MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- Medicine is an ever-changing world, where new things are constantly being discovered, replacing older methods and ideas. Doctors can spend months or even years on research with the intent of advancing the medical world.
The Naval Hospital’s Family Medicine Department aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune held its second annual Research Symposium to discover new advances in the medical field. Family Medicine doctors researched different hypotheses to determine area they could medically improve.
“(The symposium) is an effort to get our residents’ research out amongst the hospital,” said Lt. Tony Dambro, chief resident for Family Medicine. “It’s an opportunity for us to take our research to higher-level conferences as well.”
Many of the residents work on their projects for a year or longer. Various case reports and test conclusions were displayed at the symposium.
“As doctors we consume a lot of research,” said Cmdr. Kelly Latimer, assistant director of residency. “Medicine is always changing. What I learned in medical school could be considered malpractice now- because it changes all the time. It’s important we, as primary care providers, contribute to the research- because we have a very diverse patient population.”
Judges roamed the halls of the symposium- grading the residents on various aspects- including their research and presentation. There were many different topics the doctors chose to study and research with later hopes to present their suppositions on a bigger scale elsewhere.
One of the residents, Lt. Cmdr. Jason A. Gordon, studied hydration.
“In boot camp they always tell you to drink water constantly,” said Gordon. “Drinking too much water however, can have just as negative of effects drinking too little water can.”
Obviously drinking too little can cause major problems for the human body, as it needs water to survive. Gordon explained the body also needs salt in order to function properly. If a person drinks too much water, it can diffuse the salt in the body, potentially causing seizures. Gordon explained just as one can tell if they are dehydrated by their urine color, they can also tell if they are over-hydrated. He said having clear urine is not the goal, as it indicates being dangerously close to over-hydrating the body. According to Gordon’s research poster, he explained it is better to have lemonade colored urine than clear.
“We have all kinds of different research on display,” Dambro said. “Doctor means teacher in Latin. It’s what we are trying to do with this symposium. We want to take what we learned from our research and use it to teach other people. “