My Personal Growth & Advice

When I started my job at Fairview, I did so with the hope that it would meet two goals I decided upon. The first, that it would allow me a glimpse into the medical field. The second being a desire to work in an environment where I could learn about patients and work closely with them. Both of these goals were met (and exceed) thanks to my time at UMMC. I was given the chance to actually work in a hospital department side by side with both nurses and physicians as well as many other health care workers. I was also able to meet and work with patients from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, much different from my own. The former experience gave me a new perspective about people who live and follow different lifestyles and cultures and I enjoyed this lesson since it taught me to be more open minded and to respect people with beliefs that are different from my own. So as for personal growth, I see myself having a better understanding the health care field after my experience. I also am happy to say I see myself as more open minded and tolerant of the diverse backgrounds of the people who live in the Twin City metro area, which I think is the greatest lesson this experience has given me.

The advice I would give to other students taking The Future Physicians course is to keep an open mind, to not be afraid to ask questions, and to not be afraid to strike up a conversation with a health professional (physician, nurse, etc.) or even a patient. Keeping an open mind is sometimes hard, especially when you’re dealing with a patient who is upset or yelling at you, but just remember that they are most likely scared and nervous and are just venting their frustrations. Attempt to assist them either by just listening and making sure their concerns are being heard or by passing their questions onto a nurse or someone who can help make the situation right. During the beginning of my time at Fairview (right after training) there were times I had no idea on how to handle a situation or even where to find a certain supply requested by a nurse. If you speak up and ask to clarify or even ask for help, people are usually more than willing to help you out. It’s better to ask and look a little silly then to mess up or have a patient get hurt because you were too shy to speak up. Lastly, some of the best pieces of advice I received were from talking with my co-workers about my future medical school plans. They gave me tips on studying, gave me lists of schools to check out, and even just personal stories about what they had gone through when they were my age. The random words of wisdom they provided were more valuable than any advice I have received from my college advisors over my 4 years here at the U.

I would absolutely recommend this volunteer experience to other students and hope they learn as much as I did while working at Fairview! 

Learning About Myself & the Healthcare Field

I believe the greatest lesson I learned about myself was that this experience reinforced my desire to join the medical field as a physician. As I've mentioned before, I've imagined myself as a physician ever since I can remember. But, I was always nervous about that dream since I was not sure if I would be good at it. I didn't want to be someone who discovered after 3 years of medical school that I wasn't cut out to be something that I had always wanted to be. So I'm very thankful for the experience since it put that fear to rest. I loved coming to work at 5:30 in the morning. I loved the procedures I was able to observe and be a part of. I loved feeling like I was actually making a difference in a patients life, even if it was only a small part. I loved that my shifts were never boring and that every day brought a new challenge or lesson. I learned so much about myself and about the field I hope to enter in the future.

The biggest thing I learned about the health care field is that it is a diverse, large, and constantly changing area of study. I realized that if for some reason I don't make it into medical school or I'm unable to become a physician (because sometimes, no matter how much you want something, it might not happen) the health care field is full of other opportunities. In my department, there were the traditional surgeons, nurses, and aides, but there were also health professionals like x-ray technicians, phlebotomists, ultra sound technicians, medical tool suppliers and cleaners, operating room technicians, and many more. Although becoming a physician is my ultimate career goal, I do have other options within the field to choose from. I guess I didn't realize how big the health care field was until I was standing within it. I'm happy to say I will be working on my EMT licence in the near future. I never would have thought to pursue such a position if I nurse I worked with hadn't been kind enough to suggest it. I believe this position will bring me even more knowledge about the health care field and I can't wait to see what I learn next!

Likes, Dislikes, & Physicians

To start, my favorite part of working in the surgical department was getting to talk to patients. When I roomed someone, I usually ended up talking with them about how they ended up at our hospital. Some were there because it was the closest hospital to home. Others were there because no other hospitals in the area performed the surgery they needed. An older women had to fly from Mississippi because the doctors in her state couldn't remove a shunt that had been placed the summer before in an emergency surgery while visiting Minnesota. Another patient had been battling cancer since she was a young teen. She had been staying in the hospital sponsored housing with her family for over a month because she was from Michigan and this was one of the only hospitals in the nation who performed the procedure she needed. What was so surprising was to hear how many other patients had similar stories. It was such an amazing experience to sit down with patients and to learn about their experiences. They made me realize how lucky I am to have a healthy family and also gave me a new perspective about our University and how we are treating people who maybe wouldn't get treatment otherwise.

While there were many. many positive aspects of my job that I couldn't possibly have time to discuss, there were only a handful of parts I didn't like. The thing I dislike the most was how patients and their families could be very rude and demeaning. While this may be understandable because they are having surgery or are worried about a loved one undergoing surgery, there were many more patients who were very understanding about the surgical process and all it's ups and downs. I once had a patient tell me he had been waiting for over 20 minutes in his room and no nurse had been into see him yet. When I explained we were understaffed and that it shouldn't be too much longer before a nurse was available, he exclaimed, "Well my surgery is scheduled to start in 45 minutes so I better be ready by then!" Situations like these taught me how to act under pressure. All you can really do is take a deep breath, apologize, and ask if we can do anything to make them comfortable while they are waiting. While these moments were frustrating at the time, they still taught me a lot and I'm happy to say that I only had several such moment during my year with the department. The good experiences far outweigh the bad.

I learned several things about being a physician from the experience. 1) I've learned that some surgeons can handle cutting open a patient, but they can't handle vomit or other bodily discharges. I once saw a surgeon almost run out of a room after a patient accidentally defecated. I think the best part was the surgeon shouting reassurances and a future meeting time over his shoulder as he was power walking out. I'm very grateful for my experience as a CNA since I will be ready for anything once I start medical school. 2) I've learned that some of the best physicians to talk to are the older ones. They have a lot of knowledge and experience which makes them excellent advice givers. They may seem intimidating but they are usually the ones who are the most relaxed and confident in their roles and therefore don't have as much ego as some of the younger residents. 3) Doctors get to tell some patients they are going to live (which is great!) but they also have to deliver horrible news to family members if a routine surgery goes wrong. I cannot imagine being in their shoes because I would have no idea how to convey the depth of my sympathy. I feel that any attempt to would just come out sounding insincere. I have no idea how they do it, but it is something I do not envy them. 4) Finally, I've learned that if I do become a physician, I will not treat the medical team members below me badly. While the majority of the surgeons were awesome, there were some that were rude and snapped orders instead of asking. I feel there is nothing worse than treating the people under you badly just because you make more or have more education compared to them. While I cannot do a physician's job yet, they sure can't do their own plus everyone else's job. I've learned that treating patients is a team effort and no one person can do it all on their own.

Volunteering & I

I was given a great opportunity regarding the required 35 hours since I was already employed in a hospital when I started the class. I was able to use my job at the UMMC for those required hours. I believe this gave me a unique experience since I was able to interact with both patients and physicians on a more intimate level since that is what was required of me for my position as a Nursing Station Technician (NST). My position was much more intensive compared to the volunteers I worked with on a daily basis and I think because of that I learned a lot more about the medical field since I had an "inside perspective."

My job required I be cross trained to work in both the pre operative area (department 3C) and the post operative area (the PACU). In 3C, I would normally work the 5:30 am shift since I could get a whole shift in before I had classes in the afternoon. In my opinion, it was one of the best shifts to work since so much was happening and I kept busy so the time passed fast. In the beginning of my shift, I was responsible for acquiring a patients chart, retrieving them from the waiting lounge, then  settling them into a room. It was also my job to take their first set of vitals, enter them into our online charting system, and get them prepped for their pre operative nurse who would be in after I completed my duties. Prepping could include anything from showing them the bathroom, to explaining the general outline of their day, to even helping them change into their surgical gown and get settled into their bed.

This pattern continued until all the available rooms were filled. It then became a waiting game for operating rooms to finish setting up and for patients to be moved into them. After patients started to leave for the OR, my job was to wipe down the rooms, make sure to restock any supplies that were used, and transport the patients belongings to a secure area to be held until they needed them again. After these steps were completed, I would again room patients and prepare for the second wave that would move into the OR's in a few hours. In between all this, I might assist a nurse by grabbing needed supplies, clean and make beds, or just be available to the nurse manager for any other tasks. If patients had a same day surgery scheduled, after leaving the the PACU, they would come back to 3C (which was called phase II of recovery) where they would eat something, meet family, and start to be discharged by a nurse. Working with patients who were going through phase II meant retrieving family from the lounge to sit with them, bringing patients crackers or juice, assisting them to the bathroom (which was one of the criteria for them to leave), cleaning the room after they left, and maybe even bringing them down to the entrance in a wheel chair and assisting them into their cars so they could go home. The routine in 3C is pretty set and it doesn't deviate much from day to day, unlike PACU.

While 3C was nice since you would always know what to expect next, PACU was fun too since this is where a lot of the hands on, critical care learning occurs. In PACU, my main job was to meet gurneys as they came out of the OR's. As an OR team came into the room, they would be directed to a numbered bay where a post op nurse would be waiting to meet them. My job was to get the patient hooked into our monitors so vital signs could start being collected. The first to always be hooked up were the ECG lines, the blood pressure cuff, and the pulse oximeter. After that, I would plug in any other needed devices (a device that blew hot air directly into the surgical gown to keep patients warm and leg compression devices to prevent blood clots), took a temperature, and reported to the nurse to see if they needed help with anything else right away. Other than that, I grabbed supplies for the nurses when they were needed, cleaned and stocked bays, and performed transports to the upper levels of the hospital as well as back to 3C for phase II patients. Both 3C and PACU had aspects that made working either exciting, but my favorite would have to be 3C since I was able to sit and talk with patients about their lives and hear about what circumstances brought them to our surgical department.