Service in my Community

As of the 29th, I have volunteered 8 hours at UMC's Neuro ICU deparment. After the 31st, I will have served 10 volunteer hours this month.  With this program coming to a close with just a handful of things left to do, I feel mostly relieved to see the better part of a year's worth of effort come into fruition. There is only one presentation, a few seminars, and the final MP exam left to take care of before it all comes to a close. Despite the biggest assignment on the horizon, I can't help but feel like it's the least of my concerns considering the amount of applications I need to submit and interviews I need to prepare for is increasing. So long as I can finish with a respectable grade, I think it would be more practical to focus on the non academic obligations that I have on my plate.  With that being said, I would like to give some final thoughts on this program as a whole. Overall the lectures are perfectly fine in a vacuum, but some subjects such as MCP and CCM rea

This month I volunteered for 10 hours at UMC's Neuro ICU department. For Dr. Mostany's course, we have to participate and ask questions and add into the discussion. This expectation is pretty difficult for me since not every presentation or topic is of particular interest to me, and I personally have a hard time finding a good moment to comment on the current topic. He did mention this concern with me and I appreciate that effort. For Dr. Lindsey's class, I completed my presentation and I should be wrapping up the reading assignments by the end of this week. So I'll have the bulk of that class taken care of. While these two classes aren't necessarily dificult, the expectations do seem to be higher. Otherwise, the study and workload is fine, or maybe I'm now just used to the amount we're given. However, this upcoming month will have a heavy workload with all the presentations due for advances and neurology. And immediately after that, we'll have the shelf

Volunteered 4 hours this month at UMC's Neuro ICU department Coming back from winter break, I'm feeling more ready than ever to wrap up this program. All the classes are routine at this point and studying for them poses no issue. As for the new classes, I've been enjoying the flexibility that the endocrine clas offers and the freedom to choose from any topic of interest for the respective presentation is appreciated. The neuro pharm class is also structured similarly, but I do feel as if there are one too many presentations that are expected of us this semester. Additionally, the lack of that environmental pharm class is also unfortunate because it sounded like I would have enjoyed it. Now, the only hurdle that is left standing in the way is that I may not be ready for the end of the semester shelf exam. I'm wondering if there is some resource that can be given to make the preparation process for that test easier.

 November Community Service Hours: 4 Total Fall Semester Community Service Hours: 13      The past few weeks have been fairly routine now that the fall semester is coming to a close. I will admit that the renal and pulmonary module is very lackluster and wasn't compeling compared to the previous blocks. Although the flexibility afforded to us when we're assigned a pre-recorded lecture is appreciated, it wasn't at all engaging. Because of this, I was dismissive of the pulmonary module in terms of interest in the field. I noticed that for Dr. Mageed's lectures, I had a hard time mastering the content. With all due respect, I just don't learn well with his lecture style unlike the other professors here. Luckily, I was able to find some outside resources to bolster my understanding of the topics he covered.       For Medical Pharmacology, I have a really good grasp on how to prepare for the test, but MCP and PR can still be a bit of a toss up. If this semester is just a

     During the month of October, I opted to volunteer in the radiology department at University Medical Center and was placed with radiology technicians. Because I came in on Sundays, I mostly helped the technicians with inpatient care which had a very relaxed pace compared to other venues I've served in. While I was there, I worked closely with the technician Ashli, who performed medical examinations by using a portable X-ray machine to capture an image of a patient's body. The most common of this exam was the chest X-ray (CXR). The primary task I was allowed to lend a hand in was aiding Ashli with sliding a flat panel detector (a flat board needed to create the X-ray image in conjunction with the X-ray machine) underneath patients whom were lying down. Because patients needing CXRs were usually suspected of having bone fractures, they typically had a decreased range of motion which made this step of the process difficult and physically taxing. Other members in this departmen

     Of the several activities I participated in the past, the Emergency Department at University Medical Center has been the place I've served the longest and made the most impact. When I was initially placed in the ED, my tasks were very simple. I mainly escorted the patient's family members to see them. However, each day I returned, there were more tasks assigned to me so that I was never sitting still for too long. If I wasn't already guiding people into rooms, I was calling nurses, technicians, and other hospital staff to relay messages about patients or finding medical equipment such as wheelchairs which seem to inexplicably disappear at a moment's notice. The task I found myself mired with the most was, however, simply talking to patients and assuring them everything was going to be alright.      As it turns out, most of the patients that checked in at this location had very long average wait times before they can even be seen by a physician. Another job I was gi