Summer Internship Reflections: Jen Lowell '15 and Julia Strauss '15

Jimmy Kelley
The Science Internship Program affords Rivers students the opportunity to gain real-world experience in areas of the field they have a particular interest.
The Science Internship Program affords Rivers students the opportunity to gain real-world experience in areas of the field they have a particular interest. This summer, four students have taken on these rigorous internships and they will be sharing their experiences throughout the summer.
 
This week we have reflections from Jen Lowell ’15, who is interning at Boston Children’s Hospital in their Simulation Program, and Julia Strauss ’15, who is in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Mass. General Hospital.
 
Below are excerpts from each reflection. You can find each reflection in its entirety by following the links to our Facebook page.
 
Jen Lowell
 
My first days with the Simulation Program quickly and fully immersed me in the philosophy and growth of this sector at Children’s. On my first day, I was able to observe a meeting in which a new simulation program was proposed. This initial meeting introduced me to both the process of creating a simulation program tailored to a specific group’s needs and the various resources the simulation program offers, such as hired actors and professional make-up artists who make the high fidelity mannequins look even more vivid. The day ended with my attendance of a bi-annual meeting of the different facets of the simulation program within Children’s. I learned about the growth and increasing development of simulation in departments such as the neonatal unit, and I heard a local firefighter present his hopes for spreading the use of the high fidelity manikins to better train fire crews across the state in providing emergency medical care.
 
One of the most important aspects of Children’s Simulation Program that this meeting taught me, though, was the reason as to why simulation is so crucial and beneficial to the medical world. Dr. Weinstock, the head of the Simulation Program, presented a video of a golfer making a practice swing and replicating its motion exactly on the actual golf ball that summarized part of this cornerstone of simulation philosophy: simulation better prepares doctors for procedures and allows them to practice before treating patients. Simulation provides opportunities to improve practices, to discover potential safety and health threats, which can be as seemingly simple as making new hospital rooms more “workable” for doctors and nurses, and to build harmonious and effective teams of well-trained doctors and nurses.
 
 
Julia Strauss
 
Although the information I learn varies from day to day, my daily schedule remains relatively constant. I arrive at MGH by 7:15 a.m. and proceed to the PICU to review the cases that have come in throughout the night. At 7:30, all the medical school students, residents (one level beyond medical school), fellows (one level beyond residents), and the attending (the leader of the PICU for a particular week) assemble outside a patient’s room, and we begin rounds. During rounds we spend about twenty minutes to an hour on each patient, discussing everything from labs and imaging to our plan for the day. If a patient’s case is particularly severe or complicated, specialists from other units in the hospital will join us when we “round” on a particular patient. For one patient, our team consisted of twenty people. While everyone discusses the patient, I listen and take notes so that I can ask questions or research information later.
 
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