Snapshot — Welcome to med school, Stephanie Larson

Just before 9 a.m. on her first day of medical school, Stephanie Larson meets her first patient — an 87-year-old male who, according to a coroner’s report, died of chronic heart failure.

For Larson and her new colleagues — UNMC’s other first-year med students — medical education will start at the end.

Stephanie Larson of Gothenburg started medical school at UNMC on Monday. The 29-year-old has wanted to be a doctor since age 8.

“Lots of times causes of death are not very accurate,” UNMC anatomy guru Robert Binhammer, Ph.D., says to the new students in the Gross Anatomy Lab. “You can determine whether the cause of death was the correct one … by your investigation.”

After a brief introduction to the lab staff and policies, Larson and her gross anatomy teammates, Mackenzie Hemje, Andrew Smith and Matthew Maslonka, begin to dissect the cadaver.

Tentatively, they make their first cut, a two-foot incision straight down the spine. Dr. Hans Rath — a clinical assistant professor of surgery who has long taught in the gross lab — notices the hesitant nature of the cuts. He shows the students how to hold a scalpel and urges them to be more confident.

“The surgeon must be comfortable,” he says.

Larson and her teammates relax.

Off and running Click on the image above to view a flip cam video of Stephanie Larson’s first day of medical school.

They chat while they work. Smith offers to hold forceps while Larson starts another incision near the latissimus muscle. She makes a smooth, clean cut.

Two hours into their medical training, the students already have opened up nearly the entire upper back of the cadaver.

After three hours of gross anatomy, Larson and her teammates ditch their scrubs and head to an embryology lecture in the Sorrell Center.

Professor James Turpen, Ph.D., describes the human fertilization process during the next 50 minutes. What the students just worked with in the gross lab, Dr. Turpen says, was the finished product. He’s showing them how it starts.

This is good for Larson. She came to UNMC via the University of Nebraska at Kearney KHOP initiative. She wants to be a family physician in a rural community. She needs to be able to address the entire life cycle.

Day one of medical school for Larson and her colleagues, it seems, will end at the beginning.

Not so fast, she says as she comes out of the lecture. She and her gross lab teammates didn’t get as far as they needed to in their dissection.

So it’s back to the lab and the 87-year-old who reportedly died of heart failure.

Back to the end.