As I walked by the medical unit in St Vincent’s Hospital, I was told by a doctor to help watch an elderly man. When I timidly stuck my head into the room, the doctor asked me not to let the man leave. I entered and stood by the bed. “Who’s this?” an old man in his sixties asked. I asked if I could have a sit in order to know more about him. The friendly old man agreed, smiling and introduced himself as Pat. I looked at his walking stick, unblinking eyes and finally asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, are you errr.... blind?” I was a third year medical student, who was only taught basic history taking and physical examination according to systems, but I do not know what to expect from a blind patient.
The old man laughed, a bit amused and
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I can’t use my eyes to see, but I use my heart to feel. Beauty lies in the mind of the beholder to be precise, so one doesn’t need eyes to see beauty.” He asked me to look outside. I felt the warmth of the rare appearance of sun in Dublin on my face and it felt good.
The truth is Pat lost his eyesight in an accident 30 years ago. At first he couldn’t accept the fact and even tried to commit suicide. His attempt failed and he realised that he had been given a second chance by the help of doctors. Now he was admitted for a heart valve condition, and he was very keen to be treated, so he can always use his heart to ‘feel’. Medically, heart plays an important role, pumping blood and all, but to some people, it’s something more. This was my first patient contact experience, aside from passing pills and getting tissues. As I got pass my intimidated phase, I realised seeing the patient as human in need of companionship and understanding, is part of what makes one a doctor.
That was a year ago, the last 2 weeks of my pre clinical studies in UCD, where I got the opportunity to experience clinical practice in the hospital. I had just concluded my pre clinical stage and was still oblivious to what is ahead. In the short two weeks exposure in the hospital, I got to play doctor, nurse and best friend to some of the patients. I had the opportunity to shadow doctors through the medical departments, to watch doctors take histories and listened to heart murmurs
Clinical day started slow, I was a bit anxious about waking my patient up that morning but I knew I had to go in. I woke him slowly and took his vitals and proceeded with my assessment. As I assessed my patient, his wife came in to his room and I introduced myself. During the morning I found out that my patient was being discharged. Before discharge, my patient was going to be fitted for a LifeVest.
Throughout my clinical experiences, there have been quite a few circumstances I have been placed in that have remained with me whether good or bad. All of them have been learning experiences for me whether it is how to improve and to do better next time from a mistake, for me to learn that this is or is not how a patient should be treated, how to handle family situations, and many others. One experience that I was able to participate in that will remain with me because I had not experienced this before was during my critical care rotation in the fall of 2015. This patient was dying and we were implementing comfort care for him.
The experience I gained at the cardiology clinic and the hours shadowing at the Methodist Hospital emergency room are a pillar for the career of my choice. I want to be able to help those in need in my local community hospital. I feel the urge to give a hand to those that have guided me through the right path, from teaching me right from wrong to encouraging me to strive to be the best in life. At the Methodist hospital, I learned how to obtain patient’s medical history and entered data into Cerner, and I obtained consent from patients before procedures such as diagnostic imaging and casting. I observed physical examinations being performed by the physician assistant and it taught me that it is necessary to have knowledge to be able to diagnose and treat conditions and that interpersonal skills are essential for this career. Currently, I work for the department of health where I triage and register patients, assist physicians and nurse practitioner in the examination of patients, and assist with maintenance of inventory supplies and
I first became exposed to a hospital setting during my early ages of childhood due to my constant issues with my immune system. To my parents, I was commonly referred to as the sick child in the family since I would constantly catch even the simplest of illnesses such as fevers, colds, flus, running nose, severe coughs and much more. The time period, in which I would visit the doctor’s office, lead me to become more accustomed overtime to the environment and eventually grow a passion for what is being done.
I did not know much about the health care field then but in that moment, I felt as if the health care system failed since the day he was born. This experience made me become eager to be a part of making a difference in the health care world. The lack of managed care caused the life of my nephew, and for this my passion for Science and the need of helping others only manifested because of my experience. My aspirations were to become a Registered Nurse and specialize in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. In my early college years, I also became a part of the UCLA team through an internship program. UCLA Care Extenders allowed me to gain valuable knowledge.As an intern, I did clinical rotations and was able to discover what takes place behind closed doors. However, what lead me into
The first paragraph of your personal statement, one or two sentences, should make clear the purpose of your writing: to present an interpretive summary of your background, academic interests, and future goals as justification for your admission to a program of graduate study. An encounter with an unforgettable young girl when I was in the 5th grade of medical school has driven me since then. My aspiration is to contribute to a world where more children could live healthy lives. As I have trained to be a pediatric resident, I have been interested in infectious diseases and epidemiology, and thorough an experience of infectious disease outbreak investigation, I am eager to become a field epidemiology specialist and contribute to make a sustained surveillance system in Japan and epidemiology education system to more health care workers.
On September 28, when we went to Tripler Army Medical Center, I was placed in the Cardiac Ward. At that time, I was able to learn so many diagnosis dealing with the patients. The nurse had briefly explained what was going on with each individual patient and the type of treatments they are doing to help. She had also neatly clarified each medication she was giving them and told me exactly what it was used for. I was able to get an experience of hands on by taking a patient’s temperature. I had shadowed as she did so many things to make the patient feel comfortable and did everything to the best of her ability to make them happy. She had taught me how to record every piece of information about the patients on the computer by showing me what
For the past two weeks I have been performing my clinical at Holton Community Hospital experiencing what it is like to be on the floor with the patients and I had the opportunity to see what it was like in the Family Practice part of the hospital.
I went to the hospital several times to attend the orientation as well as to fulfill the requirements to volunteer and I was glad when I was finally deemed ready to volunteer at this hospital. I had two jobs consisting of helping out in the ICU and sending flowers to the patients throughout the hospital. I learned many things in the hospital that I had not known before through the friendliness and the supportive nature of all the staff. I learned how to basics of reading the heartbeat on the EKG, that leeches are still currently used to help circulate the blood in a certain portion of a patient’s body, and many other things. It was a very interesting experience and I enjoyed the opportunity
Hospitals are not the best places; no one wants to stay, but one was my favorite place for six months. People think of hospitals as some place to sit and wait for bad news. Brunswick hospital is the hospital I visited every day. It had plain white walls, red seats to sit in while waiting, and had a great staff. I was in sixth grade living life as any normal eleven year old. Life was a breeze. Then on February twenty-sixth, my whole world changed. My mother found out she had stage three Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. “Mom was going to die,” was the only thing running though my little scatter brain. She would not see my graduate or follow my dreams.
Observing a GP during patient consultations, seeing his genuine concern and caring interest in each case, demonstrated fully the importance of compassion and effective communication. In a GP home visit, I met an elderly lady with Alzheimer's, who displayed no wish to cooperate, something I initially found difficult to comprehend. However, on reflection I understood the patient's right to refuse treatment, perhaps indicating this person's wish to retain some control in their life. The variety of my work experience has meant that I have been in the company of professionals who exhibited traits I believe I have developed through mentoring and teaching. These traits such as courtesy and empathy would ensure that I adopt a composed manner in sensitive or stressful situations, enabling me to communicate my understanding of what they are experiencing both physically and
The purpose of this journal is to reflect on my experience and skills gained during my clinical placement at Ben Taub Hospital. On my first clinical day, I was excited and nervous at the same time. My first placement was in the PREOP/PACU area. I was assigned to help a patient who had been in the PACU area going on 2 days. Normally, once the patient comes from surgery they are only in the PACU area for a short period of time before they are discharged home or given a bed in another area of the hospital. This particular patient still had not received an assignment for a bed. The physicians would make their rounds to come check on him daily. The patient was a 28-year-old Hispanic male, non-English speaking, he had a hemicolectomy. He had a NG tube, urinary Foley catheter, and a wound vac. My preceptor had just clocked in and she needed to check on the patient’s vitals and notes from the previous nurse. Once she introduced me to the patient and explained while I was there, she then asked me to check his vitals. (Vital signs indicate the body’s ability to regulate body temperature, maintain blood flow, and oxygenate body tissues. Vital signs are important indicators of a client’s overall health status (Hogan, 2014). I froze for a quick second. I have practiced taking vitals numerous of times and I knew I could do it correctly. I started with the temperature first, when I was quickly corrected on a major mistake I had made by my preceptor. I HAD FORGOT TO WASH MY HANDS and PUT
Today, I was fortunate to do my clinical on the surgery in the hospital, I was able to observe and participate in taking care of the patient in the pre-operative area, operating room, and post-operating are. My case that I had today, is an elderly
This is where I was first introduced into the health field and decided to forge upon it. When a nurse came to take care of my Father he or she would always had a lot of interesting stories to tell about their past experiences in the medical field. Mary, one of my favorite nurses, told me a story about how she had to help deliver a baby in a bus and if the baby was not delivered it meant life or death for both mother and child. That story along with my father on his death bed made me realize just how important health care
The doctor-patient relationship always has been and will remain an essential basis of care, in which high quality information is gathered and procedures are made as well as provided. This relationship is a critical foundation to medical ethics that all doctors should attempt to follow and live by. Patients must also have confidence in their physicians to trust the solutions and work around created to counter act certain illnesses and disease. Doctor-patient relationships can directly be observed in both the stories and poems of Dr. William Carlos Williams as well as in the clinical tales of Dr. Oliver Sacks. Both of these doctors have very similar and diverse relationships with multiple patients