My internship site specializes in research being done over DNR orders and advance directives. The current research study I am assisting with is looking at how likely physicians are to talk about end of life decisions and certain care conversations with patients after receiving life-threatening diagnoses through surveys and questionnaires. We are also beginning to collect data for an additional research study that focuses on whether or not these patients had goals of care conversations and their progression through their disease process. This is extremely important research because when patients come in with advanced diagnoses and a potential surrogate making care decisions for them, it is important to have a template for physicians to guide these tougher conversations about DNR orders and care. This ensures that all decisions are being thought of and properly made before problems arise.

The workplace associated with my internship is more of a virtual work environment. Almost all of our meetings have been online and we communicate about problems as they arise via email. Although we are communicating and meeting via zoom, Dr. Comer has done such an amazing job of creating a community environment that allows us to share how we are feeling and makes it easy for us to get the help we need. In the future, I look forward to working in a similar environment where everyone is able to work together to accomplish a goal for the greater good. As a professional, I hope to continue trying as best as I can to contribute all that I can to the team I am working on.

My workplace is largely collaborative, but also independent-focused as well. Every week, we get together in a Zoom meeting and discuss the past week's work to determine where need to go next and what everyone is responsible for in the following week. Everyone is expected to participate and we have amazing graduate students and a past LHSI student who do an amazing job of mentoring the research assistants, like myself, that are newer. I feel that my current workplace is my ideal type of working environment. I love working as a team to get tasks done, but I also love my independence and the ability to work on my own. Additionally, I find comfort in having senior members that know what they are doing, so I can ask for help or clarification if I am not understanding a task or concept well. In the future, I hope to work in an environment that it as accepting and welcoming as the one I am currently working in now.

Through engaging and working with others that come from different communities and cultures, I have realized that although we have different backgrounds and ways of looking at things, we are still able to come together to accomplish a shared goal. Despite coming from different areas or growing up in different ways, by learning and understanding more about why others are thinking the way they are thinking, it becomes easier to come to a shared opinion when discussing important information in a group setting. I would like to continue meeting and working with others that come from different communities and cultures because it allows for insight into different ways of thinking and styles of learning.

This semester's research has been amazing, but also a lot different than what I was initially expecting at the beginning of my LHSI experience. When I started, I thought that the research would be a lot more fast-paced, but I learned that a lot of planning and coordination amongst the research team has to take place first. Additionally, we are working on multiple studies at the same time, which was something I was not expecting, but it is definitely exciting and I have been gaining a lot of exposure to different facets of similar research.

One surprise I have come across as I have been working in this position, is the amount of time it takes to look through medical records. Even though I knew this was going to take time, I was not prepared for the enormity of going through an entire visit to a hospital for multiple patients. This was definitely different than what I initially expected it to be like. Despite it being difficult, I have learned an unbelievably large amount of information from looking through different encounters patients have had at the hospital. I have made the adjustment to accommodating the amount of time it takes to get my work done and I have been learning so much!

Most of the work I participated in during my internship revolved around data collection. The basis of any research project is data collection because data has to be present in order to analyze it. Our research team involves everyone in the data collection process because there is a large amount of data to collect and if everyone picks a section, it is more efficient when it comes to getting it done. By working as a team, we were able to collect all of the necessary data to be sent out for analysis.

Following my LHSI internship, I would like to continue growing as a research assistant in my current position. A lot of my learning this year has been focused on understanding how to do a lot of tasks and why. I would like to contribute more to the research process and learn how to apply a similar research design in a different setting. After this experience, I hope to continue on in the same position through the UROP position. Even if I am unable to continue on, I still hope to apply my new knowledge in my clinical practice as a future nurse.

This semester, I have been taking a course titled "Data Analysis and Research". While working as a research assistant through LHSI, I was able to apply a lot of my learning from the research setting into what I was learning in class and vice versa. In my course, I read and analyze research articles weekly, which is something I was also able to do during my internship. In both situations, I was able to use my experience of breaking down scholarly articles to further evaluate the content and usefulness of the articles.

I am also able to apply my understanding of research during my time at clinicals. One of the research studies I have had the pleasure of recruiting patients for focuses on goals of care conversations with stroke patients who have and NIHSS (National Institutes of Health Stroke Score) greater than or equal to 10. In my first clinical experience, I was working on a neurological unit at Methodist Hospital and now I am able to apply my previous knowledge to my understanding of research. Additionally, I am able to see the need of goals of care conversations in the clinical setting because, through clinicals, I have had several experiences with patients suffering from chronic illnesses that could potentially benefit from a goals of care conversation.