To get into medical school shadowing is highly recommended. It is mainly recommended for two reasons. First, you get to see if you really want to be a doctor. Secondly, you get to have some type of idea as to what type of doctor you want to be. For me, my clinical internship has convinced me that I want to be a doctor, has taught me what kind of setting I want to be in as a doctor, and I was also able to apply the knowledge I learned in my classes.

 

This spring semester I got accepted into the clinical internship at UCF. Without high yield science courses like anatomy and physiology, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get the internship. Because I excelled in these classes, I am now able to shadow a vascular surgeon. I understand now why these classes are required. Without them I would probably be very confused and have no idea what the doctor I shadow was talking about. For example, on a normal day the main veins the doctor talks about are the greater and lesser saphenous veins, femoral artery, the common iliac artery, carotid and the superior mesenteric artery. Without anatomy I wouldn’t know where theses arteries and veins were located and why they are so important. With physiology it helped me understand the pathologies associated with a blockage in an artery, and why it would be detrimental to your health. Physiology also helped me understand the blood flow of the heart, such as how the arteries carry blood away from the heart and the veins carry blood toward the heart.

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This internship has also prepared me for applying to medical and what I should expect if I become a doctor. I ask the doctor I shadow a lot of questions about his process getting into medical school and why he chose vascular surgery. One of the first topics we talked about is whether he talks about the patient’s diet or weight when he is talking about treating their problems. From what I observed most of physician’s patient’s pathologies were due to their diet, whether they smoked, and their weight. He said he doesn’t like to outright talk about it with them, because it might come off rude and they most likely already know what they are doing is unhealthy. However, what I do see him do is say if they change their diet or smoking habits it would help with their pain and blockages. Also if the patient takes the initiative to ask about what they can change, he usually has a diet and exercise plan available to give them. Lastly, another main topic we discussed was how he was able to afford medical school. He said he didn't. He went on to say that he was pretty poor and took out loans, but he also made money on the side by working at the trauma center.

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In all, I am grateful that I got this clinical internship. It convinced me that I wanted to be a doctor, that I like interacting with patients more than being in the surgery room, and I got to apply what I learned in class to real life situations.