Osman Bangura Capstone
For my Capstone I shadowed a nurse practitioner at Pennbroke Health and Rehabilitation Center. During this time, I was able to get close, and hands-on experience with how medical practitioners work with patients. I got to witness one on one patient care, medical procedure and got to tour around a hospital. This was quite an experience, and I learned abundantly as to how it is when a medical practitioner is on duty. I learned how much effort and work goes into simply diagnosing patients and giving them proper treatment and care. There is so much documentation involved in treating patients, before actually treating them. I also learned about the collaborative roles of nurses and doctors, and was explained and demonstrated the differences between the two. This gave me great insight into what I want to do in the future, which solidified my interest in the medical field and gave me a sure fire feeling that this is what I wanted to do with my life. At the end of the shadowing I said goodbye to the nurse practitioner at Pennbroke and had took an audio recording of the whole shadowing event right up at the beginning, towards the end. Generously I was allowed a picture of nurse practitioner Tim Trotter. Overall the experience shaped and sharpened my knowledge towards the medical field and gave me a clear picture of what it's like to be a medical practitioner.
Annotated Bibliography
"Who's Who in the Hospital." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Steven Dowshen. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Aug. 2014. Web. 03 Feb. 2016. <http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_body/medical_care/in_hospital.html#>. The information on this source is only for educational purposes, so it doesn't serve to make a profit from anything. It gives comprehensive information about the different roles of a hospital and makes clear what people do what in a hospital. This will help me understand the different types of people I will be assessing when I go to shadow in a hospital. If I know the people who work in a hospital, it will make it easier for me to understand different areas I'll be in when I try to shadow for my capstone. Also it's good to have that specific type of information, if I'm going to shadow I should know about the different people I'm shadowing.
"Shadowing Physicians." Shadowing Physicians. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. <http://www.uwmedicine.org/education/md-program/admissions/applicants/shadowing>. This is a medical school website. On this section of the website, it gives comprehensive information about shadowing and how people who may be interested in becoming doctors, go about shadowing. It is useful for my capstone because I will need to know how to shadow and how to go about it. It instructed me to try to get contacts, and even gave me a list of contacts, of national shadowing programs I could get myself into, to be able to shadow. It told me I should contact friends, my physicians, or family, also if I volunteer in a hospital, I could get a network of shadows there. It is a very helpful source and since it's on a medical school website, it is nonprofit. It also gave me a long list of questions to consider when I am shadowing, that really helped me get a broader idea of what type of information or insight I'm looking for when i'm going to shadow a doctor. It also let me know that shadowing is mainly to see if I'm appealed by all the things shadowing consist of.
Wheeler, David. "Emotional Extremes: A Day in the Life of a Neurosurgeon." Emotional Extremes: A Day in the Life of a Neurosurgeon. The Chronicle of Higher Education, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~perry/p596_au99/Assign/topics/neurosurgeon.html>. This is a good source, that gives factual and insightful information about how Neurosurgeons are. Specifically their work schedule and how they go about things throughout the day. The source is trustable because it's published from The Chronicle, which is not necessarily nonprofit, but has a firm goal of informing the public, which contains credible information and facts from credible sources. Also the writer is a publisher who graduated with a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, and won several awards. He has written for publications like the Boston Globe and Washington Post, and has been writing for over 25 years at the Chronicle of Higher Education. He is a credible source and has extensive experience as a science writer. Furthermore, this source produces a real life example of a Neurosurgeon and pretty much writes out that Neurosurgeon's typical day. Spanning from talking about how that doctor has to work from the early morning to late at night, and to the different procedures and situations that doctor has to take care of. Also it talks about how a neurosurgeon has to go from successfully finishing a surgery, to having to spread the bad news of someone having a malignant brain tumor. For my capstone, It makes me understand the circumstances of shadowing a neurosurgeon, whereas their workload is very extensive and they are under constant daily pressure.
"Unite For Sight." Guidelines for Observing and Assisting Doctors. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.uniteforsight.org/international-volunteering/module5>. This source is a nonprofit, and gives insightful information on several medical projects and procedures. This information gave me a greater understanding of observing a doctor. It showed me how to observe a surgery well, if I were to be shadowing a surgeon for my Capstone. This is essential because I need to know exactly how to observe and pay attention to a surgery, if I'm going to be shadowing a neurosurgeon and I get to that point. It taught me that I should always be quiet in an operating room, and try not to disturb the flow of the operation, also to listen to what the surgeon says at all times. When I'm observing a surgery during my shadowing, I will know exactly how to act, and I will act very properly. Not only in the operating room did it teach me how to act, but also in the Clinic, it told me to act with obeisance, which is essential to being stable when shadowing. When I go shadow, I will be able to properly be in a hospital environment.
"About Neurosurgery." About Neurosurgery. Columbia Neurosurgical Associates, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.columbianeurosurgical.com/neurosurgery.php>. This is a credible source, it gives me background information about Neurosurgeons, and the different things involved in being a Neurosurgeon. It also differentiates between Neurosurgeons and Neurologist. It gives me good factual information about what neurosurgeons do. This is helpful because it gives me a firm understanding of how a Neurosurgeon would be operating, and the different types of surgeries they may be do. It be help me better be able to assess the different things a Neurosurgeon would be doing in a hospital, which would be helpful in me knowing how they are. This source is from a viable sponsor that gives veritable and trustable information to the neurosurgical area. It would give me an accurate description about neurosurgeons.
"How To Effectively Shadow a Doctor as a Premed Student." The Medical School Headquarters. N.p., 24 Nov. 2012. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://medicalschoolhq.net/how-to-effectively-shadow-a-physician-as-a-premed-student/>. This is a credible source because it's derived from the medical School Headquarters, which is an upstanding derivation because it is centered around dispensing proper and precise information about medical school and things involving medicine. In this particular source it talks about how to effectively shadow as a pre-med student. This is helpful because it gives very proper information about how to shadow a doctor well, as a student. It says that one should shadow if they are trying to get knowledge and a closer look into the medical field, and also it says to expand horizons and go to different areas of the medical field to know what interest a person would have. It says how to shadow, where it talks about how a person should shadow a doctor consecutively for a couple of weeks, and really get insider experience about being a doctor. This helps me for my capstone because the plan would be to just shadow a doctor just once or a few times, over a spread out period, but it recommends to shadow the same doctor over a consecutive time frame, that's very helpful to me because i will grow a relationship with a physicians and really understand what it's like to be a physician. Also it tells how to act when shadowing, and the proper actions to go about, to be able to shadow. It also talks about how to maximize experiences when shadowing, whereas keeping a journal to catalogue key events and occurrences. This is helpful because I will really get a better sense of how to document my shadowing experience. Overall this is a very comprehensive and well written source.
Becker, Christian. "Pre-Med Preparation: The Importance of Physician Shadowing - Student Doctor Network." Student Doctor Network. Coastal Research Group, 22 Mar. 2008. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.studentdoctor.net/2008/03/pre-med-preparation-the-importance-of-physician-shadowing/>. This is a very credible source because it is sponsored by the Student Doctor Network, which is an organizational and accredited online institution that talks about different aspects of medicine. It gives proper information. This source aids me in my capstone because it helps me have a good understanding of shadowing itself and shadowing physicians. It gives me good guidelines as to how to go about shadowing. It list times that are appropriate for shadowing and how to dress when shadowing. It also highlights the importance of shadowing physicians as a whole if one is trying to get into the medical field particularly. It says that a person should shadow a doctor to really get a better view of shadowing and it gives good credentials to applying to medical school, because of someone getting a closer inspection of hospital life and what it’s like to be a medical doctor.
"University Academic Advising Center." Shadowing & Clinical Experience:. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.northwestern.edu/advising-center/extracurricular-opportunities/shadowing-clinical-experience.html>. This source gives valuable information about shadowing and clinical experiences. It relates shadowing to clinical experiences by pointing out that shadowing is important for people, especially students trying to become doctors, who would need that crucial type of experience. They also talk about how volunteering/shadowing at hospitals can be valuable experiences and help people. It talks about how one should be trying to establish a network of contacts to be able to better be able to shadow. It talks about the different opportunities available when trying to shadow, and programs involved in shadowing that can help people be able to shadow. This is a trustworthy source because it is from a University, and they are usually for educational purposes only, when dispersing information.
"Shadowing & Faculty Mentors - Thomas Jefferson University." Shadowing & Faculty Mentors - Thomas Jefferson University. Thomas Jefferson University, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.jefferson.edu/university/skmc/student-resources/student-affairs/career-counseling/shadowing.html>. I looked through all the catalogues on Jefferson University’s website about shadowing and their available shadowing programs and found several different shadowing shadowing programs that I could be able to participate in, in order to be able to shadow doctors. One of the programs I found, allows those interested to shadow doctors working in different departments, which is helpful to me because I’m trying to shadow in the Neurosurgical department. It gave me different resources that I could use to be able to shadow, and different contacts, a few of which I’ve obtained where I can start contacting that hospital to try to arrange a shadowing date and look for available shadowing times. It is a useful source because it’s from Jefferson University and the information used is only for educational purposes.
"Medical Students Training Program - Shadowing Program - Penn Surgery." Medical Students Training Program - Shadowing Program - Penn Surgery. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/surgery/Education/medical_students/shadowing_program.html>. This is a credible source because it is from the University of Pennsylvania, and only gives out factual information for educational purposes. It talked about their shadowing program held there and the circumstances that are held with it. It talked about how there are set times for shadowing and how a person shadowing has to be when they are shadowing at the hospitals offered. There were several contacts under the page of doctors who are very willing to give office hours for students who are interested in becoming physicians. This is an extremely helpful source for me, because now I have a comprehensive list of surgeons who I can contact.