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Week 5

As I've mentioned many times before, I aspire to become a pediatrician. Ever since I was little that has been my dream job. Since I entered high school, I've been making choices that I know will help me in the long run. These choices vary from my extracurricular activities to my electives classes. This program was one thing that I knew I had to participate in after I heard what the program consisted of and after I found out that one of the worksites was a children's hospital. It wasn't until the after the interview did I realize that the children's hospital worksite was from the previous year but there was still Penn Presbyterian Medical Center which would still be fine in my opinion. Then I found out that I got accepted to the program and I was placed at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center!! 

I imagined working at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center would be the best medical work experience ever but this is not what happened. It was certainly not what I expected. This job consists of writing down refill prescriptions, referrals, doing clerical work and calling from folks with diabetes. Although it's not everything I was hoping it to be, I still enjoy it and the networking is what it's all about!  I know that this internship will really benefit me in the future; pretty much any medical program, internship, job, etc will benefit me in the future, so I will take whatever this program throws my way. 

Every morning I come to the office and I check the refills/referrals lines. Although I am not sending in the refills or actually refilling the prescriptions, the exposure to all these medicines and medical terms is great in itself. We’re calling folks with diabetes letting them know that they’re due for certain tests and just making those calls and actually being able to talk to the patients over the phone is a great experience. Working in a medical office I have to familiarize myself with all the things around here. When I had to take my trainings I learned a lot about the way things operate around the medical scene as well as all the different policies such as PHI and HIPAA. The youngest staff member here is around 20 years old and I am so happy to see someone so young work here because that could be me in just a couple of years. And as I said earlier networking is the most important thing. Interning here has introduce me to so many people working here in the medical office and also over in the hospital. Dr. Giang even set up a meeting with U Penn students that I now have made connections with. At that conference I met Diane, who told us about how she met Dr. Giang and she was sort of in the same position that I am currently in and they've stayed in contact for over 5 years!! That’s amazing and I can just imagine myself still in contact with the people I've met here which will of course help me in the future with my future aspirations.

So in conclusion, considering that it’s sort of the only medical related thing I've ever done, this internship is the best thing that I've done ever that will really help me pursue my career in the future (not the best thing I've done in my life because that would be Journey Home :) ). But this is just the first step! Working here at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center has really inspired me to continue working with U Penn and I hope to volunteer at the Hospital of the University of Penn next summer or intern again here at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center next summer! 

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Week 4

The question that all of us have been asked as a child is, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  Some responses would be an astronaut, a ninja, a pirate, a cowgirl – all very fanciful answers. But me – I had a clear vision of my future ahead of me. I wanted to be a pediatrician.

 Imagine my 6 year old self saying loud and proud that I was going to end up being a pediatrician. Of course at the time I didn’t know what a pediatrician was but there was still the option of saying a children’s doctor.  I’m not sure exactly when the aspiration of becoming a pediatrician developed but I know it was ever since I was a little girl. When I was younger I had a very weak stomach. I was always vomiting and I got sick really easily. It wasn’t anything severe but it did cause me to go to the hospital frequently. There have been countless times when my uncle had to drive me to the hospital, and when I say countless I really mean countless.

 Although I didn’t like going to see the doctor I did love going to actually hospital itself. I loved being in the waiting room. For regular illnesses like a fever, my mom would take me to CHOP Primary Care in South Philadelphia since it was near my house. They had a pretty nice waiting room filled with things to do. There was a section to sit and watch TV and there was an area where there was play house with some fun puzzles inside (which was my favorite). If I didn’t feel like playing there was a bookshelf filled with books that I could read, but that never actually happened. For the times that I could not stop vomiting and felt really sick, my mom would take me to the big CHOP. That was my favorite hospital, the big, official CHOP in University City. They had the best waiting room area and they even gave me some paper and some crayons to draw (and they were the good crayons, Crayola brand, not RoseArt). But the time spent in the waiting room would soon come to an end. I would actually have to face the doctor. I hated seeing the doctor cause I thought they were scary. My mom would walk me in and the visit with the doctor wouldn’t be so bad… until they tell me that I would have to take a pill or get some vaccines. This would be where all the tears come flowing from my eyes and the screams would pour from my mouth. But I was a tough trooper. I would just keep the pill under my tongue and then spit it out later and as for the shots I would try to squirm as much as possible until the nurse had my mom hold me down. I thought they were trying to hurt me but at the end of it all I realized that they weren’t because they were super nice to me and gave me a sticker of my choice as well as a book of my choice!  I think that might have been the real start of my dream to become a pediatrician.

As I grew up, I looked back and saw the great things that pediatricians do. They were all so friendly and what they’ve decided to do as their career was to help improve the lives of children. That’s amazing. I love children. I have plenty of really young cousins in my family and I love them so much! Unfortunately they all live an hour away but when I get to see my family over in Jersey, I probably hang out with the younger kids more than I do with my cousins and siblings my age. During middle school we had a buddy system where the older kids were paired up with a much younger kid and they would have time to meet every Friday. We had the preschool class and since there was a larger number of preschoolers compared to the number of older kids, some of us had to be paired with more than 1 preschooler and y’all already know I signed up to have more than one! Every Friday we would come down to their class and make crafts, read books, have show-and-tell, and do lots of other activities. Those were the Fridays I looked forward to the most because working with the preschoolers filled me with joy. In high school my AP European History class was able to go down to an elementary school and teach 2 5th grade classes and I enjoyed that so much! Because of the budget cuts, their classes were a bit larger than normal and so we had to break the class up into small groups and had a couple of sophomores work with each of the groups. I got to sit down with about 7 5th graders and just laugh and do a couple activities with them. They laughed, talked, and joked around and it was great to see that. Interacting with kids really is one of the things I enjoy doing the most. I’m also really into science and the medical field and I want to help improve the lives of others. Being a pediatrician combines those two things and that’s why I think it’s the perfect career for me! In order to become a pediatrician I have to go through 11 more years of school after high school. That means I would have been in school for 24 years since preschool and that would mean that I would have spent a shitload of money on school but that to me is going to be worth it when I am out of school, working at a children’s hospital helping tons and tons of kids. I still have a long road ahead of me but I’m working on it, and I know that it will all turn out as planned! 

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Week 3

My results for the StrengthsQuest test were discipline, relator, analytical, achiever, and focus. 

"Your world needs discipline, it needs to be ordered and planned." This theme applies to my workplace. My world needs routines. Everything I do needs to be known ahead of time and set in stone. Every day I wake up at 7:00 am and I get ready to catch the bus at 8:03 am. I catch the same MFL train at 8:28 am and I get to work at approximately 8:45 am. When I actually get to my work site, things are always unpredictable which is not what I like. As I said earlier, I like to know exactly what I'm doing, where, when, how, etc. Preston and I would come in to the office not knowing whether we would be getting papers to scan, if we were going to be organizing supply closets, or if we would have to make a run to HUP to deliver a broken pager. But as time progresses, things are starting to become a routine here. We come in, swipe our cards and we greet Marlo, Darcy and Giang. Then we run upstairs to greet Tia and we split up as one of us does the refill prescriptions and the other does referrals. At 1:00 pm we take our lunch breaks and we would eat our lunches inside the break room. Then Darcy or Giang would give us some tasks and the day comes to an end at 5:00pm. This all has become the routine. Soon we are going to be doing care gaps so that would probably be what we would do in place of the tasks given to us by Darcy and Giang. From what used to be expected days full of different tasks has now become smooth, disciplined days. Now I don't find the day boring and I actually look forward to coming to work because I have it all figured out and I'm not just sitting around frustrated because I can't find anything to do.

"Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive.It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It is the jolt you can always count on to get you started on new tasks, new challenges." This goes back to the start of the program. For the first week and a half, I started each day without knowing what the tasks were for the day. Although I despise not knowing exactly what I'm doing, my desire to make something of the day has gotten me through the week. I accept each new task thrown our way, (and there were many of them) and I completed them to the fullest extent possible. And as StrengthsQuest said, it was what got me through the long hours. From waking up at 7:00 am and getting home at 6:00 pm, the determination to finish those randoms tasks was the only way I could push through the day. I surely thought that I would end up doing countless random tasks all summer long but it turns out I'm not going to be doing that and so this drive is helping me to get the best experience of this internship.

"Relator describes your attitude toward your relationships.You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people—in fact, you may have other themes that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends—but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends." At Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, there are tons of faculty. I work on the 6th and 7th floors of the Andrew Mutch Building and so the numbers are narrowed down but there is still a large amount of staff that work here. I've gotten to know Darcy, Marlo, and Dr. Giang quite well and we are all pretty friendly with each other. As the weeks go on, I am meeting more of the staff and getting to know them all. We all greet each other with big waves and smiles. I'm not sure if it's because I'm an intern and I'm much younger then they all are, they have no problem welcoming new people although everyone here seems to be close knit. All the front desk ladies on the 7th floor already know my name and we all talk and joke around. Dr. Giang is also helping Preston and I network! He set up a meeting/get-together with a few Penn students, one undergraduate, one medical student, and others working with UPenn. We all talked, asked questions and gave each other some tips and advice! We all shared our emails and our numbers so that we can continue to keep in contact. These relationships are building quickly and that's what I'm all about! I don't want this to be just a "summer thing" where I only say hi once to the faculty here and then shy off every other time I see them. I'm working on building the relationships in the office so that they last once I come back to UPenn as an undergraduate, a medical student, and a resident! (xD)

"You need a clear destination and your focus serves as my compass to plan everything else in your life." I plan things that will bring me to that destination. My destination in life, career wise, is to be a pediatrician or something type of career in the medical field.That's why I chose Penn Presbyterian Medical Center as my work site. This experience is only going to benefit me in the future. And as for the last theme, "Your Analytical theme challenges other people: 'Prove it. Show me why what you are claiming is true.'" This theme applies to the order I need. I need to be certain of things. I like to know why something is the way it is or why one does something the way one does. This work site helps me with that because I'm learning more about the reasons/backgrounds to a lot of things, especially medical related things (duh cause I'm at a medical center); such as why one should have their Urine Microalbumin test done (because it's important since it looks for tiny proteins that might show up if there is early damage to the kidneys from diseases like diabetes). I find my StrengthsQuest themes to be very true and interning at my work site is helping my develop those strengths!

Everyone (minus Dr. Giang) from the Asian Health conference/get-together!

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Week 2

Accountability. As I continue to adapt to my work site I still have to prove to my co-workers that I am accountable. In a medical center accountability is everything. Patients have to trust that their information is confidential with us. The doctors need to know that the interns are going to get every task done efficiently and satisfactorily. I have a great amount of responsibility working as an intern at my worksite. 

At this time all I could do was clerical work and really simple tasks. One of my tasks were to run errands. Preston and I haven't even gotten to know the staff very well yet but Darcy was already sending us with money to run to the post office as well as to HUP (hospital of the university of penn). She trusted us with money (out of her own pocket) on the first day! To me, this meant that she believed that we were responsible and could be held accountable. She didn't know whether or not Preston and I would run away with her money, her mail, her pager and anything else she gave us (which we wouldn't) but she still trusted us. If anything happened to that stuff, she would be held accountable, not Preston and I. Darcy's job and reputation was at stake here if I didn't get the pager to the right person; or if I didn't get the receipt back from the post office with the correct change; or if I mailed the important information to the wrong person. But that made me realized that I'm responsible for a lot more than I think I am and that accountability is more important than I thought. 

The second week of this internship has come to an end and as I said earlier,  I haven't been able to do any work other than clerical work. Why? Well that's because I haven't had my training yet. But I finally got my training done on thursday. The training consisted of 35 minute long interactive videos lecturing me about the proper way to maintain cleanliness in the medical center as well as how to keep the patients information safe. It was all common sense that everyone should know yet I was required to take 3 35-minute trainings before I could do any work related to patient care or patient information. This is all because there is a liability issue. If anything happens to the patient's information then the hospital would be held accountable but it would be my fault. So I needed to take these trainings to make sure that I am aware of the things that I am held accountable for and the outcome that can result from it. 

As I begin my work with patients, I'm going to have to accept the responsibilities that come along with the job. I have to make sure that all of their information remains confidential and secure. I have to make sure that I am following all the rules that I learned in the trainings. I have my presbyterian ID now as well as my HUP ID so I can no longer rely on my supervisor for everything. Now I'm going to be held accountable for anything that I accept the responsibility of. I've never been accountable for someone else's information and I am fully aware of the consequences (which would be about 10,000-15,000 dollars for each patient information  that was shared). But this will help me in the long run as it will ensure that I accept the responsibility of anything I take part in! Now all I can do is make sure I do everything I'm supposed to and don't screw up. :D

finallllyyy!!!!!!! (don't mind my horrible picture)

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Week 1

 After a long and agonizing weekend waiting for my supervisor to reply to my email which I had sent on thursday, I finally received a reply back with all the information I needed to begin working on Tuesday. I was to be at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center at 9:00 am that morning. I woke up that morning and got to the PPMC at 8:30 am to ensure that I wasn't going to be late. It was only until 9:30 when Dr. Giang Nguyen finally had a free moment to greet me. 

Dr. Giang was quite busy that morning so after we introduced ourselves, he had Marlo give Preston and I a tour of the building. We got to meet all of the staff and see of the different aspects of the department. After the tour I anticipated beginning all our medical related work all to realize that there was a problem. Preston and I didn't have our 2nd step of the PPD test complete (because of the late notice and the process takes about a week and a half.) Without the PPD test we weren't able to get our Presby IDs. On top of that we didn't receive our HIPAA training yet, a training regarding health information privacy. Without our IDs and the training we aren't able to do any work regarding patient care or any information relating to that. 

For our first week, all Preston and I had to do was file papers, organize cabinets, run errands and sit around doing nothing. This certainly was not what I was expecting the first of work to be. Dr. Giang and Darcy had to scrap up any work for us to do and all of the tasks took about 15 minutes each to do. We all didn't feel prepared for the first week.

Even though we didn't have much to do, I still enjoyed my first week. All of the staff were so friendly and welcoming! Everyone greeted us and made sure we were enjoying the first week. Darcy let us use her Keurig machine whenever we wanted and made sure we had something to do. Preston and I were able to attend our first meeting on the second day of work! We were even able to sit down and talk to Dr. Giang firsthand about his work and his accomplishments. Adapting to the work was quite easy. Although I wasn't used to getting up early, wearing business clothes, taking the MFL, and getting around University city, any questions or issues I had, Darcy, Marlo and Dr. Giang were more than happy to answer. I'm still working on fully getting used to the work but I'm sure I will as time progresses. Once I get my HIPAA training and my ID, which will hopefully be by tuesday, I will be able to do more medical-related work and I can't wait! I certainly look forward to the rest of the internship!!

          Our first day looking extra fancy ☺