As a young child, I have always known that I wanted to be doctor when I got big. I was in love with saving the day, making people feel better, and handing out plenty of lollipops along the way. As I continued my education, I kept that same dream with me. As I grew, my dream also grew with me.
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I began job-shadowing as a junior in high school with a doctor in my local clinic. She pushed me to do a lot of extra things than she did with any of her former students or any other kids job shadowing other doctors. I had to do a lot of outside research and come to the clinic prepared. This opened a lot of doors for me around the hospital. By my senior year I gained trust to preform tasks normally other students would never have the opportunity to preform.
I was allowed to call back patients from the waiting room, weigh them, measure their height, record their vital signs, and update their past medical history and determine their chief complaint. I did this all by myself and then I would go back to the doctors office and give her a verbal report of what is going on with her patient. I would then go in with her and preform a physical examination on the patient. A physical exam often included listening to lung and heart sounds, examining the inner ears, nose and mouth, listening to abdominal sounds, and checking the pulses on the tops of feet. After this process I would have to tell her if I found and abnormalities. She would then do it after to see if I was correct.
Before job-shadowing I read and tried to learn what was normal and what to look for in patients in the respective age group, but it is a lot different with actual patients. They are alive and breathing, moving and talking. It is a lot of pressure. I didn't want to get anything wrong. I wanted to impress her. It will also be a lot of pressure when I become an actual physician. It is a simple task I will do everyday, but if I were to miss on small detail my patient's health is at risk.
In the spring of my senior I enrolled in EMT classes for additional experiences within the medical field. This is where I learned a lot. I would go from school to softball to the emergency room for clinicals. I worked in the ER from 8:00 p.m. until 12:00 a.m. By the time I arrived in the emergency room I was exhausted, just as the nurses and doctors were from their 12 or 24 hour shifts. Although I was tired I had to learn to push through it and be the best I could possibly be for the patients I encountered. I had to be happy and optimistic. I had to remember to stay calm when things got chaotic. I had to stay sharp and ready for anything.
In the E.R. I did many hands on things that was only explained to me in lectures or it was something I read within the 5,000 pages of my textbook. I assisted a doctor with sutures on the scalp and hand. I splinted a screaming five-year-old girl's arm. I assisted in a code blue (unresponsive patient), had confused Alzheimer's patients, drug overdosed patients, and suicidal patients. I have felt the adrenaline rush through my veins as the E.R. doors opened and seen patients come through on a stretcher. I've stayed awake at night thinking about patients I seen and talked to just a few hour ago or even a month ago. I felt what I feels like to be thanked for your efforts. I have been told I will be an excellent doctor by a patient.
My hands on experience revealed to me that when I enter my field, I'll be working with actual human beings, not just case scenarios and pictures in the corner of my books. They are beating, breathing, and bleeding. They are squirming , crying, an scared. They are people just like me and you, and my job is to keep them alive, make them feel safe again, and help them to surmount whatever brought them in. That is a tremendous responsibility, a responsibility I can't wait to accept with honor.
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This is such a great article! It's inspiring seeing someone follow their dreams and go after their goals. I'm so happy for you that you've already had the chance to experience these things and work in your dream field. It's awesome that you already know what you want to do for the rest of your life and are so passionate about it.
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