My Externship Experience: Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare
In order to expand my passion for the Medical Field, I joined my high school's Externship Program. I applied to the program and got accepted into the Honors/Gifted Externship class.
Being an extern for an Emergency Physician at the Bixler Trauma & Emergency Center has exposed me to many different learning experiences. These experiences include but are not limited to the stressful situations that many Emergency Physicians encounter on a daily basis, the unusual and inconsistent times that they are scheduled to work, the vast variety of patients they have to work with, the importance of collaborating and working as a team, and many others. From experiencing these, I now know that I would truly enjoy working in the medical field.
My sponsor is Dr. Alex Ho, an Emergency Physician and the Medical Director for Emergency Services. Shadowing a physician specifically exposed me to many procedures, like a lumbar puncture (spinal tap). I also learned how to read different diagnostic images, including x-rays, ultrasounds, MRI scans, CT scans, etc. In order to accurately diagnose patients, physicians may request for the Nuclear Medicine Technician’s to scan the patient, in which those scans are sent back and interpreted by the physician through the process of diagnostic imaging. This process of the physician requesting and receiving the images that are taken by the technician is an example of one of the many collaborative aspects that is associated with working in the Emergency Department.
Along with the collaborative aspect, I also had the chance to experience the little amount of shifts but lengthy hours that emergency physicians work. For instance, many of the times that were available for me to extern were eight to ten hour shifts. Most of these shifts were also from around 7:30PM to 5:30AM, which made it difficult for me to extern during the week. Although the hours of 7:30PM-5:30AM are a little inconvenient due to school, whenever I had the opportunity to extern on the weekend during those hours, those were my favorite times to extern because a majority of the patients were there for urgent emergencies.
Once, when I was externing, a patient was transported to the ER via ambulance due to a gunshot in his abdomen. Before the patient arrived, as soon as the ER was notified, two physicians, including my sponsor, Dr. Ho, and several nurses and technicians prepared for the patient’s arrival. Originally, I thought that I would be a little squeamish because of the gunshot, but it was not actually half as bad as I had imagined. Additionally, there were a significant number of patients that were in the ER due to drugs and alcohol. Usually, these patients stayed in a different section of the ER. There were also a lot more prisoners that were sent to the ER for numerous reasons. Many of the prisoners had to be tied down or given multiple doses of drugs in order to calm down.
Overall, externing at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare’s Emergency Department has been one of the most outstandingly different experiences that I have ever had. I have already seen many different procedures and patients. Although I would like to become a neurological surgeon, externing for an emergency physician has greatly enhanced my passion for going into the medical field.
My sponsor is Dr. Alex Ho, an Emergency Physician and the Medical Director for Emergency Services. Shadowing a physician specifically exposed me to many procedures, like a lumbar puncture (spinal tap). I also learned how to read different diagnostic images, including x-rays, ultrasounds, MRI scans, CT scans, etc. In order to accurately diagnose patients, physicians may request for the Nuclear Medicine Technician’s to scan the patient, in which those scans are sent back and interpreted by the physician through the process of diagnostic imaging. This process of the physician requesting and receiving the images that are taken by the technician is an example of one of the many collaborative aspects that is associated with working in the Emergency Department.
Along with the collaborative aspect, I also had the chance to experience the little amount of shifts but lengthy hours that emergency physicians work. For instance, many of the times that were available for me to extern were eight to ten hour shifts. Most of these shifts were also from around 7:30PM to 5:30AM, which made it difficult for me to extern during the week. Although the hours of 7:30PM-5:30AM are a little inconvenient due to school, whenever I had the opportunity to extern on the weekend during those hours, those were my favorite times to extern because a majority of the patients were there for urgent emergencies.
Once, when I was externing, a patient was transported to the ER via ambulance due to a gunshot in his abdomen. Before the patient arrived, as soon as the ER was notified, two physicians, including my sponsor, Dr. Ho, and several nurses and technicians prepared for the patient’s arrival. Originally, I thought that I would be a little squeamish because of the gunshot, but it was not actually half as bad as I had imagined. Additionally, there were a significant number of patients that were in the ER due to drugs and alcohol. Usually, these patients stayed in a different section of the ER. There were also a lot more prisoners that were sent to the ER for numerous reasons. Many of the prisoners had to be tied down or given multiple doses of drugs in order to calm down.
Overall, externing at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare’s Emergency Department has been one of the most outstandingly different experiences that I have ever had. I have already seen many different procedures and patients. Although I would like to become a neurological surgeon, externing for an emergency physician has greatly enhanced my passion for going into the medical field.