My Internship
My site is a clinical research center (CRC) in which various in-patient and out-patient clinical studies take place. At the CRC, they conduct studies that aim to enhance the quality of healthcare. This is significant because clinical research provides opportunities to improve safety and effectiveness of medicine to better treat patients. On the unit, nurses follow flowsheets outlined by the research investigators for every study, also called protocols. The unit provides resources and nursing services according to what each individual protocol requires. Working ‘behind the scenes’, the admin office works to ensure that all protocols are valid and correctly admitted into the system. They are also in charge of keeping track of pertinent statistical data that can be used to describe the types of protocols that take place in each of the facilities.
The Workplace
After working with and observing professionals at my site, I have noticed that they are constantly monitoring for discrepancies or abnormalities on paper/charts and visually. Their priorities involve implementing preventions strategies throughout their work to limit as many barriers that can later appear as possible. I want to be able to attain that skill of paying attention to detail going into my future career. In becoming a professional, I want to be conscious of my workstyle so that I can fine-tune it to be as proficient as I can. Then, I can continue to work on my professional efficacy. These skills will aid me in my journey of becoming a competent nurse because I can continue to enhance my abilities throughout my undergraduate career. Seeking opportunities to improve on my skills is important for my professional growth, allowing me to enter the workforce as a new nurse with confidence.
The workplace culture at my internship site is very welcoming and all the employees work to encourage each other. On both the administrative side and on the unit with the nurses, each area works collaboratively. This is the type of workplace that I would like to work in because I believe that teams within a workplace should work collaboratively and to see each other succeed. One ideal workplace culture that I want to work in is a fast-paced and busy environment because I enjoy mu work when I am busy. The workplace culture at the CRC can be busy at times, but it is typically an environment that has a steady pace.
A typical room on the in-patient side of the CRC
I have worked in a health care setting before so my ideas of clinical workplace cultures are relatively similar to what have experienced at my internship site. However, I have never worked in a research center so the culture is slightly different compared to what I have experienced. The nurses, principal investigators, ad administrative staff are much more eager to assist each other an see each other succeed. From interacting with the CRC staff, I have decided that I want to be a nurse that has these qualities. I believe that the staff from my internship site were very helpful at teaching me new skills, and I want to make future coworkers feel the same.
Fall Semester Review
When I started this internship I thought that I would spend most of my time working with the administration staff. My mentors have altered how I spend most of my time so that I can practice my nursing skills on the unit and then spend the rest of my time gaining an understanding of the administrative part. I thought that I could only perform skills on the unit that a CNA can only do, but I am always learning a new skill that helps me progress as a nursing student. During my first couple of weeks working on the administrative part I thought it would be too difficult for me to do. After spending time on projects and gaining help from my mentors, I now find the administrative part challenging, but doable.
Spring Semester Review
Since working in both the nursing and administrative side of the CRC, I have been surprised to see how much they interconnect. It is interesting to see how the interprofessional and patient relationships differ between nursing and administration. Even though both have about an equal amount of interaction with the patients and other staff, their purpose of interactions are quite different. For example, the nurses have more of a patient-focused relationship with the study coordinators while the administration have more of a report-focused relationship. I think that working on the unit with the nurses has helped me understand the "why's and how's" of the data that the administrative side puts together.
Expectations vs. Reality
As a nursing student, I already knew most of what to expect out of the nursing side, but the administrative side was completely new to me. The work done is very detailed and is the reason why the CRC is still running. The data they compile covers information that I would have never thought about until I had to pull that data for various projects. As a matter of fact, I was prepared to be completely uninterested in the administrative side of this internship before I was given my first projects to work on. I have become more interested in the detail of the work and correlation between administration and nursing as I am able to work on different projects.
For the first time, I am in a setting where I have to work with a varying group of staff and patients. Not only do they have different job characteristics and duties, they also come from different backgrounds. Each person has their own style of professional etiquette, creating a unique dynamic in the workplace. I also get to work with patients from other communities and cultures from my own, allowing me to see how and what kind of resources, if any, are provided for them.
Successes and Challenges
I feel that I have found a lot of success in my growth as a professional. being able to work on a unit with nurses and interacting with patients has allowed me to practice interpersonal skills that I am taught in nursing school, but not able to practice just yet. At first, I was working in a team as well as interacting with patients of all ages and in different conditions. Now, I find that I can do these things with much more ease, even though I am still learning every day that I am at the internship
One of my successes is also one of my biggest challenges. I have found it difficult to understand when it is acceptable to start taking the initiative after learning something new. An example being the times that I have learned a new protocol and did not know when it would be okay for me to do the work by myself. I have had some trial and error with this by trying skills that I was not ready for versus doing things that I knew how to do. Now, I do much better at taking the initiative and working independently on certain protocols. I also try to be more vigorous in doing the procedures with more independence.
One of my challenges starting this internship was learning how to ask for feedback on how well I am doing the skills and tasks that I had recently learned. to go along with this, I also struggled voicing any concerns as soon as I had them instead of letting them go. An example relating to this is the times that I have started a new task and felt too afraid to ask follow-up questions. I continue to work through this challenge by allowing myself to ask more questions and voice my concerns by reminding myself that it is better to ask too many questions than to not ask at all.
Since evaluating my challenges. I have improved greatly on asking for feedback and voicing concerns. I have made it a point to do one of these things at least once a week so that I can feel more comfortable with them. One of my most recent identified challenges is thinking independently. I tend to follow direction, rather than performing tasks on my own. To overcome this challenge I will try to take more initiative and responsibility on my own based on tasks that I know should be done.
To conclude the year, I have recognized major improvements in my abilities as an individual, student, and professional. Many of my successes have been discussed in this ePortfolio, but my most important success is learning to be mindful about my professional development. I will take what I have learned to prepare myself for when I enter the nursing profession, and for future learning experiences as well. I can identify my successes as well as my challenges so I will be able to acknowledge new successes and challenges in the futre and address them.
Meet the other intern
Clarisa is another LHSI intern at the CRC. She works on the administrative side; pulling and inserting data, communicating with the study coordinators and other CTSI staff, and helping patients to their rooms.