Successes
A time that I felt successful as an intern was when I was able to complete my project in 3 and a half hours. I am very bad at time management, but I was able to discipline myself and make sure that I sat down and did what I needed to do. I turned my phone on do not disturb and cut out any distractions. This was good for me because I have been putting off so much due to either technology issues or being afraid of making a mistake but I finally stepped out of my comfort zone and got something finished! I am very proud of myself for getting it done! By experiencing this success I have been able to lessen my procrastination and start to actually find myself in my work. I have always been so focused on other things rather than school and the opportunities that are right in front of me. I know now that everything is not as hard as it seems. Yes, some things will still be difficult, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't do it. I know now that in the future, if I try, slow down, and actually push myself to do the things I need to get done, that I will be so much more proud of myself and be able to see that there are things that I actually enjoy doing in school and/or work.
Challenges
The most challenging part of my experience so far is learning how to analyze data and also how to work with the systems that we use. We use a couple of different platforms when entering data and I have had lots of trouble when trying to access any of it. It’s all new to me so it feels like learning to ride a bike again. When I first started working I was unable to get into the systems for about 2 months. With the help of my supervisors and the help desk at IU Health, I was able to access systems we needed to use such as RedCap and Cerner. It really put me behind not having access and made it hard to understand what we were talking about during the meetings. Once I was in the system I felt a lot more comfortable with what I was doing, and was able to really understand what I was working on. The other challenging part was analyzing and interpreting different data. We worked with a lot of surveys and conversations between caregivers and patients and sometimes it would get hard to interpret. For example some people may mark an answer in the middle of two boxes or write in extra stuff on the survey and when that was the case, I wasn’t sure what to do. We made up some rules for when in the middle, but I was still unsure how to add extra things or if I even should, I overall just didn't want to mess up the research. After being confused, even with our rules that we had made, I decided to finally ask my supervisor. I was afraid to ask at first because I felt silly for not being able to access systems and felt like I had already bothered them enough. After talking with my supervisor, she made me feel comfortable and helped me realize that its okay to need help. If there was at all a time I was confused after that I had no issue asking questions and even meeting on zoom to work through the problem/question together. In the future I will now see challenges as learning opportunites. Everything I did was new to me, therefore it is okay that I was struggling a little.I sometimes also get so nervous that I forget about all of the resources that I have. With that being said, if I can ask for help and use resources when necessary, I can become a lot better and overcome these challenges. It's best to just keep trying and ask questions, and if I can do that as I continue through school and my career, I think I will be just fine.
This was definitely the most challenging, or must I say biggest mistake that I experienced all year. In January my car got broken into and my backpack got stolen. I lost my airpods, my laptop,and so much more, but most importantly, surveys from the hospital that we were using for our research. I kept them in my backpack, because I always keep my backpack on me, but one day I made the mistake of leaving it in my car. We had already entered them into one system but were unable to analyze them any further due to this incident. I felt really terrible and still do, but my supervisors were very understanding and we were still able to continue our study. I learned to keep any thing and everything that I have of importance locked up and safe, and I will never make the mistake again.
Outcome
Overall, I end up learning so much; not only about myself, but about research, and what the medical field is like, and if this is really the field that I want to go into. There were many ups and downs throughout, but I am so thankful for the opportunity to be able to do this and it has truly given me a sense of direction. I want to be a doctor and I want to be able to work on more research projects like the ones we have done throughout the school year. I have learned self discipline and time management, as well as how to work and communicate well with a team. I have learned, the hard way, to never leave things unattended because anything can happen. If I can keep the skills I have learned from this internship and continue to work hard I can reach my goals of Med School and then one day a doctor.