Happy Holidays!

First Time Volunteering at a Clinic

Hello everyone!

    It has been a hectic two weeks. With wrapping up with exams and classes (no pun intended), spending time with family, volunteering for the first time at a urgent care clinic, and finally starting to study for the MCAT - it is the least to say that I've been busy. 

    I recently started shadowing a doctor in urgent care. I'm talking with patients, delivering their after care sheets, and basically being the right hand man for their urgent care clinic (there's only 2 nurses at a time so I try my best to help). The only people fluent in Spanish are myself and the doctor that I am shadowing. As such, I am translating on the phone and in the clinic for the Spanish-speaking patients when the doctor isn't available! It has been so much fun!! I feel that I am directly helping my Latino-community, which is part of the reason that I wanted to be a doctor in the first place. I get to practice medical Spanish too which is going to be invaluable in my future. At the same time that I am shadowing, I am also volunteering my time as well to help the community. It is a blessing! 

    

    In part of my shadowing, I get to see patient's medical records and I am successfully identifying the drugs we learned this semester and... it's so cool! I'm able to identify the drugs and I can predict the condition they have. The best part about it is that I am following along with the doctor due to the knowledge that I received this semester. It is extremely rewarding to see the outcome of our dedication in learning pharmacology in a real world clinical setting. This experience makes me excited for what I will learn next semester and what is to come in the new year. Honestly, I am so content with choosing pharmacology as my master's. Truly, my Christmas gift is not only finding this program, but also gaining the opportunity to shadow this December. It has been life changing and this experience has further solidified my decision to be a doctor. 

    

With that, happy holidays! 

Marianne Pineda 

Total hours: 2