Looking ahead at this summer, I anticipate a very exciting, engaging, and rewarding experience. While I have been involved with hospital environments in the past, I have never participated in any type of clinical research or shadowing. I expect it to be quite different from the lab research and hospital volunteering that I am used to. From a volunteer position, it is nice that you are able to help the hospital and patients in certain capacities, but sometimes your scope of what the doctors are actually doing can be limited. Because of this I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to shadow under Dr. Bordeianou and participate in research around colorectal surgery.
Because this experience is my first one in a hospital that is not in a volunteer capacity, I am sure that more will be expected of me and I hope to be able to further the goals and the research of what I will be assisting the group with. Moreover, I hope to take advantage of the chances being given to me and aim to learn as much as I can, not only about colorectal surgery and research but also about what goes into successful surgeries, preparation for them, and healthy patient interactions.
In my pursuit of becoming a doctor, I have tried to gain exposure to the hospital environment as much as I can. I truly believe this will be the most informative and illuminating experience for me up until now. While volunteering and taking science classes are very important to my development towards becoming a doctor, seeing and understanding what goes into the everyday life of being one and functioning in a hospital setting is something that I think is most crucial and will be the most eye-opening for me.