Personal Narrative: I Volunteer At The Post-Anesthesia Care Unit

After observing my mother in at the emergency room where she works, I finally understand the difficulty of being a doctor. Doctors constantly having to take care of anyone who walks through the door on a stretcher. Doctors have to try their best to feel empathetic towards everyone, putting themselves in other people’s shoes and trying to understand their situation. Whether they are good or bad, it doesn’t matter, the main goal is to stabilize the patients and make sure they receive the help they need. For example, last night walked in a psychopath who had killed 3 people, who also stabbed himself in attempt at suicide. By some miraculous move by God he didn’t die, only required immediate medical attention. As I watched my mother operate

As a recent graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and a new Research Technician at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, becoming more familiar with different healthcare settings and helping others in doing so have always been of my interest. From my experience of volunteering as a piano teacher for inner-city children in Baltimore, I have learnt that even a small commitment and emotional support can make a big difference in the daily lives and the happiness of those in need. I have briefly familiarized myself to the hospital environment by shadowing physicians and conducting biomedical research but have yet to translate my volunteering experiences and the lessons learnt from them to the healthcare setting. I am a friendly, optimistic,

I am fortunate to have seen interesting cases and even present at the American Society of Nephrology. While I appreciate each opportunity and learned from the role models I found along the way, I became most invested in the field of Endocrinology. As a new intern, I quickly realized that the differential for nearly every patient’s chief complaint included a thorough Endocrine evaluation. Seemingly simple treatment of blood pressure or headache would involve engaging discussions of negative feedback loops and hormone imbalances. I was convinced that a well rounded medical education required a thorough understanding of Endocrinology. The comprehensive nature of Endocrinology challenges physicians to translate basic biochemistry and physiology directly into patient care. The chance to treat symptoms and pathologies of various organ systems while making on impact on individuals or even whole communities reminds me daily of why I became a

“Never be a doctor if you’re going to have any loans to pay back.” “Don’t do this to yourself.” “You’ll never have a family if you go to medical school.” “The two worst jobs in America belong to physicians and teachers.” Without even soliciting their advice, physicians noticed my “Pre-medical Volunteer” nametag, and immediately approached me with words of discouragement. I participated in a volunteer summer internship at St. Mary Hospital in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, following my sophomore year of college, in an effort to gain more experience in the medical field and solidify my lifelong desire to become a physician. Throughout the eight weeks, I spent mandatory hours in both the Emergency Room and the Operating Room, made contacts with physicians in specific areas of interest, and spent time shadowing them. In addition, each of us in the program attended weekly business meetings in which administrators of the hospital and local physicians spoke to us about their particular positions and experiences. Unlike the many years of high school I spent volunteering at a hospital and a nursing home, where I was limited to carrying around food trays and refilling cups of water, I was able to gain hands-on and more intimate experience. Initially uneasy at the site of the blood gushing into plastic sheets draped around the orthopedic surgeon’s patient in the OR, it took only a few days to grow accustomed to the images on the television screen during a laparoscopic procedure and the

Over this last week, I have received a patient named Sherman “Red” Yoder. He is an 80-year-old male farmer, who lives alone in the farmhouse that he had grown up in. Red was married for 50 years and has been a widow now for 10 years. Red has one son, Jon, who takes care of the farmhouse and the land. He has one daughter-in-law, Judy, who is in involved with his care. Red was diagnosed with diabetes six months ago. Diabetes mellitus is a chronic condition that affects your body 's ability to use the energy found in food. As of only a few weeks ago, Red has been managing his diabetes with insulin. Insulin is a hormone that controls blood sugar. Before he began using insulin, he managed his diabetes with oral medication. After carefully assessing Red’s chronic illness, diabetes, many red flags were presented that could interfere with his management. In turn, this would cause further complications.

Through the many trips that my family has taken to the hospital due to various reasons, I have become fond of the hospital and its many wonders. After all the things that the medical field has done for me and my family, I decided to contribute to my local hospital to volunteer and help out those who pay visits to the hospital. Through my exposure to various clinical populations, I want to improve my ability to serve others in this capacity that can guide me towards the medical profession in the future.

I stood with a look of wonderment as I watched the beehive of physicians, radiologists, nurses, and paramedics collaboratively save a man’s life. The scene initially appeared chaotic with scrubs flying around and doctors swarming all over, but in actuality the team was extremely single-minded—as if driven by instinct. I was amazed by the speed and conviction with which the attending doctor made his decisions; his training and experience was evident with every move. Seeing the tearful wife thank the doctor highlighted the impact of his work—his actions had saved a husband and a father. I left admiring both the competency of emergency physicians and their ability to touch lives in such a dramatic way. While my enjoyment of high school biology sparked my original inclination towards medicine, my first hand experiences in the hospital deepened my motivation and left me steadfast in my decision to become a doctor.

Ten years from now I see myself trying to buy a house. First the things I would do would be going to college and finding a job. I think it would be a little difficult but not as bad. Finding a job would be one of the most Important ones because you are always going to need money. Some of the decisions I would make would be living in town for a while till I for sure know where I'm going and what my job is going to be like. I would have to start saving once I get job for the important stuff and not going into debt. Going to debt right now would be a little bad, especially if you don't have a good job and aren't getting paid well. Also ten years from now I would be doing everything by myself. I am not going to be

I volunteered in various health sectors: nurseries, Sunday schools and GP surgery. During my summer holidays, I helped out in my local GP surgery. Under the guidance of a Nurse practitioner, where I observed communications between a patients and a nurse practitioner, based on minor illness and often engaged into the conversation. Additionally, I also had a day where I learnt phlebotomy, where blood sample’s are taking from the vain using vacutainer or finger pricked with a sharp and blood specimen is taking for a minute checking for blood glucose or HIV. This enable me to gain few clinical skills and enables to communicate between patient and family members, which only nourished my hunger and desire to partake in a role that strives to improve healthcare in my local community. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to work at my local pharmacy. This developing experience affected me to comprehend the importance of different pharmaceutical drugs and how they work to maintain of our complex

Over the course of my volunteering I had many patient interactions and before escorting them out of the hospital I could see how the doctor affected their behavior. Many patients after being treated are still scared and unsure of what is happening, the doctors and nurses are very patient and encouraging this helps ease their worries. Even after I escort them out sometimes they still ask me what I

Two years. Two years of anesthetic and healing. Two years of missed school days and gained therapy sessions. Two years of success and failure. The two years have shape of my perspective of life as a roller coaster with it's beginning, bumps, stops and an ending. I transformed from an articulate 7 year old, who depended on her parents, to a young 8 year old girl who was quickly became independent and prepared for serendipity.

Ambulance clinicians often do not know their patients, so to observe a patient discussing their treatment allowed me to gain a deeper insight into their feelings and wishes behind their decision. This was eloquently expressed with “…there’s no point being alive if you don’t feel you are” by a particular patient in regards to their pain relief regime.

How's your new position and weekend going? I would like to express my unhappiness on yesterday 27/6 with Brigitta who was TL. We have 4 Ventilated and 6 non ventilated patients. In the morning, Brigitta asked me to relief Steven, Kulsum and Juicy - all ventilated pts for tea break. I do have 2 discharge patients with 1 required an iron infusion prior transfer. At 11:20 , they all were back and I needed to rush to commence my iron infusion for bed 4. When I assisted my patient from chair to bed with curtain closed, Brigitta came in to the room and asked me to help Kulsum to shower ICU 3 with trachy and ventilator. As I settled Mr Naylon bed 4 then I rushed to help Kulsum and settled the patient in bed 3. Then Brigitta asked me to transfer bed

Working under Dr. Rizvi taught me a different approach to deal with diseases related to endocrinology. Adjusting the dosage of insulin according to the patient's blood glucose level and HbA1c is a difficult task but not the most challenging part. The challenge comes right after deciding the management. Convincing the patient to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Patients used to complain about their work and responsibilities and how difficult it was for them to follow what is good for their health. I learnt how to discuss with them the possible measure that they could take.

Patient care is one of the most important aspects of the medical field; it is also something that is sometimes forgotten about. During my first few weeks of clinical I really started to understand why patient care was something that we needed to know. In the beginning of my first term when I was taking Patient Care everything that we were being taught seemed like common sense; keep the patient warm, make sure they are comfortable, try to do the procedure accommodating to them, but as I went out into the field those little extra efforts seemed to not be important. My first day opened my eyes to how some medical professionals took care of their patients.