Final Reflection – Post Internship

A photo from Journal Club

I shadowed a doctor at Yishun Hospital for about a week in July. I was able to shadow her to her various daily activities such as her journal club, ward rounds, ICU visits and even sat in on her consulting of patients in the clinic. Due to patient confidentiality and other privacy issues at the hospital I was unable to take a lot of photos during the internship itself. I believe I learnt a lot about what it’s like to be a doctor as well as what is usually not portrayed in the glamorised concept of being a doctor. I understood the amount of stress a doctor takes on a daily basis as well the the different varieties of things they do in a normal day (contrary to popular belief).

What were your expectations? How different was it from your actual experience?

– I expected to not be able to help out the doctor I was shadowing at all and that I would have to constantly just observe whereas in the actual internship I was able to help the doctor by helping her with notes or giving my input on different situations we faced
– I expected to not be able to go into an ICU or experience something as intense as that where as I was allowed to follow the doctor into that intense setting and experience what it’s really like to work with critically ill/emergency patients.
– I expected to only take part in ward rounds but I was able to see that doctors also do other stuff such as Journal Club (which was a completely new concept for me) and understand how doctors collaborate with each other in ways other than the typical.

How much of your intended goals were met?

– I believe I achieved all of my intended goals which were as follows:

  • To gain more insight into the medical field and how exactly a hospital operates on a day to day basis –> Through the internship I was able to understand how logistically everything works and the roles of registrars and medical “hierarchy”
  • To find out and clarify my interests within the medical sector and possible specialisations —> After the internship I believe I have become even more passionate about wanting to join the medical field and I have also begun to have more of an interest in the clinical part of being a doctor rather than the surgical
  • To better understand the importance of a doctor and their day to day roles -> As mentioned above, I got to know about different things doctors did that I didn’t realise they did
  • To get more comfortable in a hospital setting –> This was the biggest goal for me and I believe I genuinely achieved it through the internship as I saw various aspects of it

What might have been some strategies that helped you achieve those goals?

  • I believe I maintained a positive attitude throughout and I was able to learn from what I saw
    – I ensured that I asked as many questions as possible to clear any doubts or curiosities I had in my head to make the most of my time as well as to learn the most I possibly can

What mistakes did you make along the way? (A challenge I faced) How have these mistakes/challenges shaped your learning?

  • A major challenge was hearing that a man we had seen the night before had passed away the following morning. This was the first time I had experienced a hospital death and the way the doctor deals with it. It was hard emotionally to understand how and what happened as well as how to react. This was difficult for me because I had never had to experience something like that before. I believe it was the most heartbreaking experience but I was also able to learn about the challenges a doctor feels daily.

My Advice to the Next Set of Interns: 

  • Ask as many questions as possible, they really help you understand everything and also help you make the most of your time on the job
  • Offer to help whenever you can, this sounds obvious but by trying to help out in any way you possibly can –> you might be able to help in a way the doctor may not have thought of anyway and you might be able to gain something valuable out of it

I am very grateful for the internship and believe I have learnt a lot more about the medical profession than I believe to have known.

During a clinical ward round, analysis of a patient’s diagnosis

 

Action Stage – Project Week Reflection

Project Week 2018 – Hanoi, Vietnam

My 3 biggest takeways:

  • I learnt that I am able to succeed in anything if I try– I learnt this through skateboarding for the first time. With the blue dragon kids, I failed multiple times through falls from the skateboard but eventually at the end of the day I was feeling very confident and proud of myself.

  • Everything won’t go to plan.- We have to be able to react positively to even the most negative of situations.

  • We can make long lasting impacts on other people’s lives as long as we are willing to take up the challenge and willing to adapt. 

Learning Objective- 2 CHALLENGE (Undertaken new challenges)/NEW SKILLS (Developing new skills)

Learning Objective-  6 GLOBAL VALUE (Engaging with issues of global importance)

Learning Objective –  7 ETHICS (Considering the ethical implications of actions)

Medsoc – Becoming a chair

                                     An example of what the chairing common response questions looked like


The overall scores for each category as well as the overall ranking for charing. The other chairing applicants names were blurred out for privacy reasons. 

Learning Objective- 2 CHALLENGE (Undertaken new challenges)/NEW SKILLS (Developing new skills)

Learning Objective -3 INITIATIVE (Planning and initiated activities)

Initial Reflection – Pre Internship

                                                    What are some of your goals for this summer internship?

  • To gain more insight into the medical field and how exactly a hospital operates on a day to day basis
  • To find out and clarify my interests within the medical sector and possible specialisations
  • To better understand the importance of a doctor and their day to day roles
  • To get more comfortable in a hospital setting 
    What might be some evidence you can collect to assess how successful the summer has been for you?
  • Photos and reflections on my daily encounters
  • Confidence in the medical profession
  • Keeping a diary or journal during my internship time to ensure I am understanding what I am observing
     What challenges might you face and what might be some of the strategies you can employ in a similar situation?
  • Lack of first hand work and interaction
  • Patient confidentiality might not allow me to do many things
  • Lack of knowledge and understanding of issues
  • Unable to speak about certain experiences
  • Might not be able to anything hands on, might just be able to observe quietly

            If you could refine it to one goal, what would be the most important one to pay attention to this summer?

  • My most important goal for me is to become more aware of a doctor’s daily life and what the holds. I want to understand what it’s like to be a legit doctor in it’s un-glorified form

I’m looking forward to my internship and am very grateful for the opportunity I have been given.

 

 

EE Day Exit Ticket

EE Day was today, the third of May. Today I did a bunch of different things.
I started off the day with the other World Studies students listening to a talk on the marking criteria for WS EEs. I then met with my EE supervisor in block one to go over what I should do. I then went over what I should do and begun to come up with questions for my questionarre. After that I started reading my main secondary source, taking notes and summarising it. As it is quite lengthy I didn’t get to finishing and that is what I will do next. I also begun drafting my introduction.

  • one thing I’ve learned:
    I learnt about the different marking criteria for a WS essay and I got to know more about how to structure a WS essay. I was really unsure of what all I needed to succeed in a WS essay. This is a lot clearer for me now. 
  • what I’m proud of:
    I am proud of my progress today. I have begun writing my introduction and I have a clear plan of what I need to now. I feel a lot more confident in what I am doing. 
  • what I’ll be doing next:
    I aim to finish reading my primary source of secondary information and finishing my summary notes. I will then share this with my supervisor. I will also finish my introduction. For my 1000 words, I will include my questionarre, introduction and an explanation of the Biology techniques I will use to collect data for my EE.

Project Week Initial Planning

*third time writing this reflection*

  • Planning: – Originally my main focus was to go with my friends and work with children. My friend offered for us to go to Hanoi to visit Blue Dragon a service she has been actively involved in for many years with amazing children. We initially begun as a group of 4, later expanded to a group of 5 that works with another group of 5 for all 5 days at Blue Dragon.
  • All aspect of CAS are met in our project. We plan to attend a yoga class every day for activity. Originally we wanted to do a 2 day trek in Sapa but realised it was not entirely feasible. We will attend a cooking class which will count for creativity. We will be working with the GC, Blue Dragon for the entirety of the trip which will account for the service aspect. Lastly, the planning and execution of project week as a whole will count for CAS project.
  • We have been very organized and worked to each others preferences without much compromise taking place.
  • First Aid Training: I took part in the full day training as I am the designated First Aid person. I throughly enjoyed this training despite the lengthy online course that it came with.I believe it was the perfect job for me as I plan to study medicine and am interested in being a doctor. I learnt a lot of valuable skills that could come in handy at any time and worked on skills I already knew such as CPR.   
  • All flights are booked, the hotel is booked, Blue Dragon is aware and in contact, Yoga classes and Cooking classes have been signed up for. With just a few small nitty gritty logistics to be completed, we’re almost on our way to project week!

The Goals

  •  What are my goals for participating in this activity?
    My goals for project week are mostly to make a lasting impact on the lives of the children at Blue Dragon. I want to be able to help them as much as I possible can in my short stay. 
  •  Do these goals represent a risk for me? Why/why not?
    Yes. I will have to be appropriate with my actions and make sure I don’t get too attached because withdrawal issues can be hard to deal with. 
  •  How am I progressing towards achieving my goals?
    Upon going to the child protection session, I know what I should and shouldn’t do when working with children in order to make the most of my time there without damage. 

 

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