Learning Goal #1: Learn more about the duties and qualifications of a pediatrician.
This goal fits into my career journey because I want to become a pediatrician. Having the opportunity to listen to pediatricians will help me gain a better understanding of the career I'm pursuing.
Tasks that have helped me achieve this goal are:
Recording the podcast allows me to gain information about the impact they have on the community.
Attend events with the residents
Conversations with the residents. For example, asking them questions about their residence.
This internship has confirmed my goal to learn more about pediatricians. I have been able to talk to them about their professional journeys. I have learned that not everyone has the same journey.
Learning Goal #2: My second goal is to develop more self-confidence by speaking up in meetings, etc.
Having self-confidence is important for almost everything. Especially when pursuing a career in medicine. One cannot doubt themselves when looking at a patient. Confidence will also be needed for any meeting or presentation in the future.
Tasks that have helped me achieve this goal are:
Talking to the residents
Checking emails and setting up dates for the podcast.
Make sure the residents are prepared for the podcast. For example, telling them to speak up or to fix something from the script.
This internship has helped me gain more confidence in speaking up. Being the one who is in charge left no other chance, and I had to speak up. It was a challenge I appreciated and gained a lot of confidence.
Learning Goal #3: My third goal is to gain leadership and work in a group experience.
In the future, there will be many group projects where I may have to be a leader. There are also many different experiences in group projects and it's good to be prepared.
Tasks that have helped me achieve this goal are:
I am setting up the podcast room.
Editing the podcast with the other intern.
Keeping up with the materials of the podcast. For example, checking social media and mail.
My current career goals are to become a pediatrician or a career involved in the medical field. This type of career involves a lot of leadership skills and talking. These are some of the skills I am getting from this internship.
This internship helped me gain important leadership skills. I had to learn how to deal with new equipment and still keep the podcast updated. Which was a challenge at first but I was able to work with my partner and keep things working.
A skill that I am using in which I am comfortable with is teamwork. At the beginning of the internship, the intern and I will work on things randomly for example editing. We now have a schedule of who does what episode and when it needs to be done. This has made our job of catching up easier.
A skill I still need to work on is communication. When recording the first podcast I was quiet the majority of the time. To improve I could be asking simple questions to the residents at first. For example their name.
I am using my existing strengths when uploading on social media. I have previous knowledge of how to edit and make posts.
My internship has helped me learn more about topics pediatricians discuss with their patients. I have learned about what medicines and preacautions to take with children.
My goals from last year have not changed. I still plan on taking the MCAT and going to medical school. Some progress I've made is learning more about what medical schools require and about resources being offered to help with the MCAT. For the rest of this summer, I plan to continue preparing for MCAT.
From this internship, I have met great people who are willing to answer questions if I have some. Having them is a great resource, and I could ask them to shadow doctors.
I was also able to explore more options. For example, asking the residents about the medical school path. Some took a gap year and some didn't. I plan on taking a gap year and residents also recommended that. I was also able to see how their blocks work and what type of activities they do because I had access to the calendar. I liked seeing what the schedule of a resident looks like because it gave me an idea of what mine could look like one day. I was able to learn that they do some community service to help those in need. When I become a resident this is something that I would love to do.
As mentioned before I still plan on going to medical school. From my internship I was able to learn that in the medical field communication skills are key. For example when the residents were explaining a disease their choice of words did not include complicated medical terms, because parents listening had to understand.
To keep growing on my skills of speaking up when in a group I plan to join a research job. There are many research jobs offered in campus . In a research job I would be able to grow on my communication skills and teamwork skills. I have been able to grow on them in this internship but I plan to get better.
I will also shadow more pediatrician to confirm my career goal of becoming a pediatrician. In the podcast I was able to listen to the residents experience but now see them in action. I plan on doing more shadowing so I can see what a pediatricians day looks like.
Previous experiences I can apply to this internship are working in groups. I have previously done many group projects where everyone is assigned something to do. In this internship, the project is editing the episode. My coworker and I assign each other what to do. One of us does the editing while the other makes the social media posts.
Another previous experience that helped with the internship was using the Canva app to create social media posts. I have used Canva to posters and know how the app works. I use this knowledge to help me create the social media posts for the podcast.