Learning goal #1: Learn more about the field of pediatric endocrinology and the roles of a pediatric endocrinologist
Relation to career: Through learning more about this field of medicine and the specific roles of a pediatric endocrinologist, I hope to better understand if I would like to pursue a career in pediatric endocrinology.
Tasks, responsibilities, and projects to help meet this goal: Shadowing the endocrinology team
Progress and Future: Through my development of the diabetes registries, I have spent an adequate amount of time exploring the electronic medical records of pediatric patients with diabetes. This information has allowed me to indirectly visualize the role of a pediatric endocrinologist in caring for pediatric patients. Although I have been unable to shadow an endocrinologist, I still feel that I better understand the field of pediatric endocrinology and the roles of a pediatric endocrinologist. Moving forward, I hope to shadow an endocrinologist to directly visualize their role within patient care, which would allow me to better solidify my final career goal.
Learning goal #2: Gain research skills and learn more about the overall research process
Relation to career: I would like to gain the meaningful research skills that are necessary for professional school and my future career. However, I would also like to learn more about the process of conducting research to see if I would like to include research within my future career.
Tasks, responsibilities, and projects to help meet this goal: Online research trainings, Redcap research registry, and Use of the online medical records system
Progress and Future: Through my time at my internship site, I have largely developed my research skills. During my training, I learned about the requirements to conduct research and how to conduct research in an ethical manner. Further, by developing the registries, I have learned how to gather the information that inspires future research. Thus, my internship site has prepared me for the steps that allow a research project to develop. However, in the future, I would like to participate in the creation of a research project.
Learning goal #3: Enhance interpersonal and professional skills
Relation to career: For any future career, there will be many soft skills that are crucial in the workplace (communication, conflict-resolution, active listening, etc.). Thus, I hope to further develop these skills during my internship, in order to use them in my future schooling and career.
Tasks, responsibilities, and projects to help meet this goal: Serving as a member of the research team, Actively communicating with fellow members of the research team, Creating an ePortfolio, and Presenting about the internship
Progress and Future: Through serving as a member of the research team and by completing the diabetes registries, I have largely developed interpersonal and professional skills. Serving as a member of the team has allowed me to develop communication skills (written, oral, and active listening) through daily interactions with other team members and my supervisors. Further, developing the registry has allowed me to develop additional skills (attention to detail, adaptability, time management, and analytical skills) that are directly related to the work that I produce. In the future, I will further develop these skills by exploring new careers and activities that directly promote the development of interpersonal and professional skills.
Following the completion of my undergraduate degree, I aspire to attend medical school and become a physician. Currently, I am certain that I would like to pursue a specialty within the field of pediatrics. However, I am uncertain if I would like to further subspecialize in the field of pediatric endocrinology.
My desire to pursue medicine began when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes during my childhood. However, as I have grown older, I have become more aware of the health challenges (mental health disorders, substance abuse, obesity, etc.) that are prevalent within youth in my community. Despite the prevalence of these disorders, there is not a practicing pediatrician within my hometown. Therefore, in an effort to address and alleviate these health-related challenges, I would like to become a pediatrician and practice within my community.
However, a piece of myself will always feel connected to the field of pediatric endocrinology due to my personal health experiences. Thus, I hope to use this internship to ultimately decide if I would like to pursue a career as a pediatric primary care physician or as a pediatric endocrinologist. Both of these would serve as extremely fulfilling careers; thus, I hope to use my internship experiences as a means of shaping my final career goal.
Through my internship, I have learned to better understand and respect the roles of a pediatric endocrinologist. However, through my exploration of the roles and tasks of a pediatric endocrinologist, I have confirmed that my true passion lies within the field of general pediatrics. Even so, based upon the knowledge that I gained about the care and treatment of pediatric diabetes, I hope to serve as an excellent general practice provider to patients with diabetes. Thus, I am eager to serve a variety of pediatric patients as a pediatrician, and I am grateful that this internship was able to confirm my ultimate career goal.
Moving forward, I will continue striving to do my best in my course work at IUPUI. These courses serve as fundamental knowledge before pursuing medical school, so I will continue to value this knowledge. Further, I will continue working in a pediatrician's office as a medical assistant. This career continuously exposes me to the field of pediatrics, and it allows me to develop skills related to caring for pediatric patients. Lastly, I will shadow a pediatrician to ultimately confirm that I want pursue a career as a pediatrician. Thus, through the combination of these things, I hope to continue progressing towards my final career goal.
Based upon my reflection in regards to the internship, I have shown the most growth within independence. In the beginning stages of my internship, I was heavily dependent on my supervisor for frequent instruction and supervision in regards to my tasks. However, as I became more comfortable with the electronic medical records system and the research registry, I was able to conduct my data entries independently. Additionally, as I became more familiar with type 2 diabetes onset, symptoms, and treatments, I was able to better understand how to properly analyze the data and accurately enter it into the registry. The culmination of these skills allowed me to develop my own pediatric DKA registry to analyze trends that will be further presented during the LHSI showcase.
In contrast, my reflection demonstrated that I am still not comfortable with challenges or failure. Through my time at the internship site, I have shown growth when entering more challenging data sets into the registry. However, I am still not comfortable when these challenges or failures arise within my final research project. Thus, I would like to continue developing this skill. In an effort to grow in this area, I will continue to embrace the challenging aspects of data analysis. However, I will also work to acknowledge when the challenge is beyond my capabilities, and I will then present the issue to my supervisor.
Within the internship, I have had the opportunity to build on my strengths related to communication, research, and independence. As a team member, effective communication has been essential to the research team. Each day, I communicated with various members of the team through a variety of methods. This required me to become a more effective communicator, and it allowed me to truly grow. Additionally, I largely expanded my knowledge about research. Through the use of research trainings and also the research registry, my knowledge about the research process has also shown tremendous growth. Lastly, I was largely able to grow in my ability to work independently. I had started to develop this skill through my previous jobs and courses, but this internship required that I worked independently in an extremely efficient manner. My work throughout the semester (both the registries and my final project) allowed me to grow within this area, and they also tangibly depict this growth.
Lastly, through my internship, I was able to apply my coursework within a real setting. Within the registry, many of the values that were measured were statistics. During the academic year, I was enrolled in a statistics course, so it was extremely fascinating to apply these statistical methods in real scenarios. Likewise, I also learned a large quantity of information about the treatment and development of type two diabetes. In my previous biology courses, we discussed the biological processes that contribute to the development of diabetes. Thus, it was very exciting to apply and further develop my knowledge of diabetes beyond the walls of the classroom.