Ever since my interview with him back in October, I’ve had my heart set on asking him to be my mentor. Essentially the perfect person to learn from relative to my field of study, Dr. Heffernan has performed countless surgeries utilizing the da Vinci robotic surgery, and has trained over 50 others in using the device. His wealth of knowledge and expertise will be an extremely valuable resource in my ISM journey, and I cannot wait to further learn from him.
I had a much different vision of how my first mentor visit would play out, contrary to what actually ended up happening. Within the first 5 minutes of my arrival to Medical City Plano, Dr. Heffernan got a call from a surgery center on the opposite side of the city, where his presence was requested. He tried his best to bring me along with him to the surgery center, but unfortunately their company policies would not permit a 17-year-old to enter the OR. Instead, my time was not as much of a mentor visit as it was a visit with his nurse practitioner, Katie.
Please don’t get me wrong, I greatly enjoyed my time with Katie! She showed me an entirely different side of medicine that I had not yet been exposed to: the life of a hospital nurse. Katie gave me the grand tour of Medical City Plano, introducing me to various staff members and showing me the floors of the hospital that Dr. Heffernan spends the most of his time on.
Katie and I also took a stab at the task of getting me officially certified by the hospital to shadow Dr. Heffernan. Medical City Plano has very strict regulations as to who they will let see patients, as well as who they let observe in the operating room. However, Katie helped me sort out the proper paperwork and other materials necessary for me to get this certification, and hopefully I will soon be an officially approved part of Medical City Plano!
