My Internship

My initial work at my internship is focused on studying the prevalence of IBS on individuals with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and other hyper mobility spectrum disorders. Furthermore this research aims to investigate health-related quality of life, physical and mental health, and potential treatment modalities for these individuals. Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a group of inherited connective tissue disorders impacting the digestive system, vasculature, musculoskeletal system, and more. Throughout my internship I have developed questionnaires and surveys within the REDCap program to collect the participants symptoms to aid in advancing the understanding of how EDS impacts the digestive tract. Upon developing the questionnaires, I then began working to collect participant data through the Amazon MTurk platform. Through this research my colleagues and I aim to advance the knowledge of how EDS impacts the digestive system , investigate potential treatment modalities to alleviate IBS related symptoms, and investigate food intolerances in this population. Upon collecting the necessary data for our research, I began writing an abstract regarding the research to submit to various GI research conferences to share our findings and advance the knowledge of EDS/hEDS. 

The article below discusses involvement of EDS/hEDS to the digestive systems and discusses the prevalence of IBS within individuals with EDS. 

In addition to researching the effects of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome on the gastrointestinal system, I have also contributed to research regarding the receptiveness to cognitive behavioral therapy in patients with IBS. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may help alleviate symptoms associated with IBS, FBD, and other disorders of the gut-brain interaction however, efficacy of treatment may be affected by numerous variables. Patient perspectives and attitudes to care, patient-clinician relationships, stigma to care, and more may all impact treatment outcomes. This project is found that Patients with FD may view CBT more positively than patients with IBS or FC and that reduced exposure to psychosocial care may affect attitudes towards CBT in adults with IBS or FC. I am currently working alongside my research team to publish a paper regarding this research to aid in furthering the understanding of the use of CBT to treat functional bowel disorders. 

Learning and Skills

Throughout my internship I will utilize my willingness to learn and my determination to contribute to my team by dedicating my time to learn as much as I can about issues pertaining to our research. Additionally, throughout my internship I will strive to improve my scientific writing skills by developing a strong understanding of our research and working to clearly and effectively relay our results through scientific literature. 

Throughout my internship I am looking to learn a lot more about the gastrointestinal system. My internship site focuses on clinical research studying the GI tract and gut-brain interactions thus I believe that this internship would provide incredible learning opportunities relating to the gastrointestinal system. I am passionate about learning more about this as I am looking to go into healthcare as a PA and thus this would be important as I practice medicine. Additionally, by learning more about the gastrointestinal system, I can begin to explore my interest in gastroenterology and may impact my decision regarding what field of medicine I practice. Additionally, I hope to improve upon my communication skills in regards to internal communication within the team, communicating with patients, and communicating with the field of science. Teamwork is extremely important within healthcare and therefore I look to improve my skills regarding clear and concise communication.

Overall, throughout my internship I am excited about growing as a professional and learning about the gastrointestinal system. However, one specific thing that I am passionate about is a clinical research project study the effects of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome on the GI tract as well as the overall body. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is a connective tissue disease which often appears with many co-morbidities and can be very difficult to diagnose. I am passionate about this project as it is my real look into clinical research and studies a very unfortunate yet interesting condition. Throughout my initial first few weeks on this project I have learned so much regarding the disease. Additionally, I am excited about this specific project as I am able to be apart of the project from start to finish. My first few weeks at my internship focused on creating the necessary questionnaires for this study and I will be able to help release this study to the pubic and participate in the research throughout the entire study period.

I feel as though one of the aspects of my internship that I have experienced significant growth in is my professional communication skills in regards to effectively and professionally communicate with my team. I think that I have developed this aspect through the weekly meeting sessions as well as the emails and other forms of communication with my team. I think that I have also worked to show a good understanding of my responsibilities and I set out to accomplish tasks prior to being asked to allow for sufficient contribution to the my research team. I would still like to increase the amount of tasks and responsibilities for my internship as I am enjoying the work that I do and the team that I work with. 

This internship fits in with what I am learning in class as it is focused in clinical gastrointestinal research. My classwork is primarily related to healthcare, understanding anatomy and physiology, and overall basic science including that of the physiology of the gastrointestinal system. Furthermore, this research can expand my knowledge as it has enabled me to learn about specific medical conditions like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, IBS, fecal inulin, and more. The combination of the knowledge I have learned from my internship with what I have learned in the classroom will help my future in becoming a medical professional and expanding my knowledge of healthcare. 

In addition to learning about the process of clinical research, REDCap, and the general GI tract, I have also learned about diagnostic criteria for GI conditions through the use of the Rome IV. The Rome IV questionnaire is a set of questions focused on diagnosing gastrointestinal conditions such as IBS and its associated subtypes. As a medical professional I am interested in pursuing a career in gastroenterology and therefore, my knowledge of the Rome-IV criteria would improve my ability to care for patients with gastrointestinal disorders. I have also been given the opportunity to learn more the process of writing research papers by participating in writing numerous research articles. 

Over the course of my internship I have contributed to multiple projects and helped my supervisor to carry out more research projects as well as publish more papers regarding our research. This has helped to advance my knowledge of IBS as well as the knowledge of other researchers who may read the findings that the research team has published.

Throughout my internship I have been able to grow as both a student and a professional as my internship has contributed to my growth and understanding of research, communication, my roles as a team member, and more. Throughout the length of my internship I believe that I have significantly improved upon my communication skills as well as my ability to read and write scientific papers. After completing LHSI I hope to continue my work at a hospital to acquire more patient care hours and I will hopefully continue to contribute to my internship site in conducing additional IBS research. 

The Workplace

I feel as though the main behaviors that I want to have as a professional is clear and effective communication skills. I feel as though this is extremely important to allow for all tasks to work smoothly across the workplace and I commonly see these effective communication skills within my colleagues work. I would like to grow as a teammate by contributing more to the team and the work that I do as I am passionate about the research that my team is conducting. 

Thus far throughout my internship I have learned about clear communication and teamwork skills. My collogues and I rely heavily on communication through things like email and zoom meetings.

My internship has exceeded my expectations prior to beginning my work with the research team. One way that my internship has exceeded my expectations is that I did not expect to be able to lead and develop a research project. Additionally, I did not initially expect to be asked to contribute to writing a report however, I feel as though I have learned so much throughout the process. My contribution to the research team has far exceeded my initial expectations and has provided incredible experiences that I am passionate about. 

My internship team and the workplace has made me feel comfortable and a valued member of the research team. My internship team also have a very understanding and team oriented atmosphere which has helped me to adequately contribute to the research and grow as a professional. 

Success and Challenges

One of the first times I felt successful at my internship site is when I was able to finish developing a project in REDCap. I felt successful and excited as it allowed me to begin contributing more to the research team and allowed me to begin receiving subject responses. Furthermore, another great feeling was when I collected an adequate number of volunteer responses to then begin writing part of a report to be submitted to the annual DDW conference. The most recent time in which I felt very successful was the completion of my part of the report as this was the first time I have contributed to a paper. This report also forced me to gain a better understanding of the research that we were doing and the statistical significance behind each experimental result. Furthermore, as my internship has progressed I have accomplished numerous other tasks leading to a sense of successfulness associated with my internship. One such success was the development of my second research project which focuses on established patient populations with Ehlers-Danols syndrome. During this project I created a new REDCap project as well as utilized communication skills to reach out to the Ehlers-Danlos Society to contact our desired patient population. Additionally, I have coauthored a scientific journal article discussing the receptiveness to cognitive behavioral therapy in patients with IBS. This was a major accomplishment for me as it helped me to learn more about the topic, how research is conducted, and will hopefully lead to my first official publication. 

I feel as though the most challenging part of my internship has been to quickly learn how to use research programs like REDCap. I found this difficult because it was the first time I have used the program so I relied upon the video tutorials to help me learn how to properly use the program. Throughout the semester I have also faced multiple challenges regarding balancing my internship responsibilities, hospital work, and school work.  Although these challenges with time management have been stressful I am grateful from the learning opportunities that have resulted from these difficulties. I have learned how to better plan my schedule and maximize my time accomplish my work. I have also improved my ability to multitask which will be extremely helpful throughout my future education, work, and responsibilities.