My Internship Site: Emily Nelson, clinical research leader
The Biospecimen Collection and Banking Core works closely with IU Simon Comphrensive Cancer Center with a focus on brining together patients that have been diagnosed with cancer. The two cancer institutes allows scientists to research new ways to prevent, diagnose, treat, and ultimately cure cancer. The Biospecimen Collection and Banking Core collects healthy and cancerous cells and stores them for researchers to use today, or in the near future.
Learning & Skills
Throughout this internship I have learned more about different lab techniques, and information regarding cancer cells. All throughout biology you discuss the make-up of cells and learn about cancer cells from a textbook. To be able to have the opportunity to learn about cancer cells in person, face-to face, and being able to see visually up close the difference between a healthy cell and a cancerous cell felt so surreal. I am incredibily thankful for opportunity to be able to connect what I am learning in class to my internship to help the peers at the internship cites overall goal of finding a cure for cancer. This Internship has allowed me to broaden my horizons and gain new experiences, which is something that I appreciate.
The skills that I am currently using for my internship are communication, teamwork, independence, as well as problem solving. I actively communicate with my peers about my progress and ask what areas I could improve on which has been very helpful. The task that I have is all independent work, and occassionaly if I get done early my supervisor would assign me to help someone else complete their tasks for the day. There have been instances where I had questions, most of the time I would have to navigate and try to solve the issue myself but there were times when I able to ask my question and get a direct answer.
My internship tasks primarily consisted of scanning patients consents and observing the process of tissue collections. Due to the shortage of staff the orginization was not able to upload the paper consents consistently, and fell behind. My responsiblity throughout the entire internship was to scan everything that they have not already done, so I scanned everything from 2010 to present that had been missed. The process of scanning patient consents consisted of gathering all consents from a specific time period, scanning them, and uploading the documents into the Komen tissue bank database. The Komen Tissue Bank database is a secured database that only certain personnel have access to. Scanning the patients consents into the database was a big deal because the organization had switched from paper online consents, so by scanning the paper consents, it allowed the organization to have a digital copy and a physical copy incase of emergencies. Emergencies include patient miscommunication, and the organization being audited. Scanning the patient consents was a really big project that had been started but never finished. By being able to scan all of the consents it will reduce the workload for others. Another task that I was responsible for was to break down lab kits and sort through the materials. This tasks allowed me to be work on my organizationzal skills, and help create more space in the lab that I was working in.
This internship aligns with my course work due to having to stay organized and time management. As mentioned eariler, it was nice to be able to connect what I was learning in class to my internship. I was able to read about it in class and go into to the internship cite and visually see it in person. My favorite experience was following the lab techs down to the pathology lab and observing the different specimen. In the pathology lab was were the pathologist were and they were able to create slides of the specimen and look at the specimen under a microscope. By creating a slide the pathologist were able to see if the cancer tissue proceeded the margins as well as how much of that specific slide was cancerous. Overall, it was a pleasure being able to see how the enviornment and the different procedures for each specimen.
As this internship comes to an end, I have recognized a few new strengths in myself. Some new strengths that I have learned is adovacting for myself. I told my supervisor that I was not happy with my internship. I explained to my supervisor that the tasks that I were given were not challenging enough and how I become bored at work. I further explained that I do not like doing the same task repeatdly and if I have to do a task that is persistent on doing the same thing I much prefer dividing the task into intervals so that way I do not grow bored and bured out. Unfortunatly, I adovcated for myself too late into the internship but in the future adovacting for myself ealier is beneficial because in this instance my supervisor apologized and relalized that she should have provided a task that would have been benefical and not hinder my needs of diversifiying my tasks. Another strength that I have recognized in myself was how well I am with stress. Whenever I had exams clashing with my work schedule I was able to prioritize and manage my time wisely and I was able to communicate with my supervisor if my exam interfered directly with my work schedule. Another strength that I have leanerd was being more comfortable at asking questions about different protocols and procedures. Lastly, I recognized that I am capable of working independently or as a team player and that I do not have a preference. During this internship I have learned a lot about myself on things that I prefer, such as, I despise doing the same tasks repeatedly, because I get burned out quick.
Workplace
A common trait that all of my coworkers have is a positive attitude regardless of the situation. I believe this is a good quality to have due to when faced with difficulty you will remain focus and will continue to look for the positive outcomes. I am always excited to go to the internship site because my teammembers make the work enviornment fun, and enjoyable. The team members values honesty, committment, and responsibility. The teams motto is, " You are resonsible for the energy you bring into the lab" which basically means if you want the lab space to be energetic you have to be energetic yourself first. The team members are always willing to help and answer questions to the best of their ability and if they don't know the answer they will guide you in the right direction to help you find the answer. The behavior that they display on a day to day bases is what I hope to exhibit as a professional. I have appreciated all of the support and encouragment that they have showed and I hope to contiune to make them proud.
Prioir to the intenship I was expecting the culture to be stiff, and be very serious but in reality it was the opposite. The lab techs really enjoyed what they did so it made every task fun, and enjoyable. There were times when certain deadlines were approaching and needed to be completed, so everyone was quick to adjust and cater to what needed to be accomplished. The lab was very goal oriented and was always cheerful when someone completed their goal. It is important to have an optimistic attitude in a workplace because it will motivate the people around you to do their best and help to move projects forward when setbacks occur or challenges are faced. I aspire to create an energetic and optimisitic environment like this in the future!
Successes and Challenges
A time that I felt most successful as an intern was when I spoke up and asked questions. A typical day for me at the internship site is scanning consents into the database, but one day I asked one of the lab techs if I could follow her to the pathology lab to receive a cancerous specimen for our researchers and to my surprise she said yes. When we arrived at the pathology lab, I grew curious at the specimen and asked questions and the pathologist that was they’re at the time was super nice and allowed me to feel the difference between cancerous tissue and normal tissue, and explained other information regarding the cancerous tissue as well. Overall, it was an amazing experience and learning opportunity. That particular day I learned to not be timid when working with others around you and how it is okay to ask professionals questions. I can apply this to my academics by not being timid to ask professors questions.
Looking back, I am very glad that I asked the lab tech if I could follow her to the pathology lab because after this day I followed them everyday after that. Each time I went to the pathology lab I became more curious and asked many questions. Due to the first interaction, I have learned that when you ask people questions it not only gives you the opportunity to learn but also to connect and build/ maintain relationships.
The most challenging parts of my experience so far is scheduling conflicts. I have a class that always has an exam when I am scheduled to be at a meeting for the internship. To overcome that challenge I told my supervisor that I will let her know weeks in advance that I will not be able to attend in the meetings when I have an exam for that class occurring. If a problem similar to this situation occurs in the spring semester I believe I will continue with this approach and communicate with my supervisor if I have any more conflicts. This particular instance allowed me to be open up to my supervisor and let her know what my schedule looked like. My being responsible and telling my supervisor my schedule conflicts we were able to assess and improve the scheduling conflicts.
Overall, these instances have helped me understand why speaking up for myself is important. I have to be able to speak up for myself because no one else can. By speaking up it shows that I am dedicated and demonstrates how committed I am. This trait will be helpful when I become a physician because sometimes when a patient seems to be in distress it is up to the physcian to keep themselves and voice what is in need for the patient for their safety. This trait will also benefit me now as a student as well. I used to believe that when I asked my professors questions it was a distraction, I realized that if I changed my perspective it could be viewed as me being engaging and interested in the topic.