ICV’s Medical Immersion Lab - Worth it?

This one’s for those who fell head over heels for biology. This one’s for those who are unhealthily obsessed with that pearly white coat and will be immune to the sharp, medicinal scent of their workplace. This one’s for us, who daydream of leading night shifts as doctors.

Because I’ve been pestering my parents about my unwavering aspiration of becoming a doctor, they thought it would make sense for me to attend the ‘Medical Immersion Lab’ program hosted by Inner Compass Village in Bangalore. Over the course of 3 days, my friends and I explored Cytecare Hospital (the only hospital that happily agreed to allow reckless teens to roam its corridors). Oh, did I tell you that this hospital specialises in cancer care?

You know you’re up for a rigorous, arduous event when the end of the first day causes you to drop dead on the bed. The first day started off with traversing through the hospital. The one thing I’ll always remember from now on is how the leading doctor mentioned, “If you think hospitals are just doctors and patients, you’re wrong.” From the billing department to the control room, I saw it all. What do you mean that there’s a specific amount of sunlight that needs to enter a doctor's chamber? And there’s exceptionally skilled architects for building hospitals? I did NOT know that.

When I say that the hospital was huge, it actually was HUGE. I didn’t think a single tour would drain my energy this quickly. However, the best part of the tour was, unarguably, the fact that I got to interact with a real patient. And no, I’m not lying. The doctor’s instructions were crystal clear: do not take any photos or videos of the patient and feel free to ask the patient any questions (except their salary).

Here’s the longest part of the day: the lecture conducted by a doctor from the emergency services. Now, there’s many amusing aspects about this part of the day. One of them is how the doctor got the time and patience to educate a bunch of teens about basic first aid and CRP. Before you envision a mundane looking room with a couple of 15-year-olds slouched in their chairs on the name of a ‘lecture’, let me throw light on what we did. We performed CPR on a mannequin. We actually did it. 

To conclude the first day, the radiologists introduced us to some super cool machines. One of them was the gigantic doughnut shaped machine for PET CT (the photo below), one machine for mammography (the photo above), X-Ray machines and Ultrasounds, to name a few.

The second day began with specialised lectures from surgeons. Guess what? I enjoyed every single minute of all those lectures. The doctors had godly patience (because dealing with millions of questions from curious high schoolers is no child’s play). When I looked up the official website of Cytecare Hospital and searched for these doctors, one look at their qualifications made me realise how privileged I am.

Following the erudite sessions was a visit to the ICU, where discovered the different types of anesthesia. Mind you, there were patients who were really admitted here. 

Next up was a tour of the labs of different departments. You think they just showed us a few pretty doors and gave us bits and pieces about the research faculty? Wrong. They let us in. The most serene part of the tour was the microbiology facility.

To figure out whether the tumor is malignant or benign, the researchers must perform certain tests on the sample of tissue collected from the patient. That’s what we were told. They mentioned how they had a myriad of samples of organs. So, that's it, right? Bold of you to assume it ends there. 

WARNING! The next paragraph will contain severely gory details (no photos, unfortunately), so if you’re not comfortable with that information, my advice is to skip the next paragraph.

Never had I ever expected them to show us those organ samples. You know those big containers we use to store pulses and all? Some of the containers were of that size. Transparent. So all the preserved organs were visible. Floating. In some liquid in the unsettling shade of brown and pale yellow. When taking a closer look at the samples, the capillaries (darkened in hues of an evil looking dark purple) on the skin were visible. While they did not have any brain samples, they sure had intestines. And the smell. Oh, the sour scent that infiltrated my nostrils. Smelled like a chemistry experiment gone wrong. It’s basically something that would start rotting the moment you take it out of that ‘magic liquid’. If you know how decomposition smells (I hope you don’t) it smelled like that, but more acidic, more chemical like. Not natural.

What a savage way to end the day! Okay, but in all seriousness, after witnessing something so…confidential, I think we all can collectively agree on the fact that the world relies on trust.

To kickstart the final day, we learnt about the basics of suturing on a banana (I tried not to abuse it too much). I’ll be brutally honest, it was such a perplexing and nerve-wracking task. The knots were highly bewildering to secure. The equipment we were asked to work with was ordered from Amazon (with no compromise on quality, surprisingly). Who knew Amazon had such fancy items?

After an emotionally depleting lecture on Psycho-Oncology, we moved onto the final aspect of the hospital tour: the chemotherapy department, located on level -2. We conversed with physicists who operate the machinery for radiation therapy. They told us that they use various angles for guiding the radiation beams to the target organs.

At this point, I think you’ve guessed what’s going to happen next. If you thought that we’re going to see the machine for radiation therapy, you’re absolutely right.

The pathway for reaching this glorious machine was tortuous, and for a good reason. The experts informed us that the serpentine walkway was in order to prevent the radiation from escaping outdoors. Rather than that monotonous grey, the sizable room’s walls were adorned with pictures of flowers and foliage. The reason for this embellishment was to make sure that the patient was tranquil. How sweet and thoughtful!

And with that, the tour of the chemotherapy department and this course comes to an end. So, I’m going to stop here because I’m not giving you any more spoilers (more than I already have). Let’s move onto the title. Here’s the answer: yes, 100%.