Job Shadow Interview Report

What was the agency’s knowledge of current trends in human services? Do you believe the agency is meeting current trends in human services? Please explain.

Growing up with a mother who is a nurse, I have been able to appreciate and understand the importance of public health. She taught me not only how crucial personal health is but also how important community health and prevention is. My mother raised me to have compassion and empathy for others as well. This rooted my interest in careers that can have high beneficial impacts on others’ lives, such as those under the field of public health.

Public health deals with the public, community, and society as a whole. It promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work and play. I believe that the many leadership, teamwork, communication and community skills I have gained through NHS and FBLA, will allow me to excel in the Public Health Field. Which will, in turn, allow me to be the best I can be, enabling me to be a great positive force in my community.

As a senior at Summit-Academy North high school, I am required to participate in a job shadow with a professional in the line of work that I am interested in pursuing. On April 13th, I visited Flat Rock Physicians and completed my job shadow experience with one of the doctors that worked there, her name was Dr.Fretz. I was the only student shadowing her that say. While I was there I observed her as she completed her tasks as a family doctor. The reason why I chose to shadow Dr.Fretz is because I plan on going into a career in the medical field and I want to do something that'll give me the chance to help people when they need it and this type of career will give me that opportunity.

As a family nurse practitioner, I plan to work in a medical office in Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF). PAMF is a multi-specialty group practice, comprising of physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants from all specialties. It has more than 1000 health care providers and has more than 2 million patient visits each year (Palo Alto Medical Foundation, 2015). The group’s administration is headed by a Chief Executive Officer and is led by the PAMF board of directors. I will be working in the family medicine department in PAMF. Family medicine department team consists of family medicine doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses and medical assistants. My clients include newborns, infants, children, adolescents, pregnant and post-partum women, adults and elderly. In an average day, I see anywhere from 20-26

Upon arrival, I made contact with the charge nurse Mrs. Susan Zaleski, nurse Mrs. Anna Kanopsic and medical staff.

There are many different professions that one can choose when entering the healthcare field. Nursing is a very popular and needed profession that is vital to care for patients. For this paper I have chosen to interview my younger cousin who currently works for the VA Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada as a Registered Nurse in the Medical Surgical Unit. I will describe the targeted facility and unit she works for, the type of work done within her unit, any interesting, informative, or specific information related to the chosen unit which makes it unique, and a comprehensive description of my cousin, and her responsibilities.

Whilst on my community placement for one of my initial spokes, I arranged to spend the morning with the district nurse on her rounds, to gain an insight into her role within the community and find out first hand exactly what her job entails.

I feel like some of these problems are a major concern and even though in my current state of life I cannot do much to help there are still many small things that could be down to aid those who need help the most. Any activity I could do that would benefit at least one other person in the physical world I live in would be something worth doing. There are people in every part of the world who could use a little help. There are people who could benefit from accessible, healthy food, clean water, and a place to take shelter when weather conditions get a little too extreme to survive outdoors. I feel that helping those we are in a bad situation is the least people who are making it could do. Most people turn a blind eye when it comes to helping the less fortunate but imagine the change that could be accomplished if everyone was forced to live life the way some of these people do. Not being able to have a warm bed or a hot meal for even a few days would probably be enough for many people to start helping right away. I feel like I will continue to participate in activities that benefit people suffering from injustices no matter what location I end up in. There are many activities that one can participate in to help lend a hand to those who need it. Volunteering at various organizations around the area such as the Good Samaritan

The Advances in public health have been possible due to the contributions of people with ideals of change who decided to make a difference in their communities through the creation of innovative ideas capable of changing the lifestyle of a community. Public health is about helping people to stay healthy, and protecting them from that psychosocial factor that may affect their life and that is why the public health worker must have a passion for a change and for a better quality of life for their community. In the beginnings of public health there were two people who acted as agents of social change and they were Sara Josephine Baker and Clara Barton.

1. After completing a semester of field education, what are three reasons you would like to pursue a career in social work: a. One reason I learned that I want to became a social worker after our first semester is that it is a diverse career. My background and passion in life has always been working with the elderly population however, I accepted a position at DHHS working with foster care and child protective services. Knowing that this would make me more diverse and knowledge in different ways to future employers and for me. b. Another reason why I would like to pursue a career in social work is that it is challenging.

From Vicki Kistler’s talk, I learned that Public Health overlaps with a lot of Health Science majors. Some majors that involve Public Health are IT, Pre-med, and undecided (basic science classes). The goal of Public Health is to respond, present, and help people live happy and healthy lives. Public Health also isn’t one major or discipline, it’s a philosophy. Some careers in the Public Health field are adoption, reducing mortality for infants, and being a lawyer who supports the Public Health Law. There are 48 health instructors out of 50 and there also isn’t a Public Health department in every county of Pennsylvania. In Allentown, there are two categories of Public Health: Personal (based on personal aspects/preferences) and Environment

Q: What do you see as the biggest changes that have happened in this career field? That will happen in the future?

Unfortunately, the way that the world functions is that some are better off than others, which is why I value being able to help people. The Bible gives us a difficult challenge – to, as often as possible, stop thinking about ourselves and put the needs of others before our own. While this can be difficult to do because it often involves self-sacrifice, it is always worth any expended effort because, as Jesus said, when we serve our neighbor, we also serve Him. Aiding others in their situations may not always be the “easy way out” or the “cool” thing to do, but that is the beauty of the action – often, there is no better feeling than to lay down all your personal concerns to help somebody else.

A typical HIV specialist will be a practicing physician with a background in clinical, internal or family medicine. On a daily basis, they provide comprehensive primary health care services to patients with HIV. Their entire work focus is the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of HIV. Some HIV specialists work for community and government programs. Their time is spent conducting onsite HIV tests and supporting outreach efforts through directly engaging patients and the public. Senior HIV specialists will be responsible for clinical services, medical administration and program development. They chair committees, ensure compliance with regulations and develop and review policies and procedures. They also train other health care providers and collaborate with other organizations to offer HIV care services.