STUDENT INTERNSHIP & EXTERNSHIP REFLECTIONS
bring food: for this I am eternally grateful.
great to see so many thriving, succeeding and saving lives.
Lastly, it was incredibly rewarding to work with a multitude
of impressive female doctors. I remember during a number of
traumas, there would be multiple ED fellows, residents, nurses,
a few consulting surgical or radiology residents, and paramedics
in the trauma room. They were all women, except for me. And it
was inspiring. In an unfair world where female doctors often are
discouraged from trying medicine, are mistaken for nurses, or have
to prove themselves “extra” to wear the mantle of physician, it was
Brandon Chen is a second-year medical student at the University of Louisville
School of Medicine.
PEDIATRIC EXTERNSHIP REFLECTION PIECE 2019
I
AUTHOR Allison Engelbrecht
never could have imagined the impact
this summer of shadowing would have on
me. One four-week externship working
with the incredible neonatology team at
Norton Children’s Hospital gave me more
growth and learning experiences than I
ever thought possible.
A little background: I had just finished my
first year of medical school, and to be honest I was feeling proud.
I now had so much medical information under my belt. Little did
I know how green I was, walking into my first day in the NICU. I
was so excited for the opportunity to work in the specialty that first
led me to medicine! I had spent the night before brushing up on
some common disorders and embryology we had covered in class,
hoping to make a good first impression.
I quickly realized how far behind I was; by the end of the first
day I had so many questions I felt overwhelmed. The NICU was
packed with high acuity patients, and it would have been easy for
the team to prioritize a plethora of things before spending time with
an “almost” second-year medical student. But, astoundingly, at the
end of rounds the two residents on my team sat down with me and
answered everything they could. They drew out heart pathology,
they taught me shortcuts in EPIC - they took the time to help me
get my bearings.
By the third day, I was assigned my first patient to present. I was
a bundle of nerves and practiced over and over the night before.
Looking back now, I chuckle about how anxious I was. I didn’t know
it at the time, but I was surrounded by supportive team members
who would, over the next month, make me feel like I belonged on
the team. They went out of their way to help me grow.
That first week held a lot of new experiences for me, from seeing
my patient each morning before rounds, to presenting his case, to
coming up with plans for what steps to take. I was starting to get in
the groove. I spent time at night looking up ways to help him grow
and learning more about his medical conditions. I was learning for
the sake of learning and it was fun.
My first patient taught me more than what could be learned from
books. He taught me that sometimes things don’t go as planned.
He taught me the fragility of life. When he died suddenly and un-
expectedly, it shook our team. Necrotizing enterocolitis totalis: a
disease with a poorly understood etiology, came with no warning
and took him quickly. I learned what it felt like to mourn the loss
of a patient. Suddenly, I was able truly to understand the gift of life.
My four weeks in the NICU shot past. I learned to do minor
procedures, I got better at following and presenting my charges and
I learned to write notes. I understood what it meant to find joy in
the smallest of victories. I gained confidence in my ability to assess
and plan patient care. I fell even more in love with neonatology.
Mighty inspiration arises from the tiniest places - in my case, from
the tiniest people. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity.
Allison Engelbrecht is a second-year medical student at the University of Louisville
School of Medicine
JANUARY 2020
23