Week 1 Reflection;
- Briefly describe your duties and share your first impressions of the placement site, site supervisor, co-workers and any clients you have encountered.
Prior to starting the internship, Jenn, my supervisor, and I spoke about having me come to Poly Clinic once a week. Therefore, on my first week, I came in on Wednesday, January 8th. My first impressions of the placement site were that it was a rather quiet place. Coming from a construction company, where it’s allows loud and a bustle, this was quite the opposite. Everyone spoke in a hushed tone. My first impression of my supervisor was that she was very nice and composed. She was down to earth and truly wanted to get to know me more and made it obvious that she welcomed me there. Jenn gave me a tour around the bloc and the clinic. She also introduced me to my new team who are extremely friendly. They also made me feel very welcome. The day started with Jenn and I grabbing coffee and talking about the expectations of the program and what I would be doing. Afterwards, I got started on a task sheet where I plan out my next few weeks. I also met with the team to discuss what each of their tasks are and got to know more about credentialing.
- What were your feelings at the start of this course? Have those feelings changed or remain the same at the close of this first week?
At the start of this course, I was extremely nervous. I have never been part of such a large company and I also have never been in a healthcare environment. I felt intimidated because I thought that maybe I wouldn’t know some of the terminology that they would be using. Towards the end of the week, I felt way more at ease because I got to know the team. They were extremely helpful when I asked them questions and took their time with me while explaining their roles.
- How you would assess your retention of the new information you have been exposed to so far?
I think that my retention of the information was high. In my current job, I can relate with one specific task, on small scale. The department that I am interning in has 600 providers to check within the 5 team members while I check 12 subcontractors monthly. We check our subcontractors on a bi-weekly basis to make sure that their license and insurance are active. Without that, they legally can’t be working a framer. Something that helps me learn is being able to compare to similar situations/tasks.
- How this experience compares to previous first days at work/school?
I’ve worked at Euro Builders for the past 4 years. This is my only work experience and it’s very similar to this one. It’s extremely nerve-racking and it does take a while to adjust to your surroundings. Surprisingly, even towards the end of day, I felt a lot more at ease by just getting to know my new team members.
- Drawing from chapters 1 & 2, include three (3) concepts that connect with your initial experience at your field site.
One thing that I am excited about is my professional development (Sweitzer & King, 2013). Chapter one mentions that some students enter an internship primarily for career exploration. This would be the case for me. Before and during this HCML bachelors’ program, I was never involved in a healthcare environment. I tried to connect the material learned to things I did at work to retain the information that I was learning. Although I enjoy what I do now, I wanted to try out a healthcare environment. This would do the trick because I am committing three months to creating a healthcare project, inside of a healthcare environment. After I graduate, I can then see whether this would be a great fit for me or not.
From my initial experience, I can connect to the first stage of the Developmental Stage Model (DSI-2); anticipation (Sweitzer & King, 2013). I remember waking up at 4:30 to make sure that I turned on my GPS to make sure that I wasn’t late for my first day. Even a simple thing like parking made me nervous because I knew that I was one step closer to starting my internship. This would mean being surrounded by new faces and talking about things I didn’t know about. Regardless, it’s important to push those feelings aside and face those challenges head on. By defining my goals clearly, I can use the skills that I already have to become successful.
The next stage of the Developmental Stage Model that I related to was Exploration (Sweitzer & King, 2013.). I am grateful that my site supervisor allowed me to take time to research credentialing. She even gave me helpful sites to better understand the task that their team takes on. I also go the opportunity to research Poly Clinic as a whole and to view another location during a safety meeting. This allowed me to see the organization’s civic mission and public relevance in the city of Seattle.
References
Sweitzer, H. F., King, M. A. (2013). The Successful Internship, 4e. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781285653266/
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