Practicum Reflection

As my practicum project I chose to shadow physicians in the Emergency and Operation Rooms of two different hospitals. In order to attain this internship I called up different hospitals in the area of where I live. When I called I was transferred to Directors of Volunteer Services. When I told them that I was a pre-medical student, and was currently in my college they told me about the programs that I participated in. I completed my internship in the summer because this is when I was back home in New York and when I had the time without all of the other classwork during a semester.
While I was doing my internship at the emergency room of North Shore Long Island Jewish Plainview Hospital, I was doing many different tasks and learned greatly from them. The main job of this internship was to follow the emergency physician, and to get a feel for how a physician thinks and what he does. By following the physician I mean that I was right next to the doctor when he was initially questioning the patient, filling out the tests to be completed on the patient, reading the results of the tests, and determining if the patient was going to admitted into the hospital or discharged. When the doctor was reading the tests he was able to show me how to conclude the problem that the test showed. By being by the side of the doctor at all times, I was able to learn so much about the human body and why certain diseases affect certain parts of the body. One of the other tasks that I had to do in the Emergency Room was to transfer patients to different areas of the hospital in order for certain tests to be performed. While transferring these patients I was able to view how these specific tests were done, why they were doing these tests, and what they were looking for through these tests. Another task that I was doing was transferring blood down to the lab to be tested. One last big task that I did was to talk to the patients in the hospital to try and cheer them up. This was very helpful because this showed me what is going on in the patients mind while they have a disease. These past three tasks that I did really showed me how a hospital works as a whole, and how it is possible for many people from different departments are able to work together on a massive amount of people entering every day.
The other hospital that I worked at was at North Shore Long Island Jewish Syosset Hospital. At this facility I was able to observe surgeries in the Operation Room. Some of the surgeries that I was able to see were a gastric bypass, lap band, and an open knee. During these surgeries I was at the side of the bed watching the doctor operate. During this internship I didn't just watch the surgeries while they were in progress, but also was able to how the operation room was prepped and how the patient was woken up in the recovery room. While the room was being prepped by the nurses, I was able to see the proper technique of setting up all of the instruments and what purpose each instrument served in the operation. Also while the room was being prepped I was able to get a real feel of the different people who are involved in a surgery which are the physician, physician's assistant, anesthesiologist, and nurses. This internship not only made me get a good feel of the doctor's perspective of a surgery, but also a patient's.
By being a member of the Earth, Life, and Time Scholars Program, I was able to get a good idea of the career I want to become by accomplishing this practicum project. By doing this project, this made me realize that I really want to go to medical school and become a physician. By being able to see how a doctor works and thinks, this made me become very anticipated to practice medicine as my career. The practicum project of the scholars program made me realize earlier of what I want to do as my occupation in the future.