomes in general, and we attempt to describe a risk scoring model with clinical characteristics to predict outcomes (length of stay, complications) after surgery.
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http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0201914
Aalap Shah, MD, is a board certified anesthesiologist, specializing in general adult and pediatric anesthesiology.
