Reflective Essay: My Experiences In The Medical Field

During my experiences working in the medical field, I quickly learned that medicine is not just about the intricacies of the body or prescribing medications to fix the body’s shortcomings. There are many more challenges and difficulties that are involved in healthcare that involve many interpersonal skills. This summer I have volunteered with the medical director at Glenaire Retirement Community in Cary, North Carolina. After a few weeks of shadowing, the medical director asked me to see a patient to discuss her primary complaints before he joined me. I went into the patient’s room, introduced myself, and waited for a response. After multiple attempts and no recognition from the patient, the physician came in to join us.
I quickly saw what I had been missing as the physician began to interact with her. He bent down by her chair and introduced himself as loudly as he could. He spoke slowly and calmly. Afterwards we had a discussion of what I could have done to improve and why my methods were not effective. I learned each patient is different, depending on his or her age, disabilities, background, and experiences. These differences require the physician to adapt and recognize how to more effectively communication to ultimately help the patient. It was frustrating to accept that a simple conversation was difficult, but this only

encouraged me to try again a few minutes later. With each patient, I have noticed new approaches and have continued to try multiple ways to discuss a patient’s health. Learning how to communicate is a life long skill to acquire and I will continue to learn and work to understand how to best work with patients.
Through traveling, I have seen and experienced many types of diversity. I have been a part of the majority race as well as the minority. I have been familiar with the culture as well as drastically unfamiliar. Diversity has many different aspects, from race to religion to dietary habits, and each part is important to appreciate to improve the quality of care for patients. As the world definition of community continues to alter through increased connectedness, being able to respect and understand other cultures is becoming an even more important skill for health workers to have. My experiences traveling and working in many unique communities has made me embrace diversity and understand how to communicate in a variety of different situations.
I began to travel in high school to disadvantaged areas, domestically and internationally, to help with different repairs and I have continued throughout my time at UNC-CH. These trips were designed to help the local community in some way, but the people I have met have by far altered my life in more drastic ways that I have helped theirs. I have been offered a room in a family’s home in Nicaragua, even though they could barely put food on the table and did not have plumbing or electricity. While I was helping fix a roof in the Bahamas, a young boy spent two hours climbing a coconut tree so he could give us coconuts in thanks for repairing his home. During my internship in London, an elderly patient brought me tea so I could have tea “the right way,” when I returned home. These people welcomed me into their lives for a short time and gave me memories I will always remember.
The kindness and hospitality I have been shown worldwide demonstrated to me what diversity was truly about and allowed me to immerse myself in the societies surrounding me.

Even though the differences between the places I have been and my home are obvious, what I have experienced has also demonstrated a common humanity between the people I have encountered and myself. The humanity of the physician lies in being able to recognize and appreciate the same humanity in the person they are treating, as well as appreciate the diversity. It is this common humanity that I want to embrace, and this common humanity that I want to serve in

Medicine.