10th Grade
Last year I worked closely with kids, now I wanted to go in the complete opposite direction. Both my friend (who is also interested in the medical field) and I had an opportunity to spend our career day at a rehab, Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation. We were first given a tour by the marketer who showed us some patients' rooms, activities center, therapy center, and just all around. She then left us off in the social worker's office. What was interesting about being with the social worker was that she said to get to her position she only needed a 2 day lesson after being a nurse, but boy does she have a LOT of paper work to do on a daily basis which is crucial for her to fill out every tedious detail. However, we wanted to interview someone who works one on one with the patients, so she took us to a licensed vocational nurse. When we approached her, she was feeding an elder but she then took us into the hall where she had this transportable cabinet that held all the medications. They were all incredibly organized and she started to set up some medications when an elderly lady approached us saying, "I'm sorry I took your seats I didn't mean to" and we kept trying to tell her that it was her chair with her name but she kept apologizing for taking our seats. The nurse told her to go sit back down and the woman started complaining that we had forced her to sit in someone else's seat and she approached us again. Like a lot of patients there, this lady had dementia. The nurse said that maintaining patience and staying firm was one of the hardest challenges in her career. Just witnessing the patient's behavior stressed me enough. Another incident that occurred was when the nurse took some medication to a patient, there was a lady on the opposite room yelling help for such a long time. My friend could not handle it and asked the nurse if she needed help, and the nurse said that that woman had already received all her medication and all the attention for this morning that she needed but she also had dementia and forgot that the nurses had treated her making her call for help to receive her daily attention. These nurses are highly trained and know what they're doing and know how to stay calm!
There was one thing that really stood out to me. The nurse mentioned that when you consume drugs and alcohol throughout your life, the medication that doctors give you when your ill have no effect on your body because your body is so used to all the drugs you put in it that your body becomes immune to the medication.
We ended the day there by having a conversation with a patient there who once did research in a hospital in New York! She was so very sweet and praised us for starting to pursue our future at a young age.
Like I mentioned before, this career requires a whole different level of patience. You're basically with these patients 24/7 (or should I say your whole working shift) so I think there is no way you can't get close with the patient and seeing them in this state is quite devastating. I want to help people get better not aid them in what could be their last days. I just would not be able to handle that. I'm grateful I had an opportunity to shadow people in this field because it removed any doubt I had about pursuing this career. I know it's quite a rewarding job, but not the one for me.
There was one thing that really stood out to me. The nurse mentioned that when you consume drugs and alcohol throughout your life, the medication that doctors give you when your ill have no effect on your body because your body is so used to all the drugs you put in it that your body becomes immune to the medication.
We ended the day there by having a conversation with a patient there who once did research in a hospital in New York! She was so very sweet and praised us for starting to pursue our future at a young age.
Like I mentioned before, this career requires a whole different level of patience. You're basically with these patients 24/7 (or should I say your whole working shift) so I think there is no way you can't get close with the patient and seeing them in this state is quite devastating. I want to help people get better not aid them in what could be their last days. I just would not be able to handle that. I'm grateful I had an opportunity to shadow people in this field because it removed any doubt I had about pursuing this career. I know it's quite a rewarding job, but not the one for me.
9th Grade
I love little kids. I know I want to be in the medical field specifically working with kids. So for career day I decided to be in an environment working with kids. I spent the day back in my old elementary school, Discovery Elementary, helping my 2nd grade teacher. It was crazy being back there. I hadn't seen her in 7 years! Honestly, it was a lot of fun. The kids warmed up to me rather quickly. They were super curious on who I was and were tugging me everywhere. I instantly became a new friend to them. What I ended up doing were small tasks but focused mainly on helping kids with math and reading. I would jump from being a tutor to an authority figure to just a friend. Children are so creative and bing with them just rubs some creativity onto you!