Year Two: 2014/2015
Wow...what a year!
This year has been one of the toughest and most difficult to date, but it has also been one of the most rewarding. Looking back now, I can see that I have undergone a great deal of growth and development, all for the better.
I started this year knowing that it would be difficult in relation to the coursework alone. I said it all year, and I say it now: I hated organic chemistry. It's not that parts of it weren't fascinating, it was just grueling work that, in my opinion, became utterly monotonous and overwhelming at the same time. But, I performed well in both the course and lab sections and learned that I'm more resilient and resourceful than I give myself credit for. The rest of my coursework was challenging in a different way: very little of it had a technical focus, and instead there were more elements of application to be understood. Despite the challenges, I enjoyed these courses very much. I was able to apply them to my involvement in GlobeMed and Crossroad, and to take lessons from one and use them in another. I also found myself developing a greater understanding of both the technicalities of the American medical system and the human elements of healthcare.
I also applied for, and was accepted into, the Crossroad Volunteer Internship Program. At first, I was nervous and probably a bit awkward. With time, my confidence grew and I saw more and more opportunities to help the patients we serve. The first few weeks of my first rotation started off almost exclusively with shadowing. It was probably the best way to start, allowing me to grow comfortable in the clinic and to understand the patient population. I then moved on to inbox tasks, which include updating patient histories and requesting records. These are tasks that most people outside of healthcare either don't know about or simply don't think about unless it is brought to their attention. Even patients, in my experience, are unaware of just how much behind-the-scenes work is done in order to provide them with healthcare. Despite the levels of monotony and tediousness that some of these tasks can achieve, I know almost every time I speak with a patient that I am making a positive impact in their life and helping them receive the healthcare they deserve.
In addition, my involvement with GlobeMed this school year was much deeper, as I not only served as a Campaigns Co-Director, but was selected to serve another term. I learned a great deal from this experience. During the fall, our fundraising campaigns got off to a rocky start and were not as successful as we had hoped. It created a lot of stress, and taxed my leadership abilities to the extreme. However, in the end, I was a phoenix rising from the ashes: I came out stronger and more determined than ever before, and am prepared to continue making next year a success.
One of the most significant events of this past year, indeed of my life, was attending the GlobeMed Summit in Evanston, Illinois. I saw opportunities around every corner and was nearly overwhelmed with ideas and theories. I have never seen so many people committed to social justice gathered in one place, and the sense of community was amazing. It inspired me not only to remain dedicated to GlobeMed, but also to use the ideas I absorbed there in other organizations and in my daily life.
These experiences have all worked together to shape my growth and development, as well as reaffirm my commitment to the field of medicine. Furthermore, I feel as though I have developed my personal "brand" through these experiences: holistic, total-patient care. Crossroad does a fairly decent job of this, and being part of the program allows me to see for myself the difficulties and flaws of such system. Being a part of GlobeMed has shown me how to dissect social determinants of health to locate barriers to healthcare. My courses, combined with the GlobeMed Summit, have shown me how to take all of this and collaborate across healthcare professions and advocate for real, sustainable change.
In the coming year, I will be continuing the pre-med track. This includes taking my MCAT in the early summer, so there will be a significant amount of time dedicated to preparation for that. But I am also making it a personal goal to continue to explore this idea of holistic medicine, including looking into current systems that employ it regularly. I am also hoping to look into anthropological studies on the subject, as my medical anthropology course this year played a key role in shaping my interest in this ideology. By further exploring this idea, I hope to find out how I can, both now and in the future, create the best possible system in practice. I will have to improve both my skills of observation and of interviewing, as well as working on my cultural humility. A lot of this cannot be learned fully by reading, and so I will strive to put the ideas I come to understand into practice to truly understand them and how best to use them. It is my hope that my efforts, combined with the efforts of countless others who have begun to have the same aspiration, will spark a revolution in the American medical system that will be a model for the rest of the globe.
This year has been one of the toughest and most difficult to date, but it has also been one of the most rewarding. Looking back now, I can see that I have undergone a great deal of growth and development, all for the better.
I started this year knowing that it would be difficult in relation to the coursework alone. I said it all year, and I say it now: I hated organic chemistry. It's not that parts of it weren't fascinating, it was just grueling work that, in my opinion, became utterly monotonous and overwhelming at the same time. But, I performed well in both the course and lab sections and learned that I'm more resilient and resourceful than I give myself credit for. The rest of my coursework was challenging in a different way: very little of it had a technical focus, and instead there were more elements of application to be understood. Despite the challenges, I enjoyed these courses very much. I was able to apply them to my involvement in GlobeMed and Crossroad, and to take lessons from one and use them in another. I also found myself developing a greater understanding of both the technicalities of the American medical system and the human elements of healthcare.
I also applied for, and was accepted into, the Crossroad Volunteer Internship Program. At first, I was nervous and probably a bit awkward. With time, my confidence grew and I saw more and more opportunities to help the patients we serve. The first few weeks of my first rotation started off almost exclusively with shadowing. It was probably the best way to start, allowing me to grow comfortable in the clinic and to understand the patient population. I then moved on to inbox tasks, which include updating patient histories and requesting records. These are tasks that most people outside of healthcare either don't know about or simply don't think about unless it is brought to their attention. Even patients, in my experience, are unaware of just how much behind-the-scenes work is done in order to provide them with healthcare. Despite the levels of monotony and tediousness that some of these tasks can achieve, I know almost every time I speak with a patient that I am making a positive impact in their life and helping them receive the healthcare they deserve.
In addition, my involvement with GlobeMed this school year was much deeper, as I not only served as a Campaigns Co-Director, but was selected to serve another term. I learned a great deal from this experience. During the fall, our fundraising campaigns got off to a rocky start and were not as successful as we had hoped. It created a lot of stress, and taxed my leadership abilities to the extreme. However, in the end, I was a phoenix rising from the ashes: I came out stronger and more determined than ever before, and am prepared to continue making next year a success.
One of the most significant events of this past year, indeed of my life, was attending the GlobeMed Summit in Evanston, Illinois. I saw opportunities around every corner and was nearly overwhelmed with ideas and theories. I have never seen so many people committed to social justice gathered in one place, and the sense of community was amazing. It inspired me not only to remain dedicated to GlobeMed, but also to use the ideas I absorbed there in other organizations and in my daily life.
These experiences have all worked together to shape my growth and development, as well as reaffirm my commitment to the field of medicine. Furthermore, I feel as though I have developed my personal "brand" through these experiences: holistic, total-patient care. Crossroad does a fairly decent job of this, and being part of the program allows me to see for myself the difficulties and flaws of such system. Being a part of GlobeMed has shown me how to dissect social determinants of health to locate barriers to healthcare. My courses, combined with the GlobeMed Summit, have shown me how to take all of this and collaborate across healthcare professions and advocate for real, sustainable change.
In the coming year, I will be continuing the pre-med track. This includes taking my MCAT in the early summer, so there will be a significant amount of time dedicated to preparation for that. But I am also making it a personal goal to continue to explore this idea of holistic medicine, including looking into current systems that employ it regularly. I am also hoping to look into anthropological studies on the subject, as my medical anthropology course this year played a key role in shaping my interest in this ideology. By further exploring this idea, I hope to find out how I can, both now and in the future, create the best possible system in practice. I will have to improve both my skills of observation and of interviewing, as well as working on my cultural humility. A lot of this cannot be learned fully by reading, and so I will strive to put the ideas I come to understand into practice to truly understand them and how best to use them. It is my hope that my efforts, combined with the efforts of countless others who have begun to have the same aspiration, will spark a revolution in the American medical system that will be a model for the rest of the globe.