Goals

Internship Goals

This past winter, I completed a literature review on the research done in regards to the depression and anxiety in diabetic patients. I realized that there was not much research done on the impact of the diabetic treatment on children. Because of this eye-opening perspective of my research, I decided that this was a topic I wanted to dive deeper in my self with an emerging curiosity. 

The responsibilities of being an intern involved extracting and understanding data in electronic health records. These duties allowed me to view the healthacre field through a different lens and appreaciate the easy access to health records. This would enhance my future skills as a PA as I would keep in mine that my charting in the health records may be further used to research purposes, encouraging me to complete the notes with full details and in an easy-to-comprehendmanner. 

Career Goals

I am currently taking prerequisite courses for PA school. To explore the PA profession further, I plan to job shadow a PA soon. Hopefully, this would allow me to gain a better perspective of what it really is like to be a medical provider. Additionally, I am involved with multiple organizations on campus to create connections, develop leadership roles, and find volunteer opportunities to give back to the community. 

This summer, I will be working as a medical assistant at Windrose Health Network clinic. I recently earned my medical assistant certificate from the Indiana School of Phlebotomy, so this job would be my first job actively playing a part of the medical team. I am excited for the experience and knowledge I will be gaining this summer as this will be the milestones of my medical career path. I hope to create connections, relationships, and mentorship with my colleagues who will inspire my passion for medicine. Additionally, I look forward for the patient interactions I will come across allowing me to better myself as a healthcare provider and develop skills to better serve the community. This patient care experience will hopefully open more doors for me by fulfilling patient care requirements for PA schools across the country. 

My internship has allowed me to further solidify my career choice by allowing me to view the healthcare field through another perspective. I have gained the appreciation for the accessibility and quality of electronic health records. As a PA, I would improve my medical notes knowing my words may be further used for research purposes and that the detail and accuracy in the input of medical information truly makes a tremendous difference. The input of information can aid research in potentially making life-changing discoveries in medicine, emphasizing the encouragement for healthcare workers to fulfill the meticulous medical charting.

My number one priority is to maintain a high GPA as I finish up my pre-requisites for PA school. Alongside this, I am taking part in several extracurricular activities on the IUPUI campus to enhance my connections, skills, and overall involvement with my student community. In prospect, I hope to work full time as a medical assistant this upcoming summer and carrying on the same role during the school year as a part time position to compile patient care hours for my PA school applications. Through this experience, I hope to make connections with PAs so that I would be able to reach out for reference letters at the time of application. I am in contact with a PA in Southbend, IN planning out a time to job shadow them so I hope to further my connections through the upcoming experience as well as learn more from someone who is working in the occupation I aspire to attain. 

I am also collectively completing volunteer service as part of my extracurricular activities on campus. I have participiated with monthly free food dispersion through SSA in which I aided in cooking, preparing, and distributing meals downtown Indianapolis to those less fourtunate. I have also completes quite a number of hours through the dedicated volunteer service at Community Hospital South and IU University Hospital. 

I hope to apply in the next cycle in April of 2024. However, depending on how many patient care hours I have collected by that time, I may potentially take a gap year to collectively improve my applications in all aspects. When it comes time to apply, I plan to attend workshops to write a well drafted personal statement and comlpete mock interviews. I keep in mind that my goal is to be a well-rounded applicant, so my aim is to display my confidence and be sure to demonstate my hard work. I will most likely reach out to Dr. Kathy Berlin for the options of resources for mock interviews as she has been a mentor for me since my first year of college. As the department head, she provides a resourceful role model who encourages me to achieve my goals.