My Intern Experience

One of the accomplishments I remember most as an intern was when my team put me in charge of gathering patient information from the electronic medical record (EMR) for the revision of a manuscript pertaining to children with cancer who presented to the Riley Hospital emergency department (ED) with the main complaint of a fever. The information that I pulled from the EMR was used to write the results and discussion section of the manuscript. I felt like an important contribution to this project because I knew the work I was doing was critical for finishing the manuscript.

The most challenging part of the internship was getting out of my comfort zone. Prior to this internship, my only research experience involved lab work. That is an environment that became comfortable for me because I've been in labs for several years. I knew going into this internship that most of the work I would be doing involved clinical research, but I wasn't sure what that would entail.

I never imagined that I would be as involved in all of Dr. Mueller's research projects as I was. This required me to venture into uncomfortable areas, like when I conducted interviews for caregivers of children with cancer for a side project. This was intimidating to me at first, however, Dr. Mueller walked me through the process before I began the interviews to ensure that I was comfortable with what was being asked of me.

I'm grateful to have all of the experiences this internship provided me with, even if they were intimidating at first. Coming out of this internship, I feel much more confident in myself and the work I can do.