LINK Internship at La Plata Family Medicine
Every junior at Animas High School will complete a LINK (Leading Internships for New Knowledge) at some point during the year. LINK internships give each student at Animas a chance to immerse themselves in a career of their choosing for three weeks. This is an endlessly valuable experience, providing important insight into possible career paths and choosing majors in college. During this internship a LINK project is also required, this will change depending on the career you are focusing on.
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I chose to intern at La Plata Family Medicine. This is a family practice located in Durango, CO. At this practice all ages are seen, and they treat illnesses, injuries, and perform routine physical exams.
Website - http://lpfma.com/ |
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LINK Anticipation and Preparation
The first step when I started looking for an internship was to guarantee that I had a professional and updated resume. Once this was completed I began to think about careers I was interested in, and at first decided I wanted to focus on marketing. I spent a few weeks identifying businesses in Durango that could provide me with a marketing internship and wasn’t excited about any of my options. This led me to consider doing a LINK in the medical field. I was most interested in working at Mercy Regional Medical Center, and had an internship setup there a month before we were planned to start. Unfortunately this fell through about two weeks before I needed to find an internship. From here I was scrambling to send emails to medical offices in town, and luckily was able to intern at La Plata Family Medicine. I felt that this would be a good opportunity for me because I wasn’t sure specifically what career I was interested in, and this would allow me to see what working as a family practitioner was like.
LINK Project
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One of the biggest reasons as to why I chose to do a medical internship is that although I want to go into the medical field, I have no idea which specific career path I want to focus on. For my LINK project I decided to create a list of medical careers that I'm interested in. For each career I included a quick description, school/residency needed, and yearly wage. This information was very helpful and is beginning to help me narrow down what I want to do. |
LINK Project - Comparison of Medical Professions by Lydia on Scribd |
Reflection
When beginning my LINK internship I had no idea what to expect, and ended up having a bit of a bumpy start. For the first week of my internship my mentor was gone, and because of this I was shadowing other doctors in the practice. My first day we realized that I needed the HIPAA certification (this protects patient confidentiality), which would allow me to shadow in patient rooms. Luckily I was able to complete this training that same day and resume my internship the very next day. From my years at Animas I have learned to be adaptable, whether coming up with solutions for supplies we lacked, or last minute changes at exhibitions. This was a crucial skill during my internship, and really helped me through my first week, where each day I was with a new doctor. First semester of this year I took anatomy, which I found very helpful throughout my entire internship. Even though it was a very basic anatomy class it allowed me to understand how the doctors were diagnosing patients a little bit better. By the last week of my internship a fair amount of the information I had learned months ago was starting to come back, because everyday as I was shadowing I would hear a familiar word that would spark a memory from anatomy class.
The most important skill I improved on during LINK was critical thinking. It was fascinating to me to watch the doctors I shadowed take information from patients, and at times this was a very small amount of information, and from there come up with possible diagnoses. This really interested me, and by the third week I began to recognize patterns with what the patients were saying, and how the doctors identified their diagnosis. Another skill I developed during my internship was time management. Almost every day at my internship, my mentor’s schedule was completely full, and watching how he handled a full schedule with added walk-ins was very helpful. I became very aware that in the medical field, building relationships with patients is incredibly important, and balancing that with time constraints is not an easy task.
One of my biggest challenges during my LINK internship was the fact that I couldn’t do anything throughout the three weeks except observe. I am usually a very hands on learning, and although I was aware that as a minor working in a medical office I wouldn’t be able to do anything but shadow doctors, the reality was harder for me than I thought it would be. This forced me to shift my learning style to fit my situation. I focused on the conversations between doctors and patients, and then made an effort to remember anything that was discussed that I didn’t understand. If there was something I needed clarification on, I would ask the doctor when we had a free moment. This “gave me a job” in a way, so that I wasn’t just watching, but continuing to think about the information I had heard and obtain a deeper understanding of it.
I believe that this was a very valuable experience for me, and that other students could also benefit from interning at this business. By interning at a family practice (and with many different doctors), I was able to get a glimpse into different medical careers. Many doctors would refer patients depending on their diagnoses, and depending on that, I could tell what the job of these other specialists was like. I learned a lot about myself during this internship as well. I now know for sure that I want to go to medical school. I have not quite narrowed down exactly what I want to learn, but I know that I want a more fast-paced career. Spending three weeks at a family practice made me realize that I don’t want to be a family practitioner, and honestly I think this is even more important to know than if I had loved it. This experience caused me to begin looking into emergency medicine, and how I can incorporate that into my interest in women’s health. Going into my senior year, I’m considering doing a LINK 2.0 at a women’s health office to further narrow down what career I want to pursue. In college I’m planning on following a pre-med track, and from there going to medical school for whatever career I decide on.
The most important skill I improved on during LINK was critical thinking. It was fascinating to me to watch the doctors I shadowed take information from patients, and at times this was a very small amount of information, and from there come up with possible diagnoses. This really interested me, and by the third week I began to recognize patterns with what the patients were saying, and how the doctors identified their diagnosis. Another skill I developed during my internship was time management. Almost every day at my internship, my mentor’s schedule was completely full, and watching how he handled a full schedule with added walk-ins was very helpful. I became very aware that in the medical field, building relationships with patients is incredibly important, and balancing that with time constraints is not an easy task.
One of my biggest challenges during my LINK internship was the fact that I couldn’t do anything throughout the three weeks except observe. I am usually a very hands on learning, and although I was aware that as a minor working in a medical office I wouldn’t be able to do anything but shadow doctors, the reality was harder for me than I thought it would be. This forced me to shift my learning style to fit my situation. I focused on the conversations between doctors and patients, and then made an effort to remember anything that was discussed that I didn’t understand. If there was something I needed clarification on, I would ask the doctor when we had a free moment. This “gave me a job” in a way, so that I wasn’t just watching, but continuing to think about the information I had heard and obtain a deeper understanding of it.
I believe that this was a very valuable experience for me, and that other students could also benefit from interning at this business. By interning at a family practice (and with many different doctors), I was able to get a glimpse into different medical careers. Many doctors would refer patients depending on their diagnoses, and depending on that, I could tell what the job of these other specialists was like. I learned a lot about myself during this internship as well. I now know for sure that I want to go to medical school. I have not quite narrowed down exactly what I want to learn, but I know that I want a more fast-paced career. Spending three weeks at a family practice made me realize that I don’t want to be a family practitioner, and honestly I think this is even more important to know than if I had loved it. This experience caused me to begin looking into emergency medicine, and how I can incorporate that into my interest in women’s health. Going into my senior year, I’m considering doing a LINK 2.0 at a women’s health office to further narrow down what career I want to pursue. In college I’m planning on following a pre-med track, and from there going to medical school for whatever career I decide on.
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