My Internship
The Kids Healthcast Podcast is a pediatric podcast to educate and advocate about pediatric health issues and news. Episodes are written and recorded by pediatric residents on their community pediatrics rotation. This podcast is great for any parents, caregivers, or anyone interested in learning about pediatric health.
My job as an intern is to direct and support the creation of the podcast by editing episodes, reviewing and editing scripts, scheduling the recording sessions, and interacting with resident physicians who will be working on the podcast, as well as creating posts for social media to advertise the new episodes. I am also currently supporting the project of launching this podcast in Spanish with other Spanish-speaking physicians who are passionate about presenting this information to Spanish-speaking populations as well.
Kids Healthcast Website
Why this internship?
I chose this internship because it involved a lot of my favorite things while also allowing me to develop new skills and interests. I am interested in pursuing a career in medicine, and Pediatrics has always been one of the specialties that interests me. I love podcasts and am passionate about public health, and this podcast helps educate parents about pediatric health topics and serves as a community resource for them. I am very excited to be able to learn how to edit the podcasts and be able to be a helpful part of a team whose ultimate goal is to educate and bring awareness to different health topics and provide these resources to parents.
What will I gain from this experience?
One of the biggest skills I am improving throughout this experience is leadership. I get to lead during the recordings and am the person that is in contact with the pediatric residents throughout their rotation when it comes to their work on this project. Because of this, I will be able to improve my communication and time management skills since I have to reach out about meeting deadlines, getting their ideas, and scheduling when to record, as well as make time for me to edit scripts, edit the podcast, etc. I will also get to learn new skills, such as what all goes into making a podcast, like editing and marketing. I am excited that I am able to meet and work with Pediatric residents and see what some of their tasks are, as this podcast is part of one of their rotations.
Site Visit and Fall Discussion
At my site visit, I got to reflect on my work and what I have learned so far, and also discussed future plans for the internship. I've loved the work that I do so far, because I constantly get to meet new people and hear their ideas. My work at this internship so far has helped me gain more leadership and time management skills. I've also been able to see what a pediatrics residency rotation looks like. Although it's very far ahead in my future, I like that I get to see this and be a part of the community pediatrics rotation team.
Working with the residents, I get to see a lot of professional skills that I hope I continue to strengthen and develop in the future. The residents I have worked with so far are all really good at working together as a team and putting their all into their work. I have also learned a lot from my supervisors, who are very organized and are the glue of this team. They all put so much work into this rotation and I am very proud to be part of this team and work with such great people.
Fall Reflections
I have learned a lot so far during this internship. I have learned a lot of skills that apply to the actual work I do, as well as skills that will benefit me in the future to achieve my goals. Before going into this, I had no experience with podcasting and what it entailed. I now know how to record, edit, and upload a podcast, since I get to direct this project myself. I get to edit scripts and communicate with the pediatric residents that are writing the script and record with them. I've learned to better manage my time and be more organized, especially because I have to make sure to keep all the files for this podcast organized so I don't lose any clips or anything else that is important. My favorite parts from this internship so far have been getting to meet so many amazing residents who help out with this projects. It helps motivate me and gets me excited for my future. I also love getting to help out on such a great project that serves as a tool for parents to learn.
Successes and Challenges
Although it took time to get used to, I feel I have become successful at managing most of my internship tasks. When I first got to connect with the pediatric residents and had to lead the podcast recording for the first time, it felt very weird and I was nervous the whole time. It felt weird to me to take the lead on such a great project and telling doctors what to do. After some time though, I have gotten used to it and definitely feel more comfortable taking the lead and have even become more efficient at finishing the recordings more quickly. Getting used to leading these meetings was challenging at first. Another challenge I faced was being able to get podcasts edited and uploaded in time. I don't have specific deadlines, but set them for myself so I can balance the workload of the internship with my school work as well. I struggled with this because I was constantly facing technology issues while editing the podcast. The program I use to edit crashes when I'm almost done and adding the podcast jingle, and it seems to happen every time I am at that point in editing. Although I haven't found a fix to this issue, I always make sure to save the progress before adding that audio file so I can prevent losing most of my work.
Expectations vs Reality
I have not been surprised by the day-to-day tasks of this work; I went in with the expectations of editing podcasts, potentially running social media accounts, etc. The only thing kind of surprising to me was that I really get to direct the project, especially now that we are working on getting it started in Spanish as well. I get to coordinate and schedule the recording meetings myself, and actually run them, which has helped me gain more confidence in leadership situations.
How did my contributions impact this project?
One of my main contributions has been working alongside Dr. Carlos Becerril Romero, a third year pediatric resident, to try and get this podcast started in Spanish. He has been working on translating and preparing scripts, and I have been trying to figure out logistics such as the platform, budget, etc. It's really a unique and great experience to be a part of and get to help out in launching a project that will serve as health education and advocacy for Hispanic populations.
