Oak Forest Anatomy Students View Live Open-Heart Surgery

On December 1, 2021 anatomy students at Oak Forest High School gathered in their school library in anticipation of watching a live open-heart surgery.

The program, titled "Live from the Heart," was created by the Museum of Science and Industry and functions in collaboration with Advocare Aurora Health's Christ Medical Center.

Through the program, students have the ability to view a live operating room and watch via video conference as a surgical team performs heart surgery. The team will also answer questions, discuss heart health, and various medical career options with students.

This isn't the first year Oak Forest High School has had the pleasure of being part of "Live from the Heart." In fact, Oak Forest High School Anatomy Teacher Susan Magrames said the school was one of the first schools to pilot the program.

Typically, students will travel to the Museum of Science and Industry or to Advocate Christ Medical Center where they will watch the procedure with other students from the area via a conference room or auditorium. During this time, various medical professionals will stop by to discuss their careers, pass around surgical tools, and answer questions.

However, due to the ongoing pandemic, students participated in the program from their home schools this year. While watching the surgery, they were able to ask questions via a chatbox on Zoom.

Students still heard from a variety of medical professionals including circulating nurses, scrub nurses, a surgeon, anesthesiologist, physician assistant (PA), and a perfusionist

This year, 90 anatomy students requested to view the surgery; an impressive number demonstrating the popularity of the program considering there are only roughly 100 students taking anatomy at the school this year.

The viewing took place from 9:00 am to 11:30 am and was completely voluntary for students to view. Meaning, students were not required to view the program as part of the curriculum or class.

Through the program, students:

• Increased their understanding of science concepts as they relate to heart surgery.
• Increased their awareness of STEM careers.
• Increased their comfort by exploring and engaging in anatomy-related content.
• Explored an operation room (OR)
• Worked collaboratively with peers.
• Communicated using anatomy-relatedterminology.
• Developed questions regarding the anatomy of the heart, careers in the OR, and their personal health.
• Predicted and observed what happens during the major steps of the surgery.
• Practiced observation skills by recording patient and surgery data.
• Gained an understanding of how lifestyle choices affect personal health