SLES Biomed- Fundimentals

This week In biomed we learned about forensic evidence and investigation. Mr. Glen with the police department came and ran the class for the week. He started with giving an overview of what to look for and how to find forensic evidence. We learned that forensic evidence is evidence obtained by scientific method. To find who you must add why and how. However sometimes evidence isn't always found and this will make the investigation harder. As an investigator in your head you must play the role of the detective, suspect, prosecute, and attorney. 

On day two of trauma week Mr. Glen brough his buddy from the crash investigation department, Sargent Mixion. He was described to us as what he says is fact because he knows more than everyone else at the police department. He talked to use about roadway evidence and how to tell what might of happened during the crash. He taught us how to use roadway evidence such as damages to the vehicle, paint transfer, and scattered debris. 

On the last day two wreaked cars where brought onto campus. We only had time to evaluate one but each car was given a sicario and out goal was to analyze what happened and determine who the driver was. We where able to carry out a small investigation and ask the victims question. We where able to apply the skills we had learned in the past few days to find out who the driver was. We ended up getting it correct.

On Friday March 25, 2022 a Dentist by the name of Elizabeth Hill can and talked about her journey to being a Dentist. She says it is highly recommended that you take a biology cores in high-school and collage. This makes the homework for actual dentist school to be easier. She says that you have to have 4 years of a major then four years of dental school to become a general dentist. After you have become a general dentist you can choose to specialize in specific fields of dentistry.

On Wednesday March 23, 2022 a Hygienist that worked for Dr. Parker. A hygienist is not a dentist. A hygienist is the person that cleans your teeth when you go in for your annual checkup. Certain hygienist can give injections if the correct certification is passed. She has almost complete control of her scheduled. Its a relatively easy going job. They don't have to work on Fridays and there are many opportunities to make more money than just your hourly rate. 

On Tuesday March 15, 2022 our biomed class took a trip to the Mobile Life South Community Blood Center. We toured their facilities which where extremely nice. She showed us where they took blood, platelets, and red blood cells from volunteers. 

​

In the back of the building we where able to see where they label and process the blood. I was neat to see the assembly line that they for to move the blood through with the highest efficiency. We got to see the huge centrifuges that they use to separate the components of the blood. There where also huge refrigerator-like agitators that kept the platelets moving so they don't clot up. They also have a massive refrigerator that goes to -46.5 degrees Celsius.

There facility was awesome and i would love to go back to donate blood.

On Wednesday March 9th Mrs. Sexton came to talk to us about intubation (specifically with babies). She is a respiratory therapist that specializes with babies. She gave a short demonstration that we ran out of time. She told us about how respiratory therapy has changed over time. They used to always incubate premature babies, but now the medical field has learned that that inst always beneficial for the development of the babies lungs. We learned that respiratory therapy is a rapidly changing program and that there are always well paying job opportunities.

On February fourth, 2022 two nurses from the University of Mobile came to teach us about a phlebotomy and abnormal breathing and heart sounds. We mainly learned about a phlebotomy and it was actually way more simple than I had thought. She tought us how to make a tourniquet and how to clean the arm properly (30 seconds with an alcohol while). I learned that a needle has a beveled edge and the hole in the needle always go up. When preforming a phlebotomy one is to insert the needle at and angle deep enough for the plastic tube to be inserted, then the needle is removed and the tube remains in the vein. It is important to remember that the need needs to be pointed towards the patients bicep because that is the opposite direction in which the blood flows.

The nurse didn't go into great detail on the different disease that causes the heart and lungs to sound a different way. It was still incredibly interesting and I feel like i learned a lot during this lab as a whole.

.

Day 1

The scenario for this years Trauma week was an injury that occurred during a football game. We started the day off at the football field where we watched a play occur and the injury happen. It was difficult to see what was going on from the stands, but it was all cleared up after we made our way to the auditorium for the EMTs to break the whole situation down for us. They ran us though the entire procedure from the moment they walk on the field until the patient is fully stable in the hospital. They described securing the injury, cleaning it, checking for overlooked injuries, and making sure the patient was ready to be operated on.  At the end of the day, we knew that we were dealing with a 17-year-old male with an open tibia/fibula fracture.  

Day 2

On day 2 Dr. Slaughterbeck came to teach us about what happens in the operation room. He first described that it was crucial to make sure the wound was as clean as it could possibly be before he could begin the actual surgery. We learned that because this wound happened at a football game where it collected grass and dirt, the ideal methods of plating or nailing the tibia would not be good due to their likeliness to breed bacteria and infection. The method that was best in this scenario would be an external fixed. This allows for the wound to be closed for the most part and stay clean. After about a month this would be removed, and the more ideal method of nailing would be used. After today the patient should be ready to star physical therapy.

Day 3

On day three we learned that our patient was having frequent headaches and is sensitive to light. Dr. Rippey came in to teach us about concussion protocol. He first taught us about how in a major traumatic injury like the one we are viewing; it is easy to look over the smaller injuries such as a concussion. We learned that concussion symptoms may not arise until days after the event. We learned of common symptoms such as “pressure in head”, dizziness, and irritability. Sadly, there is no treatment for concussions, it is only advised that one takes down time and rests.

Day 4

On day four we have finally made it to physical therapy. Our patient is all stitched up from the operation and is ready to start gaining strength back. Physical Therapist Elizabeth Boone came in to teach us a little bit about the road back to health. She first taught us that she always working in comparison to the patient’s good limb, if they have one. For example, if the patient’s right leg is what the problem is, she will lest the left one first to get a base line. She also toughs us about how she uses electrical stimulation to start getting the muscles back working and warmed up. She let us feel what that felt like and it was cool.

Today Mr. Glen Garside with the Mobile police department opened up this year's forensics week with a recap on what forensics is, where one can find forensic evidence, and who can find this evidence. It was restated that forensic evidence is an item of evidence that can be examined by a person of specialized training to give a legal opinion about it. We learned that not just anyone can give credible opinions about a piece of evidence. One must be considered an “expert” by the court to be able to give credible opinions. I found it interesting that engineering can pertain to forensics. Engineers can be called in to recreate scenes, so the police can get a better understanding of what went on at the time of the accident or crime. Engineers can also be asked to analyze where a piece of evidence in a scene might have failed. For instance, where the car broke and why or why the bridge fell. I definitely did not know that engineering had any place in forensic science.

​

​

    Today our guest speaker was Sgt. Laura Grantham with the Mobile Police Department. She specifically works with murder cases and child exploitation cases. She is the supervisor of the digital forensics unit. She works on recovering deleted data and uncovering data that could potentially be used in an investigation. Sgt. Grantham has spent over two thousand hours learning and taking classes on digital forensics. 

    Along with Sgt. Grantham was her partner, Estie. Estie is a detection or sniffer dog that specializes in finding electronic devices. She is used to finding electronic devices such as phones, hard drives, or thumb drives that might be hidden at the location. Estie picks up on the scent that is given off by a chemical used in electronic hard drives. This chemical is used in almost every device that has the ability to store data on it. She ended with a demonstration of how Estie can search for and find the electronic devices.

​

    Today we had the actual skills evaluation portion of Forensics week. We arrived at the scene and there was one living individual holding a bloody rag outside of the room. He claimed that he loved his wife and that he “tried to stop her.” He denied any further questioning. Once we entered the room there was what appeared to be a suicide(mannequin). Our job was to figure out weather it was a suicide or a murder. We evaluated all of the evidence running though all the possibilities. While investigating we left the individual unattended, so he wandered off. This was a mistake. At the end of the investigation we are still up in their air on what actually happened. The analysis of the evidence will be tomorrow.

​

    Today we got assigned to the positions of the defense of the suspected murderer or the prosecution. I got assigned to the defending side, which makes me pretty nervous because there seems to be a lot of evidence that would prove him guilty of murder. However, working with the Defense attorney showed us ways in which we can see the situation in a positive light towards the suspect. I am excited to see how the court case shakes out tomorrow.

​

     Today we watched the trial of the suspected murderer. Over the course of the trial both sides gave pretty strong evidence. It was kind of choppy because this was the first time in a formal court setting. However; the jury decided that the suspect was not guilty. The prosecution was not able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was guilty. This was a great learning experience and I now have a better grasp at how the court system works and to put the engineering spin on it. The scrib’s typewriter was incredibly interesting. She gave me a one minute rundown of how it works and it was incredibly impressive.

​