Internship Reflection1. Review your goals and objectives for your internship and assess your internship as it

provided a setting for achieving these goals and objectives.a. One of the major goals I had for the semester was to become proficient with

using patient charts, and through working with AllScripts I was able to work on this goal.

b. Another goal I wanted to achieve was to learn how to communicate better. Because I was dealing with people who spoke different languages and varying understandings of medical terminology I was able to develop my communication skills.

c. An additional goal I had was to strengthen my basic health skills like manual blood pressure, finger sticks and associated skills with those. Because these were skills that I was expected to perform on patients, I was able to work on these skills.

d. My last objective was to see if I wanted to stay on the path to be a physician’s assistant or if I wanted to find a different path. Through talking to different nurse practitioners and students, I was able to gain many different perspectives and find different things that I had not previously thought about.

2. Explain and show how you achieved the goals you seta. One way that I was able to achieve my goal of becoming proficient with Allscripts

was to work with the program each day. I was able to search for different reasons for visit when patients came in and familiarize myself with what questions needed to be asked. When I was unfamiliar with where things belonged on a chart I was able to ask questions and practice with it so I would eventually learn.

b. My communication skills improved throughout because there were several instances where I had to get a patient history from someone who did not speak English so I had to find ways to ask questions in a way they would understand. I was able to learn some words in Spanish as well as picking up on different phrases so they would be able to understand what I was asking them.

c. Often times the blood pressure machines would stop working or would be busy so I would have to perform a manual blood pressure which allowed me to improve that skill set. I had to prick people’s fingers in order to test their glucose and their hemoglobin levels which allowed me to practice and become better at doing that.

d. Through working with patients that are similar to who I would want to work with in the future, I have been able to further solidify that I do want to be a physician’s assistant.

3. Choose one project and describe it as followsa. How well do you think you accomplished the project?

i. I created a competency exam for new interns to practice their skills in Allscripts. I think that I was able to grasp most of the challenges that can come from using it. I outlined both male and female situations and

covered the lab exam and follow up, as well as different types of sick visits and how to chart them.

b. What skills did you use?i. For this project I used writing skills and organizing skills. I had to be able

to write the scenarios as well as organize what the scenario said into the actual patient chart.

c. Point out your strengths and weaknesses. What would you do differently?i. I think for the future I would have included one of the BCN patients so

the different types of questions could be looked at and tested whether or not they were done correctly. I would also add in a practice of having a lab order, and having to actually order and requisition the labs.

4. Assess your contribution to the internship sitea. On Wednesday and Friday I was the only intern on site which allowed me to

have more responsibility than when I was just at the center. I became responsible for keeping up with supplies that were needed at each location, as well as for taking care of patient intake at these locations. Because I was taking care of the patient intake, it allowed Ngoze, the grad assistant, to do more of the examination part at the Clemson clinic. On Fridays, my being there allowed Elizabeth to work up other patients so it helped to reduce wait times for patients.

5. Has your experience changed or reinforced your career goals. Changed or reinforced your educational goals? Could you see yourself as a professional in this field?

a. After working here, I definitely have reinforced my want to be a physician’s assistant and have even been driven more to become a physician’s assistant. I hope to one day be able to work alongside nurse practitioners similar to the ones that I have been able to work with this semester.

6. Relate your internship experience to the your academic work on campus.a. Some of the classes that I have found to be very helpful in my time at my

internship were social determinants of health because I was able to see the different types of disparities that existed in society and in health care while working here, and health care systems because I was able to see the differences in health care structures actually put into use while working at the Sullivan center. Another course that was very helpful was Health Appraisal Skills. I was able to use the skills that I learned in this class like manual blood pressure and finger sticks in my daily duties. I have also been able to apply a course that I had taken while I was abroad that was Social diversity and health. It helped me analyze the different problems that can arise with minority health and how social constructs can have an effect on health, and this internship allowed me to see the instances that I read about in my text come to life. An additional class that helped me in my internship was anatomy. I was able to use what I read about in anatomy and see it come to life and understand the physiology aspect of the human body a lot more than I had while in the class.

7. Were there instances at your site where the health literacy training were utilized?

a. Many of the patients who came to the clinics did not have an understanding of the medications they were taking or what different things involving their health actually meant, so I tried to explain as much as I could and in as simple term as I could what was going on. When I would take a blood pressure I would try to give their results in comparison to the normal range and help them understand what exactly that meant. I would try to ask questions in a way that they understood and use only the medical terms that they would use first in regards to the medical conditions they had.