I have been lucky enough to participate in the Annie Ruth summer internship experience. As I am hoping to become a doctor, more specifically an interventional radiologist, I was placed in multiple medical facilities. I have been able to intern at Baptist hospital and Baptist primary care clinic where I have been shadowing Dr. Foy. During this internship I have learned many skills that will help me get through medical school. For example, I earned my Basic Life Support (BLS) certification, and I have learned how to manually take a person’s blood pressure.
In the first week of the internship, I gained many insights into the medical world. I attended presentations given by doctors as well as going through the training process to become BLS certified. The BLS certification included learning how to execute proper CPR, rescue breaths and Heimlich. I was then placed at Baptist Medical Center, where I was in the neurosurgery department. In this time, I learned how calls were taken from patients who had questions. I was able to observe the interaction between a doctor and a patient in a clinic setting where the patient was seeking advice due to a recent stroke. I was then able to go into the OR to watch an AVM resection. While in the OR, one of the doctors was kind enough to sit next to me and explain everything that was going on. Also at Baptist Medical Center, I talked to the research team who told me the kinds of things they do. I then interned at Baptist Primary Care. While I was there, I shadowed Dr. Foy who is a family medicine practitioner. I was able to observe how she interacts with patients, how shots were administered and how to manually take a person’s blood pressure.
All in all, this internship experience has helped me grow as a leader and has shown me many aspects of medicine that I had not previously been exposed to. I have acquired many skills that will be helpful to me in the future. Overall, this internship experience has been wonderful, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.