Week 6: New Experiences at the Clinic

Hello everyone! For this week’s updates, I’ll mainly be talking about some new experiences I’ve garnered from the clinic this last week. Recently, the main nurse at the clinic no longer works here, and as a result, I now take all the patients back, ask for and enter all their medical/social history, and write some notes and forms for them, since these were formerly the nurse’s duty. It is great for building more experience in a healthcare setting, but, on a more vulnerable note, it is definitely taxing, leaving me a little more burnt out after long 8-4 shifts. However, another (more positive) development is that I have experienced many more procedures at the clinic, one of which is the pre-op process.

The pre-op process includes EKGs and labs, so I got to watch that process. Before letting the patient go, we also have to ask the doctor about the EKG (after printing it) to ensure the patient is healthy enough for the operation. Another new experience was taking oral temperature. Due to allergies, there has been an influx of sick symptoms, so I’ve been having to do vitals with temperature. The thermometer wasn’t working for me initially, so I had to practice on myself a few times.

Another test I’ve watched is urinalysis. Sometimes in labs, the patients are required to give a urine sample, and we just do a dipstick test and compare the results with the packaging to determine if there are any underlying issues. I’ve also seen some injections being performed, and have, in general, become more familiar with the clinic, staff, and patients! I now have my own (general) ID for the EHR database, so that’s also been a new development.

I’ve also learned a few things about the administrative side of things, especially regarding different insurances and how they differ in what tests they will cover and how Medicare falls into all of this. For example, sometimes it is advised that patients take specific tests separately (on different appointment days) so that insurance has a higher chance of covering them.

Overall, from learning about how specific health insurances work to operating new medical equipment, I have garnered many new experiences this week at the clinic! I will be back next week for some in-depth updates from my meta-analysis, alongside my reflection on the process.

Till next time, 

Yalini Kathamuthu