Opportunity for medical school mentorspre med students can engage with med students about the med school journey. What is it like to be a med student? How did you get where you are? Get your mentor to meet as much as you can if you get a mentor. Take advantage of this opportunity. Deadline is Oct 15.
Project Horseshoegreat opportunity to serve rural Alabama. Great way to utilize the time in your gap year. Shows others you are interested in health careshows maturity after undergrad.
Panel: Zjunior at UNCused to be pre-med. Now a global studies major and anthropology minor. Might want to go to PA school. Im a doula. What is that? A doula is basically a birth assistant who is there for the physical and emotional support of the woman during and after birthing process.
Alanajunior at UNCglobal studiesfocus in healthEMT with rescue squad. The squad is stationed in Carrboro. Provide EMS medical standby for UNC. Very present on UNC campus. Volunteers at the station and waits for dispatch to different places. Started application at 17. We range in ages from 19 to 40s. You cant be too young or too old to do this. Loves job. Durham tech offers EMT certification class next January. Registration is online. Lots of hands on experience. EMS club starting at UNC. Combat medic, firefighters, Orange County Emergency Services, etc.
Kyle MelvinCNA and scribe in ER. Prepared to take skills challenge course and written exam. Written exam is simple. They have CNA handbook that has questions and answers on test. Taking the one-day course is great, but you have no experience in the field. Its hard to get a job without experience. 6- week course is offered for the same price but clinical experience was included. The second course isnt really used as much for work as CNA but gave experience and helped him to become a scribe. Its great to treat patients and talk with them one on one. o Everyone has an electronic medical recordeverything is on computer. Goes in and works with second and third year emergency medicine residents. Goes in with them to see a patient. Been trained to pick up through conversation all information that needs to be put into medicinal record (chief complaint, physical exam, etc.). Awesome job. The scribe program through ER was the first at UNC hospital. Other departments are getting scribes as well (along with private practices). You learn a lot by taking down info and you build good relationships with other doctors. Shannon Bryanvolunteer with rape crisis center. Been doing it for a full year. Center has been around for four years. Two branchesthe crisis response branch (hotline)talk about a recent or not so recent rape, and the prevention branchgo to public schools to talk about rape (a healthy relationship, what constitutes sexual assault and violence). o Not medical but great for people who are interested in psychology or social work. A lot of what we do involves accompanying survivors to hospital, ER, law enforcement, various aspects of recovery process. o Requires an intimate knowledge of all systems o 60 hours of training to do this o Lots of information thrown at you, but a great way to help people in the community. o This service makes sure that a survivor gets all resources they need.
How did you help somebody through a problem? Compassion? Z: interested in birth. From Zimbabwe. Disturbed by lack of sanitation and proper resources for birthing process in Zimbabwe. Other relatives associate birth with violent experience. Found out about doula program through other friendfailed chem 102. Applied for doula program and got on waiting list. Someone emailed her this year about being a doula this year after a year of waiting. Doulas are there for emotional support. If you talk to any one who has given birth or is giving birth, it is usually an experience they remember. I want people to have positive birth experiences. I get to be a part of the medical teamnot necessarily something you can do as an undergrad. You can be in the room and see what is going on. Doulas meet with people who are in prison or anywhere else. Its a good way to connect with patients. We cant give them prescriptions or medical advice but it is still good.
AlanaEMTs are a memorable part of someones life. They will remember how you treat them. They will remember your face. Its important to treat their problem and treat them well (as an important person). Compassion and empathy are necessary no matter where you are. Sometimes its difficult to have compassion and empathy in some situations, but you can choose empathy still. It is the best way to get through any situation. You can be a good EMT and not have empathy, but it is always best to maintain it. Its worth the extra effort to keep it. Its all a team effort. I would feel egotistical to say that I save lives. Other people are just as involved. Its a cool way to give back to the community because it is honest work (except for when the patient lies about drugs). Compassion and empathy are a way to serve the community.
KyleWhen I was a CNA doing clinical rotations, I worked with one patient for a while. We got to choose between working with dementia patients or elderly patients. I worked with a patient for four weeks. I bathed the guy, cleaned him up after he used the bathroom, fed him, watched TV with him, and talked to him about his family. It was great to get to know someone as a person, not as a statistic or a disease. Its not fun to have to clean crap, but it lowers you to a different perspective. Its really easy to be high on the success of being here and have an ego, but its not good for your ability to be a doctor. Med schools want people who are smart and can get on the level of the patients. Things like this make you figure out how to be a decent human being. o One of the very first ER shifts was a full cardiac arrest. I was fine until I saw his family came in and I thought that this could be my situation. Medicine isnt all flowers and rainbows. You have to deal with shit and people dying. The rest is extremely stressful. Figuring out what you are signing yourself up for is a good thing if you want to be prepared and if you want to be sure it is right for you.
ShannonCrisis center doesnt make you pick up crapacronymBLESS Believe, Listen, Empower, Support, and be Safe. I use this every time she goes into a meeting or conversation with a client. You want to be a comforting presence. I dont take an active role in helping someone figure out their problems and their next steps. Im there to be someone they can rely on but Im not attempting to be the person that fixes a problem. For the most part, we come to the understanding that we can do as much as we can do and at a certain point we must distance ourselves and create certain boundaries to allow us to help someone without forcing ourselves into their lives. Went with someone to DPSS while they reported their case. Happy that I was there. She was willing to tell the student about what she thought about the interview. If the student hadnt been present, she would have felt that way and not had someone else to be there with her. Active listening is a specific skill that most people havent been taught and dont use.
How do you think your opportunity has changed your outlook on life? Kylebefore my opportunity, I had this flowery picture of medicine. I was extremely judgmental of people. Not racist or anything. But when you see an obese person come in with cardiovascular disease or diabetes and you think he did that to himself. I see now that there are a lot of underlying issues that make people unable to cope. Now I just want to help these people. What can I do to help you understand how important your disease is? It seems simple but when you first start volunteering you think things are simpler than they turn out to be. Some problems are not as easy to fix as they seem. You can get someone to do a lot more when you are friends with them than if you arent. Lots of people come in constantly, but we dont take enough time to ask why.
Zbeing a doula as a woman is empowering. Ive learned so much about loving and supporting people. Birth is such a universal experience. Its so transcendent. Ive never gone through the process but learning how to be supportive and teach people things you have never done is interesting.
AlanaIm tougher now. Not to scare anyone. You have to be able to stick up for yourself and take criticism. I used to be super shy. At the end of shift you add the more experienced person your sheet and they give you feedback. Sometimes its good and some times its not. Ive come to appreciate this job more. If you see someone who knows how to do something better than you, learn from them. Being able to speak up and ask others for help is how you get good. Ive learned a lot about humility. Ive considered my field heroic. But its really hard to feel noble when you are woken up at 3AM the night before a test for a dispatch. Not as noble as she thought she was. It is more difficult to be heroic.
ShannonPrior to becoming a companion, I viewed all recovery processes as person A helping person B overcome their problem. I realized that the recovery is all about person B being empowered and supported in resolving their own problems. Knowing that people have the ability to get over a traumatic experience is empowering.
Give a brief spill about why you should do what you do.
AlanaBecome an EMT because you get a lot of patient contactlots of clinical hourslots of autonomy. No doctor peering over your shoulder. Your partner does one thing and you do another. You work in teams and rely on one another. You learn how to work independently and make decisions on your own. You are trained on how to make decisions. You are being trusted with a lot. You are not too old or young to do it. Ive learned a lot about medicine. Lots of networking is involved. Everyone has something to learn from someone else.
Zyou dont have to be obsessed with birth. Some people just wanted to take the class to learn more about it. Im interested in global health and birth is a part of that. As a doula I get to work in a hospital, learn the ins and outs and work with doctors and nurses. Dynamics of those relationships are valuable for those interested in med.
KyleYou get paid to do the CNA and scribe jobyou can get clinical hours and get paid. Being a CNA allows for you to have an impact on someones life. You are going to bathe, feed and get to know your patient. You develop a good relationship with your patient. You see them all the time while youre working. You will get pretty good at it quickly. You will get more of the clinical aspect of it. Medical education is also stellar. You get to watch many cases and learn the ins and outs about what machines to use to test certain things. Networking is great as well. You get a lot more medical knowledge as a scribe as a CNA. As a scribe you dont have physical contact with patients. But you do get a lot of knowledge about procedures, etc. both are great options, you just have to choose which you are interested in and what you get accepted in.
ShannonNot pre-med or anything, but I think that when you look at sexual violence as public health issue, volunteering at crisis system gives holistic perspective about sexual violence as an issue with different organizations trying to combat it. you get lots of social work experience. We connect all the pieces of the puzzle for the client and have personal contact with people who are at the most vulnerable state they will be in their entire lives. The fact that you can help them through the massive bureaucracy that isnt necessarily supportive to these people is a wonderful thing. The rape crisis center runs off of volunteers. Everyone has to rely on one another to maintain the service. Its a good feeling.
Audience Questions: What is time commitment for scribe? o KyleDepends on where you work. 8 to 10 hours at a time usually. 8 to 16 hours a week. I wouldnt get into it sophomore year. After you get over that hump it is cool. o AlanaCadets have 48 hours a month. Schedule is flexible. It could mean four 12 hour shifts on the ambulance or some football games, etc. Once you are tested and no longer a cadet, you put in 24 hours a month. You could do one ambulance shift every other week. Its totally manageable.
How did you apply to be a scribe? I applied in an outpatient clinic in Lumberton as a summer activity. They sent the application to be a scribe through CPMA at UNC and I went through the process. Go online and call people. Talk to people about what you can do as a scribe. UNC staffs Chatham County, Siler City, etc. Duke will probably jump on the bandwagon soon. If you can convince them that you can see more patients that day then they should be on board.
One of your crazy EMT stories? o Kyle: I work with second and third year residents. Lots of them are super awesome. One of them is Adam Carter. We saw a patient came in restrained to the bed. EMS picked him up high on crack wanting to commit suicide. We know that he just smoked crack like 5 mins ago. We go through spill. He told us he was tied down because he hit somebody. He hit someone who was in the police force. He told us he drank everyday and smoked crack. He was tring to be professional and holding it in. He said that he has just smoked and that he wouldnt hit the doctors if they took him out of the restraints. o Alana: Dont do crack. Just dont. Two friends were EMT shift partners one night. They got called to a guy who did bath salts. He thought he was a snake. It was freaking weird. There were like six cops around him. He was trying to bite people. It took 6 cops to hold him down and he almost flipped the stretcher. The EMT was hanging back and the cops asked him to treat the guy and the EMT was like no I hate snakes. Seriously. Dont do drugs.
What steps did you have to take before you became cadet? o Alana: Take certification classI took mine over the summerfast paced. You test with the stateyou will pass if you took the class. You apply wherever you want to work. Within a couple months after that, you will be a cadet. It is a long process but that is why we are staring a club. Because it takes time to do all this, the club is there to answer your questions or teach you whatever you want to know about emergency reactions.
(Impact of Empire 15) Erika Manders-Coining Images of Power - Patterns in The Representation of Roman Emperors On Imperial Coinage, A.D. 193-284-Brill Academic Pub (2012)