Tag Archives: Healthcare

Centre de Santé de Hann/Mer

Marietou Faye Paye, 2010

My internship, which debuted from the fifth of January of 2009 and ended at the end of the month, was done in the capital of Senegal, Dakar, in the health field. During my internship, I witnessed both the positive and negative sides of the healthcare. I worked in the field of pharmacy but I was also given the opportunity to work in the laboratories of the health center in Hann/Mer, Dakar and in the biggest hospital of Dakar, which is Hopital Principal de Dakar.

At the Centre de Sante de Hann/Mer, I worked in the pharmacy and laboratory area. Because my interest was in both pharmacy and laboratory work, though my internship was to be on pharmacy only, my supervisor gave me the opportunity to work in the laboratory of the centre de santé. As a pharmacy intern, my job was to know what medications were available and what was sold. I was responsible for overlooking the daily flow of the pharmacy. The pharmacy was strict about its budget because the country has shown the corruption that resulted in the hospitals because of money. The hospital, with the daily diary of the pharmacy, had a monthly meeting where the situation of the pharmacy was discussed. Because of the time of the year, the pharmacy was not as busy and therefore, did not operate as much. However, the laboratory I co-interned in had a many patient to view daily.

On my first day at the laboratory, I observed the labor that was to be done. After the first few days, I was responsible for analyzing blood and urine of patients. I had a microscope, chemicals reagents, a centrifuge and a machine to analyze bloods and urines. Determining the blood group of a patient required four reagents and manual labor. I was to determine whether the patient had blood type A, B or AB (+ or -) and if the result showed it to be none of the above, I was to have the patient be sent to an institutions with more advanced materials to determine whether or not the patient had blood type O (+ or -). Our center did not have enough materials to positively declare such blood type for a patient. For the urine and blood, I was to analyze them in slides. My job with the urine was to prepare two fresh slides and color one of them. For the uncolored slides, I was to look for epithelial cells, red blood cells and white blood cells, which were bound to show up if infection existed. For the colored slide, my job was to look for white blood cells, bacilli, cocci and trophazoites. I was also responsible for counting trophazoites and white blood cells in the slide of blood I colored, which is a method I had already learned in my Cell biology class. The blood was also used to count the patient white blood cells, red blood cells and hemoglobin. I was responsible for determining all of these, which in turn gave me an insight in the medical world.

With the amount of information I learned from school, I was able to work better in the pharmacy and laboratory. This allowed me to show my interests and also to be able to work in the lab. I was able to put into lots efforts in the lessons I was given because I had an understanding of the subjects. Overall, I would say that I have put in lots of efforts and thoughts into this internship. The subjects were vastly interesting and this allowed me to keep continuous interests in what I was doing throughout the internship.

With an understanding of the issues that are involved with the healthcare systems of Senegal, I was able to have a better understanding of what I need to do in order to successfully operate as a pharmacist and a scientific researcher in Senegal. My ultimate goal is to settle in Senegal where I can participate in the betterment of the country especially in the health field. I have witnessed that access to materials that enable the health centers to operate efficiently is one of the major issue. This gave me the idea of researching current organizations that are working on providing materials for free to the hospitals in Senegal. I was able to find organizations called ActionTeranga and CDC, whom I plan on working with. I also understood that I need to work more in the hospitals in the country in order to have a greater experience in these fields and better understanding of the people. Therefore, I was able to speak to the chief of the laboratories of Hopital Principal de Dakar, who explained to me that they are organizing programs with other nearby countries and that I would be able to participate in their programs in the future. There are so much more that can be done. However, this internship has given me the opportunity to reshape my future plan in order to attain my goal of improving my natal country.

Overall, I learned an extreme amount of information, especially because this was my first experience working with patients. It was interesting to know the manual labor that had to be put in when technology is thought to be advanced and ample. I felt very good about my internship because it reinforced the lessons I had learned in my Cellular Biology class. Some of the skills that I had already learned were put into use, which allowed me to show to my supervisors that I had some knowledge of the fields. In the pharmacy, the lessons that I learned in my organic chemistry class came into use when my supervisor gave me papers from the medicines to read and understand. Overall, it is an experience I would like to relive as it had reinforced my desire to enter the field. And with the amount of difficulties faced by the workers of this centre de santé, I was able to see what it would take to become a pharmacist and a scientific researcher in Senegal.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!

Counseling Service of Addison County

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Counseling Service of Addison County

Louisa Michl, 2009

This January I served as an intern at the Counseling Services of Addison County here in Middlebury, Vermont. In my time spent at CSAC I participated in various activities in which I interacted with children and adolescents with a number of different neurodevelopmental disorders. These activities were offered to me by several organizations throughout the community, so while I officially worked as an intern for CSAC, I also had the opportunity to work alongside staff from the Middlebury Union High School’s Alternative Education Center, the Hannaford Career Center/D.O. program, as well as Champlain Valley Academy.

Personally, I feel I performed quite well as an intern over the Winter Term. Over the past month I was able to create a great dynamic with the other Middlebury student intern in the work we did together. While I learned a great deal through observing the professionals I was with, I feel I achieved a great deal and became somewhat of an asset through all the work I performed during such a short period of time. As the month went on, I was given progressively more responsibility, culminating in the opportunity for me to work one on one with a select few clients. The fact that my supervisor allowed me this opportunity leads me to believe that I certainly gained his trust and approval. He believed I was capable of taking on the work, and I believe I lived up to his and my own personal expectations.

Additionally, I think I did an excellent job with the children I worked with through this internship. Although I have had experience working with children in the past, it was quite a different experience working with children living with varying neurodevelopmental issues. The way my supervisor arranged my schedule provided me the opportunity to work with different groups of children and adolescents with carrying disorders within a number of programs in the community. One day I would work with adolescents with behavioral or emotional disorders and the next I might work with learning impaired high school students. While I appreciated the chance to observe the range of programs offered in the community and to get to know a number of different children, I also found it frustrating that, given so little time, I was not able to become involved in depth with any particular program or group of students. I can imagine that this is a common complaint with Winter Term internships due to the time constraint. Moreover, I often felt frustrated by the limitations of being an intern. Due to numerous privacy reasons along with state mandated restraints, I was just barely able to scratch the surface of all that constitutes this type of career in the field of psychology. Again, I am sure I share this feeling with a number of interns.

One of the most significant things that I learned over the course of my internship with CSAC was the therapeutic value of silence. I myself have never been comfortable with silence in most situations. In class, for instance, I used to feel awkward and uneasy when there was utter silence after a professor’s question or a fellow student’s remark. I often would try and break that silence by offering anything, whether or not I found that it added much to the discussion. Likewise, in simple, day to day conversations with friends I often found myself becoming so involved in the conversation that I would finish others’ sentences or put words into their mouths. Some might say that this is simply a quality of being an active listener. Yet, I have come to be more comfortable allowing that silence to remain once I realized, through my experience at CSAC, the benefits of that silence.

One example from my internship this month which may better clarify this idea of silence was my work with a group of high school girls at the Middlebury Union High School’s Alternative Education Center. Once a week I would lead a small group of girls from the program in an open discussion about topics ranging from friendships and conformity to anger management and panic attacks. Initially I was quite nervous and did all that I could to keep the conversation going. If there was a brief pause or silence in the conversation I would jump in with a new suggestion or an entirely new topic of conversation. As a result, the discussion was choppy and in no way cohesive. However, once I allowed myself to allow the conversation to pause or rest in silence I found that the girls kept the discussion going without my forced guidance. The silence allowed them time to absorb and contemplate things already said and to take the conversation in a more natural progression to the issues that affected them and those which they wished to share with the group. Furthermore, if an individual is given time to think of what he or she wants to say without being interrupted by my effort to finish their sentence it helps them to express what they truly feel. It is to some degree therapeutic allowing an individual to express himself in his own words. My newfound comfort with silence will certainly help me with any future work in the world of therapy, not to mention my own personal, social and classroom experiences.

Overall, my internship at CSAC was a great experience. Despite my occasional frustrations, I was able to get a small look inside the world of Child and Family Therapy in a small community clinic setting as well as in the educational setting. Although I did enjoy working with children of varying ages, I most enjoyed working with adolescents in high school as opposed to children of elementary school age. I’ve realized that, while I do work well with younger children, I am much more passionate about working with older individuals. As I begin to take my first big step into the career field, I understand the importance of following a passion instead of a particular skill. Recognizing this preference of age group will help me to narrow my focus in my current job search and later job selection.

Courtney Tabor, 2009

I spent this past J-term as an intern at the Counseling Service of Addison County (CSAC) in Middlebury, VT. I was one of two Middlebury students participating in this internship at the time. The internship lived up to and far surpassed my expectations of it, and I had an incredible experience.

As an intern at CSAC, I participated in several activities: I observed classes at the Alternative Education center and collaborated with the other Middlebury student intern to lead a girls’ therapy group there; I worked in a small therapy group with a counselor and two middle school aged boys in attempts to use music for therapeutic purposes; I worked with a family to help the two sons establish healthy physical boundaries with one another; I observed and helped in teaching and guiding students in a Diversified Occupations program; I accompanied 3 elementary and middle school aged boys along with two counselors on snowshoeing trips as part of an adventure therapy program; I counseled a visually impaired elementary school aged child and her family; I worked with and assisted students at the Champlain Valley Academy during both recreational and learning activities.

I believe that I performed well during this internship. I felt very comfortable in most of the situations in which I found myself throughout the month. Watching, experiencing, and participating in some of the work that counseling involves felt both natural and exciting to me. When I wasn’t physically at work, I spent a lot of time thinking about the individuals I had been working with-brainstorming about ideas of how to help them, trying to figure out why they did what they did and felt what they felt. I believe that I was able to be both enthusiastic and insightful, and to adapt well to the dynamic nature of the activities in which I participated. This is not to say that this month was not a challenge for me. I struggled at times to know what the right thing was to talk about with young adolescent boys whose main interests were video games, and just how to connect and communicate with girls who had gone through so much difficulty in their lives that I truly knew nothing about and had never experienced. I sometimes felt very insecure, worrying that the children would have no desire to let me in because in many situations I had no idea what it was really like to be them. However, although this was a struggle for me, I truly appreciated the perspective it gave me.

I am extremely grateful to have had this opportunity to intern at the Counseling Service over J-term. I learned a great deal about the field of counseling that no classroom experience would be able to teach me. Although it was difficult to dig deeply into one particular area, I got a small taste of many different types of counseling. This taught me how far the counseling field goes beyond simply sitting in an office. It can take so many different forms, and often it is more helpful to be active than to force antsy children and adolescents to sit in one place for an hour. Furthermore, I learned that in counseling, work goes far beyond the time actually spent “working.” You are constantly preparing and thinking about what to try next, why something you tried worked and something else didn’t. It is actually quite mentally exhausting. When I got home at the end of the day I felt completely drained, even after only five hours of work. But at the same time, it was always an exciting challenge, and though I was tired, I was always enthusiastic for what was to come the next day.

I also learned a great deal about myself during this internship. I was faced with a few different situations that forced me to step outside of my comfort zone for a while. For example, before the internship started I had never gone snowshoeing before, but found out that I would be going snowshoeing once a week with some children in an adventure therapy group. Although snowshoeing is not very difficult to learn, I was nervous since I can’t see and had no idea what the process would involve. However, I felt that in order to fully jump into the internship and its opportunities, I needed to try it out. I ended up loving it. As we snowshoed along the trails, each of the boys I was working with took turns guiding me along. It was a little difficult at times to put my trust in the boys, who sometimes forgot to tell me if there was a snow bank coming up or if there was a tree in our way, but it was fun too. It helped the boys to be patient and learn how to guide and help someone else, and it helped me to be trusting, flexible, and to have fun despite little fears that I might run into a tree along the way. Although this is just one experience, it is an example of how I learned the importance of stepping outside of my comfort zone once in a while. I think counseling is a lot about this. Kids being counseled are constantly stepping out of their comfort zone to open up and talk about what may be bothering them. Counselors also must be doing this all the time. As I learned this month, it is extremely uncomfortable to try and help a child who sits in complete silence for the entire session, or who is completely opposed to being there. But stepping out of your comfort zone is often a good thing, despite how difficult it may be. It is often very worthwhile.

Overall, I think that this was an amazing experience. I felt quite at home in this field, and it reinforced my desire to work as a counselor of some sort in the future. I’m still not sure exactly what direction I want to take-this internship gave me a taste of many different aspects I can look into-but the many options I was exposed to expanded my range of interests. I am starting graduate school in the fall at the University Of New England School Of Social Work, and this internship at CSAC was a great way for me to try out the counseling field before I start school in a few months. My only regret is that it did not last longer. It is difficult to get a taste of something you love and then have to stop. But I am extremely glad that I had the opportunity to participate in this internship. It has made me confident that I am moving along the right career path, introduced me to wonderful children and staff members, and taught me about the kind of counselor I want to someday become.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.

Brandon Rescue Squad/ EMT Training

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Brandon Rescue Squad

EMT Training

Abhishek Sripad, 2011

A toddler is hurt and down. He is lying on the sidewalk, with his femur clearly protruding from the skin and into the crisp autumn air. Also he has suffered was has appeared to be a devastating injury to his face. He is screaming in pain as his blood begins to aggressively march its way off the sidewalk and onto the street. Over a month ago, I would not have been able to be of any assistance to the child other than calling for help. Thanks to the EMT-B course offered by the Brandon Area Rescue Squad, I now have the knowledge, skills and mindset to be able to deal with such distressing situations. Along the way, my classmates and I learned of the practical knowledge and skills, but also something that cannot necessarily be taught in the classroom. In the final week of the course, we grew together as a group in a way that was exemplary of the camaraderie in the EMS field.

Our primary instructor for the class, Scott Supernaw (Emergency Medical Services Coordinator at Rutland Regional Medical Center), was aided by practical instructors Ed Sullivan, Howie McCaslin and Jeff Stern. Mr. Supernaw is extremely knowledgeable and is backed with a wealth of experience dating back to his days as a paramedic in New York City. His personal anecdotes complimented the material very well, as it provided a realistic-touch to already pertinent information. The structure of the course was such that we mostly alternated between lecture-based and practical days. This layout of the class was extremely effective in that we were able to apply what we learned almost immediately. At a liberal arts institution like Middlebury, we spend much of our time contemplating abstract concepts with intellectual curiosity. While students here can certainly attest to the importance of such academic dialogue, I felt that the skill-based knowledge stressed in the course was a welcome change of pace. It was particularly humbling to engage in learning that will save lives in the future. In a GPA-driven community in which we study to perform well on examinations, it was refreshing to see the empowerment of responsibility to the community overcome all of us. This atmosphere motivated students to study not for the grade that they might receive, but rather out of respect the injured toddler we would be called upon to treat. The material that Mr. Supernaw taught us was received an eager curiosity and an eye on the future.

The class began with housekeeping topics such as documentation and communication-essential, yet at times seemingly mundane topics. However it was not long until we dove into the Medical portion of EMT care. For nearly two weeks we were engrossed in cardiac, respiratory, abdominal and neurological emergencies, among other topics. Perhaps the most exciting, and paradoxically frustrating at times, aspect of medical scenarios was the feature of uncertainty in nearly every case. Since there is no obvious mechanism of injury, it is up to the EMT to narrow down the possibilities of the medical issue(s) that are at hand. This sensation of the unknown can be extremely exciting when you are able to aggressively treat the patient’s symptoms but can be equally as frustrating when the signs point in opposite directions. Immediately after our medical unit, we studied the Trauma half of EMT care. Both assessment and care in trauma greatly differed from that of medical cases. Trauma cases were fulfilling in their own way in that there was a certain finality to our treatment and care. For instance, splinting and swathing a fractured arm in scenarios felt much more comforting than simply ventilating an elderly patient on the brink of cardiac arrest.

Throughout the entire course, and it become more apparent as we progressed further into the month, I felt on sort of short-coming in the EMS field. While the role of emergency medical services cannot be understated in the well-being of an individual patient and society at large, I felt a sense of impending incompleteness in a field so complete with social service and good will. As EMTs, we treat. We do not diagnose or cure. As a (hopefully) future-EMT, I can see that I will have a difficult time parting with a patient by handing them off to doctors in the hospital’s emergency department. I can tell that handing a human life off to another person, no matter how qualified, will be a learning process for me. Regardless of medical or trauma scenarios, I would ideally like to see a patient through until he or she is fully cured. But this is the nature of EMS-the thankless and in many times faceless job in servitude to society.

As we moved into our fourth week, I had learned so much about Emergency Medical treatment and care as well as the field’s strengths and limitations. However I felt among our group that many of us were simply going through the actions with the image of ourselves serving as the first response team. It was during the last week in which our group finally developed a sense of community and that we were truly a team. Throughout the course, Ed Sullivan spoke about the camaraderie that exists among EMTs. It must be something that accompanies the nature of a job that directly influences the lives of others. While our group has not yet been in such trying circumstances, as the month came to end, we began seeing ourselves as part of a greater EMT squad. As we got more comfortable with each other on professional and personal levels, we began engaging in practicals with more confidence. It was in this time that I felt as a group we were truly ready for the positions we are about to fill. I’ve realized that this course not only gave me the knowledge and skills I wanted and expected to learn, but it taught me much more. The course, and the EMS field as whole, has already taught me a great deal about overwhelming feeling of responsibility that comes with that knowledge. But perhaps above all, the course and the students showed me that the power of heart-felt teamwork improves the performance of individuals and as a result the entire team.

Abigail Leathe, 2011

For my winter term internship, I participated in the EMT class offered through Brandon Area Rescue Squad. The class met 4 times per week for 8 hours per day, and as part of the class I also did an 8-hour shift at Rutland Emergency Department. I learned a great deal from the class, which focused on both a medical background of various ailments, illnesses, and injuries, explaining how and why these are caused, and also on the presentation of such problems and how to identify the correct issue and provide emergency medical care.

The most important job of the Emergency Medical Technician is to respond quickly to a scene and provide the necessary emergency care procedures to keep the person in need alive and as stable as possible en route to the hospital. There are many different ways to do this, and many different scenarios that the EMT must be prepared for. The two main branches of situation are medical and trauma, although these can overlap. Medical calls come from patients who are experiencing an illness or any number of medical symptoms. A trauma call deals with a patient who has experienced an impact of some sort, which can cause a variety of problems, both those that will be visible and also those that are more difficult to see. The responses to these calls vary greatly, so there is a lot that an EMT must know.

EMTs are not doctors. They do not diagnose, and can not determine exactly the reason for any problem, but a foundation of knowledge is important, because EMTs have to make very quick decisions and the consequences can literally be life or death. This is why it is crucial to get the whole story from the patient: a SAMPLE history to know their allergies, medications, etc., an accurate size up from their visible symptoms, a precise and thorough description of pain or discomfort, and any valuable information from friends, family, or bystanders. All of this comes together in order to determine what is the correct method of emergency care for this person.

It’s important to remember that being an EMT is about teamwork. No EMT ever responds to a call alone. The tasks are divided with a partner, so being an EMT is not just about responding to calls and providing care, but about learning to work alongside others, when to take the lead and when to take a backseat. EMTs learn from their teammates, share stories of success and stories of runs where there is room for improvement. The learning doesn’t stop when the class ends.

The best way that I learned in this course was through practicing. Lectures were of course necessary, but in the afternoons we had the opportunity to run through medical and trauma scenarios, learn how to apply oxygen, when and how to give various medications such as Epinephrine or Nitroglycerin, how to splint, how to backboard, and how to load and transport patients. For me, the most difficult part of any scenario is not how to perform the emergency care, but what type of care to give, which is why the scenarios were helpful because they provided an opportunity to arrive on scene and quickly determine the problem and how best to provide pre-hospital care.

Another part of the internship that I really enjoyed and found useful was the hospital shadowing. The Rutland Emergency Department is well equipped and sees a wide variety of patients and circumstances. When I was in the hospital, only one patient arrived via ambulance. The man had sustained a knife injury to the wrist, down to the bone. While in the Emergency Department, the EMTs that had arrived on scene at the man’s house were in communication with the hospital, and it was helpful for me to hear a real radio call-in from the ambulance, describing the circumstances. It was also helpful to see how the EMTs responded to the man’s injury. In this case, the EMTs had loaded up the man’s wrist with bandages and a splint. One doctor in the Emergency Department told me that it would have been better to apply direct pressure to stop the bleeding. It was useful to get this advice.

I feel that this was a very useful internship, because I am coming out of it with a skill. After taking and, if all goes well, passing the National Registry Exam, I will be a certified EMT and will be able to work on a rescue squad in Vermont. This is also a skill that can be taken anywhere, as ambulances and EMTs are needed in every area of America. It is also useful to be an EMT to know more about the human body and the way that it works. Being aware of surroundings is a crucial aspect of gaining an understanding of the world, and becoming an EMT is one step of this process.

The following students participated in the 2009 Winter Term EMT Training; Benjamin Brown,2011; Spencer Church, 2010; Ruby Bolster, 2009; Zach DeVore, 2010; Kevin Glatt, 2011; Stephanie Joyce, 2010; Danielle Kruse, 2011; Christina Kunycky, 2011; James McNinen, 2011; Tiernan Meyer, 2011; Nicholas Palmer, 2009; Adam Schaffer, 2012, and Jeffrey M. Stern, 2008.5

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!

Department of Mental Health-Pesaro, Italy

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Department of Mental Health Pesaro, Italy

Psychology Intern

Caterina Benini, 2010

Overall I think I performed very well in this internship: I carried out all of my duties and responsibilities well, was cordial to the entire working staff, I always offered my help to every person of the staff, and I always offered to do more than was asked of me. In the morning, I always arrived a few minutes before my supervisor, and left only when my supervisor went home and told me to do so as well because there was nothing else for me to do for the day.

I learned a great deal about the field of psychiatry in the course of the internship. I learned many practical skills, such as how to conduct an unstructured interview, how to deal with psychotic patients versus bipolar patients versus depressed patients (but I also learned that each patient needs to be dealt with in a different way even if he/she presents the same mental illness as others), how to administer certain psychological tests, that it is always better to prescribe one drug at its maximum dosage rather than multiple ones at lower dosages, and began to learn how to recognize symptoms of a certain mental illness for a diagnosis. I also learned that there is a wide variety of mental illnesses and each illness can vary greatly in its symptoms and effects from person to person, as can the therapies prescribed, and that patients, no matter how naïve and sincere they may seem, are often consciously lying about themselves and their behavior.

But most importantly, I learned that the best way to cure a patient and better his entire life is not by providing him/her with drugs only, or psychiatric therapy only, or alternative therapeutics methods only, or by ameliorating his/her social and familial environment only, but by providing him/her with a therapeutic program which integrates all of the aforementioned elements, and thus follows the patient in all the facets of his/her life.

I also learned a great deal about myself. In fact, I realized that having to deal everyday with mentally ill patients, often with very problematic and sad familial or social situations, takes a huge psychological toll on the person. I empathized so much with the patients every day that even though I really liked the experience of the internship, at the end of the four weeks I was glad on one hand that it was over. I learned that one really needs to detach himself/herself from the patients if he/she is to purse a career in this field, but I am not sure I personally would be able to do so.

In conclusion, I am very satisfied with the internship and with how I performed in it, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone; with the warning, however, that one has to be ready to be challenged not only from a learning point of view, but also and especially from a psychological one.

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!

Harvard Medical School-Partners Healthcare Center for Genetics and Genomics (HPCGG)

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Harvard Medical School-Partners Healthcare Center for Genetics and Genomics (HPCGG)

Libby Brush, 2009

This past January I worked with Dr. Heidi Rehm at the Harvard Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics in Cambridge Massachusetts. Generally, the lab runs a variety of genetic tests including (but not limited to) genetic tests for Noonans, Marfans, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) and Dialated Cardiomyopathy (DCM). The focus of my internship however was to work on a clinical research study involved in publishing data on the genetic causes of HCM. Specifically, I reviewed over 1500 patient cases to collect clinical information on the patients, entered the data into spreadsheets, and subsequently analyzed the data using graphs and tables for a future publication. I also spent a significant portion of my time researching genetic variants and their clinical significance. Lastly, I gathered data on the performance of the HCM CardioChip, a clinical genetic test for HCM, to determine its accuracy in comparison with a previous (more expensive) test.

I feel as though I greatly contributed to the data analysis portion of the paper, and believe that I acted in a responsible and professional manner. I genuinely enjoyed working with the people in the office, and feel as though my contributions were greatly appreciated.

As a result of my time spent at the Harvard Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics I became more inspired to follow my original path towards a career in medicine. Although I think that clinical research is interesting and of vital importance, I realized that I do not want to simply work in a lab or at a desk. This internship showed me just how important and how much I value patient interaction. Far and away, my favorite part of the internship was when I was able to go to the Boston Children’s Hospital and learn about the clinical applications of the research I was analyzing. Therefore, this internship served to strengthen my desire to apply to medical school and work in the more clinical avenues of science.

As a whole, I really enjoyed my time in Cambridge. I met a lot of very interesting and smart people, who will be great resources and contacts in the future. I am extremely glad that I took advantage of this great opportunity to explore other careers in science before applying to medical school. As stated earlier, it only served to strengthen my conviction to one day get my MD and practice medicine.

Please contact the Career Services Office or visit http://www.hpcgg.org/ for more information!

Porter Hospital Internships

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Dr. Fuller, General Surgeon

Avery Clark, 2009

Throughout the winter term internship at Porter Hospital I was able to observe a vast array of medical specialties. I learned what it means to be a part of the medical field, and the responsibilities that go along with that. I spent the majority of my time at the hospital shadowing doctors and surgeons as they went about their daily practices: seeing patients, performing procedures, analyzing test results, collaborating with other doctors, etc. This internship was incredibly valuable as it opened my eyes to time, dedication, and care it takes to become a good doctor.

My mentor for the month was Dr. Fuller, a general surgeon at Porter. Most of my days were spent observing his surgeries in the mornings, and meeting with patients in the office in the afternoon. The thing that struck me most about the surgical field was how essential it was to establish trust with the patient. They basically put their lives in the hands of the surgeon and must trust that he/she will take the best care of them possible. With Dr. Fuller I learned how important it is to form a relationship with the patient first, to explain and clarify exactly what they will be experiencing, and to try and allay the fears and anxiety the patient is feeling.

Watching the surgeries was an eye-opening experience for me. Honestly I was not sure how I would handle seeing an actual operation at first, but after getting over the initial queasiness I found it fascinating to actually view all the parts of the body and how they are interconnected. Dr. Fuller was so helpful in taking the time prior to each surgery to explain to me what he would be doing, and then continuing to talk to me about what I was seeing throughout the actual surgery. I learned just how precise and systematic you must be as a surgeon in order to ensure you perform each step correctly, as well as how important it is to have a strong team behind you. Over this period I was able to observe a broad range of procedures including laparoscopic gallbladder removals, colon resection, emergency spleen removal, thyroid lobectomy, and hernia repairs to name a few. No two surgeries were ever the same, and each one continued to teach me something new.

Although surgery is a fascinating field, my goal for this internship was to gain as many different experiences as possible, and to take advantage of the tact that we could participate in rotations in a wide range of specialties. Beyond figuring out if I do want to attend medical school, I also need to decide what field of medicine I would like to go into myself, and this was the perfect opportunity to explore these options further. Over the month I had experiences in the emergency room, orthopedics, ophthalmology, pathology, obstetrics and radiology. I noticed how much variation there is within a hospital and how each doctor’s day to day routine was completely different. All of the doctors were incredibly open to sharing their experiences in becoming doctors with me. It became clear how passionate they were about their jobs and the responsibility of caring for other human beings. Not a single doctor I talked to said to me that they regretted their choices, to them, medicine was incredibly exciting and worthwhile.

Across all the fields, it became clear that in interacting with patients, a doctor must exhibit genuine interest and compassion for the patient’s well-being. No patient is ever completely comfortable going into a doctor’s office, and they want/need to believe that the doctor truly cares about them and their problems. In order for a patient to trust in a doctor enough to fully and openly disclose information about their health they need to have established a strong relationship with that person. This takes an incredible amount of time and patience on the doctor’s part, but I could see how worthwhile it is in the end when you actually help someone improve their life. It is clear that this is the most rewarding part for the doctor’s I interacted with, the fact that, at the end of the day, they know that they made a significant difference in multiple people’s lives.

Overall I found this internship to be an incredibly rewarding experience. Prior to this j-term, my only real experience in the medical field was a volunteer position in the emergency room of Greenwich Hospital. Although it was interesting to observe the daily activities in this department, I was not really given the opportunity to interact with many of the doctors and nurses on staff. At Porter all of the doctors I interacted with, especially Dr. Fuller, were willing to answer any questions I had, and took significant time out of their month to provide me with an inside view of the workings of a hospital. The amount of exposure I was given was invaluable, and I now have a much better idea as to what it takes to be a medical professional. I greatly appreciate the generosity of the doctors at Porter Hospital, and would recommend that anyone possibly interested in a career in medicine take advantage of this excellent opportunity Middlebury offers us.

Dr. Carl Petri, General Surgeon

Natalie Dupre, 2010

As a Pre-med student at Middlebury College, I have been struggling with a life/career decision on whether or not to attend med-school. To help me with this life altering decision, I looked to the Porter Hospital Winter Internship. Over the month on January, I was fortunate enough to shadow Dr. Petri, a general surgeon at the hospital. I’m so appreciative for the time and effort he took out of his day to answer my questions and to tell me things about life and medicine. He, and the rest of the doctors and nurses, did a great job at teaching me fundamental and practical things dealing with medicine. While, of course, I did not help on any of the procedures besides turning on and off the lights, my responsibilities entailed: observing surgical procedures and office visits, asking questions, organizing times to meet with other doctors, not getting in the way of the nurses, being on time, dressing appropriately, and not touching anything in blue that indicated sterility. While the internship does require a lot of hours and waking up very early on some days, it was well worth it; not to mention, that outside of being in the hospital there was little stress or written work, making it perfect for a J-term experience.

After a month of observing physicians in the hospital, I cannot give justice to how much I learned not only about medicine, but also about life and work within a hospital. While it’s not as dramatic as Grey’s Anatomy, I did encounter a fair share of ethical and moral issues, intriguing surgeries, and unfortunate and depressing problems that both patients and doctors have to deal with. While this is over generalized, I observed that certain types of doctors have stereotypical quirks about their personalities. For example, the main focus of primary care physicians has less to do with practicing medicine but rather, most of their time is spent on talking about life and building a relationship with the patient. Primary care doctors want to know about the patient’s life and they want to make sure that he or she is living a fine and healthy lifestyle. They are the popular doctors who are good with babies, kids, teens, and adults. They like to spend time outside of the office doing things with their family, taking classes, and learning about life and people. Surgeons on the other hand like to avoid excessive conversation with the patient and are more focused on the medical aspect. They know exactly what they are doing and they are very good at it. It may seem like they don’t have a life outside of the office and OR, but it’s not that they don’t have a life outside of surgery but rather they do the things that they know they like. There are even subspecialty personalities like the orthopedic surgeons who are like the rock star surgeons. They work with crazy tools and drills and they listen to AC/DC while they repair the mechanics of the body. Some doctors don’t even see patients. The pathologists and radiologists are these doctors who get to choose how much patient contact they want. It’s not necessary for them to talk to the patient. Instead, they work in their lab or office and look under a microscope or analyze images to help come up with an appropriate diagnosis.

After comparing these different fields of medicine, I’m no longer torn about whether or not I want to go to med school. Now, I’m torn as to what field of medicine I prefer. I like the fact that a surgeon is not set on a daily and weekly routine that primary care doctors are confined to. In many cases, surgeons help to restore the life of the patient. This is what I like about surgery. You get to do things and really fix things, whereas a doctor who works in an office all of the time does more counseling, which may or may not help the patient. There are more risks associated with being a surgeon than a primary care physician, but knowing what you do really makes a difference in someone’s life may be worth the risks of being a surgeon. However, I really like the relationships that a primary care physician builds with his or her patients that are sometimes compromised with being a surgeon. Either way, all of these doctors do a great and thorough job of taking care of their patients and that is what makes me want to be a doctor.

From this internship, I was also introduced to the troubles of a rural hospital that range from small town issues to government intervention within the hospital. Being from a larger city than Middlebury, I am used to hearing about violence issues, etc. But I was shocked to encounter situations of domestic violence in rural Vermont where there is little to no awareness of such topics. It also shocked me that the government-which has so much involvement in medicine and hospitals-has not addressed these community issues. This made me realize that there is a fundamental problem with how the government gets involved with medicine. Maybe the money that is spent on patients to have surgery is only taking care of the symptoms but not the underlying problem. Maybe more money should be invested into making sure that sexual predators aren’t roaming the streets, or that people have easy and non-bureaucratic access to family counseling so that less money has to be devoted to covering up the problem with surgery. Until preventative care gets better, these band-aid issues are going to keep rising.

On the whole, I would definitely not pass up this awesome opportunity for any possible med-school student. Shadowing a doctor is an opportunity that not many get to have and it’s great for those who are toying with the idea of med-school. I am so grateful for this internship program, because it really elucidated my decision process and taught me a lot about life. I found out through this experience, that as a woman, I can be a hard-working doctor and still live a balanced life. I also learned a lot of anatomy and physiology that I never really appreciated until I actually saw it in the OR. Even though I only learned a small fraction of what med-school must learn, I am definitely better off after doing this internship and I completely recommend this to anyone who wants to go to med-school.

Dr. Linn Larson, MD

Susan Read, 2009

As one of the Porter winter term interns, my job was mostly to follow my mentor physician to get a sense for what a career as a physician might entail. The majority of the time, I simply sat in on patient visits and observed how the physician interviewed and interacted with the patient. Later on in the month, I was allowed to interview patients on my own, following a generalized problem list created by the office. I was also taught basic examination techniques, such as how to listen to a patient’s heart and lungs and look in their ears. After seeing a patient on my own, I would discuss my findings with my mentor and tell her what I believed the patient’s diagnosis to be. With any patient visit, we would go over the patient’s diagnoses and the plan of action for treatment, including any complications that might arise from other medical conditions or family problems. When I shadowed physicians from other specialties, I had similar discussions about treatment plans but less patient interaction, as I had less freedom while in other physicians’ offices.

Throughout the internship, I was encouraged to ask questions and pick physicians’ brains both about particular cases and about the process of medical school and residency. I’m sure there were hundreds of questions I had that were left unanswered, but it was difficult to organize my thoughts enough in the fast-paced environment to pinpoint what exactly it was that I needed to know. I felt as though much of what I wanted to know could be learned through observation, and that many of the specific questions I could think of pertained to the drugs being prescribed – information that I could look up on my own without needing to take the time to ask the physician. However, I believe that I could have been less tentative in several areas of the internship, questioning included. I was perhaps more reluctant than I should have been to see patients on my own – the office that I was in made it particularly easy with their pre-made forms for various categories of illness, which would go over the common symptoms. I did have the limiting factor of only being able to interview a limited number of cases, though – being in family practice meant that a great deal of the cases we saw were routine physicals, where my limited skills would not have been of much use.

This internship showed me that medicine, while certainly not an easy career path, does not require any sort of superhuman skills in order to have a successful career. The physicians that I spoke to were certainly all of the mind that medical school was difficult, though not unreasonably so. Residency, on the other hand, sounded like an exhausting process – the advice that my mentor passed on to me was, “If you see a bed, lie in it; if you see a chair, sit in it; if you see food, eat it.” Despite the hardships everyone had faced during the course of their education, they never spoke of reconsidering their career path or of anyone dropping out of the program because it was too much. I got the sense that everyone had discovered their passion while in the clinical rotation years of medical school, and that was what kept them motivated throughout all of the exhausting years. Sacrifices were necessary to maintain a semblance of a normal life, in some cases – my mentor, for example, had started out doing obstetrics earlier in her career, but had been forced to give it up in order to spend more time with her family. While she occasionally lamented the fact that it was not something she could do for her whole career, she recognized the importance of a good family life and took pleasure in that instead. From this, I became more aware that my career may not go exactly as I envision it now. I must be prepared to allow my interests and priorities to shift, but not to allow myself to be talked out of what I believe is best for me.

Being primarily in family practice emphasized to me the importance of the doctor-patient relationship in primary care, and the appeal of this relationship to me. I enjoyed watching my mentor’s interactions with patients that she had been seeing for years and the sense of trust that had built between them over time. In that situation, the physician becomes not only a healthcare provider, but also an educator, counselor, and friend. It is this type of interaction that makes medicine my career of choice and draws me to primary care. By getting to know patients so well, the difference that the physician can make in one’s life is much more obvious.

Shadowing in different specialties, including physical therapy, showed me that the fast pace of medicine, while exhausting, also functions to keep me motivated and on my toes. No two cases are ever alike, meaning that there will always be something new and interesting to see, even if the patient is only in for a routine physical. In that sense, medicine will never boring, thanks to the wide variety of issues that could present themselves. Finally, I discovered that I enjoy the excitement of the operating room, so that I would like to pursue a field that allows both time in the office to interact with patients and surgical privileges, such as orthopedics or OB/GYN. A month-long internship is obviously not enough to allow me to make a decision about what exactly I want to do for the rest of my life, but I think I can safely say that medicine is the right path for me, and I will eagerly await the opportunity to fully explore all of my options for what specialty I am truly best suited for.

In addition, the follow list of students also participated in a Winter Term Internship with Porter Hospital:

Sophie Clarke, 2011; Sean Denny, 2009; Lisa Gretebec, 2010; Ben Grimmnitz, 2008.5; Matt Labunka, 2010.5; William McConaughy, 2011; Mean O’Keefe, 2010; Ashley Panichelli; Roger Perreaullt, 2009; Richard Saunders, 2009.5; Anne Sullivan, 2010; Laurel Wickberg, 2009

Contact the Career Services Office for more information about internships with Porter Hospital.

Partners in Health

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Partners in Health

Hannah Burnett, 2010

During the month of January I volunteered at Partners In Health, an international non-profit based in Boston, MA. Partners In Health (PIH) is dedicated to providing a preferential option for the poor, providing medical care as well as addressing socioeconomic issues, from a position of solidarity and social justice. PIH works in nine different countries around the world, including Haiti, Rwanda, Malawi, Lesotho, Peru, USA, Russia, and supports programs in Chiapas, Mexico and Guatemala. I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to volunteer at Partners In Health last January, which gave me a good chance to familiarize myself with the organization, their work, and various departments within PIH. I spent the majority of my time working with the development and training teams, doing various short term projects and made some really strong connections with the organization. This year I had the opportunity to work directly with the training team on a specific project, the HIV Curriculum for Physicians and Nurses. This curriculum is part of a grant from the Gates Foundation that included two other curricula, as well as the construction of a new training facility for PIH in Rwinkwavu, Rwanda.

The goal of this curriculum is to train local physicians and nurses about addressing HIV education, identification, treatment and associated problems. This curriculum is based on the PIH Model of Care, which is used in all of their programs but adapted for each particular site and community. Initially, this curriculum will be used by Inshuti Mu Buzima (Partners In Health in Kinyarwanda) in rural Rwanda, where one of the main goals of PIH is to scale up HIV treatment and care in rural Rwanda and develop and disseminate a rural care model for HIV that can be replication and used throughout Rwanda and sub-Saharan Africa. The curriculum will be made up of 12 modules and will eventually be translated and revised to be put into use at all of PIH’s sites where HIV is a major problem.

During my internship, I worked on two units of the curriculum: managing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human rights and the PIH Model of Care. For the unit on STIs, I made basic revisions, tested the activities as if I was a trainer, and had the opportunities to write a few training activities for the unit. During this process created accompanying PowerPoint presentations and participant activity manuals, as well as doing some epidemiological and medical research for the content. After completing this unit, I worked on creating a curriculum about human rights and their role in health care and more specifically through the PIH model of care. This was a really challenging assignment, but tied together what I had learned about PIH as an organization as well as applied what I had learned about training and curriculum writing. In addition to my work with the curriculum, I had the opportunity to attend several lectures about PIH’s programs around the world, as well as a few lectures by Paul Farmer, one of the founders of the organization, and one of my personal heroes for his work in global health and social justice. During this experience, I was also able to plan a lecture by Paul Farmer at Middlebury, as well as plan an exhibition of their photo exhibit, On the Same Map: Hope is a Human Right, which will be on display in Bicentennial Hall for a month this spring, in conjunction with the global health symposium.

This internship was an incredible opportunity for me to get some practical experience in the field of global health and apply some of my coursework as an independent scholar in medical anthropology and international public health. I already knew that I would love being at PIH, because of my volunteer position last year, but it reinforced the fact that this is where my passion lies and is the type of work I hope to be doing in the future. Everyday I woke up excited to go to work and left at 5:30 in disbelief that the day was already over; I think I have found my dream job!

During this experience, I had a lot of opportunities to talk with various staff members and volunteers about their experiences in the field of global health, as well as the paths they took to get there. I came to realize that there really isn’t a set path to a career in this field, and that although there is much to be said about planning ahead, it is so important to be flexible, to take opportunities as they come, and to keep networking! It has come to my attention that field experience, either with an NGO, through a fellowship, or a program like the Peace Corps is a necessary step, as is some sort of graduate program. I am very appreciative of the opportunity to get many different suggestions and ideas, but am also walking away from the experience with an understanding that this journey is very personal, and I need to be true to myself and my interests as I pursue a career in the field.

During this internship, through organizing a lecture at Middlebury by Paul Farmer, as well as a visiting display of the PIH photo exhibit in Bicentennial Hall, I spent a lot of time talking about advocacy, raising awareness, and how to present issues of health, social justice, and human rights to university students. These conversations were not only instrumental in helping the organization of these events, but also the 2009 Spring Symposium on Global Health and creating the framework for a social justice and global health movement on campus. These discussions really challenged me to identify how I relate to the field, as well as begin thinking about the broader context of Middlebury, and the role of global health and social justice in our curriculum and in the college community, something I have been hoping to be a part of since applying to be an independent scholar. The importance of raising awareness and increasing activism for global issues is something that I feel is very much a part of Middlebury, and having the opportunity to begin to really think about the importance of how this impact is made has really clarified many of my experiences at Middlebury, studying abroad, and at PIH. I have come to realize that much of my interest in global health lies in this need to shift the paradigm about these issues, to raise awareness, promote activism, and create change through developing a perspective of solidarity and social justice, something I hope to be able to continue on campus as well as at PIH this summer.

For more information about this internship visit www.pih.org or contact the Career Services Office!