final Reflection

1) What were your goals? Did you meet these goals?
My goals was to have more knowledge about the functionment of hospitals. I wanted to have the ability to interact with the patients to become a better communicator. I wanted to learn about the typical challenges that doctors are facing. I also wanted to utilize my imagination to generate new ideas.
I didn't exactly learned much about how doctors interact with patients, but from my observations, I learned about many other things. The things that goes around hospitals. I also developed and practiced many skills such as interpersonal, communication, organization skills and many more that will help me in the future.

2) what are the most important things you've learned?
The most important things I learned is that hospitals are very serious places, especially when it comes to safety, infection control, isolation and the patient confidential. I learned a lot about why certain things are not allowed in hospitals. For example before you work in a hospital, you need to be examinated by a doctor and take the vaccines needed. You have to wear a uniform with your ID. Sandals are not allowed just in case of infection. I learned how Saint Vincent do mission with respect, intergrety, compassion and exellence. In the office I learned how to prepare the materials before I start the work so that everything will be neat and organized.

3) In what ways have you grown as a student / adult?
Since I started the internship I see myself into a whole different level. I mostly grew as an adult because I became more professional. I practiced the time management skills and I productively work for my accomplishments. I became more self-directed and I take control of my responsibilities.

4) What highlights of your internship experiences.
Working in a hospital was really a cool thing for me because I met divers people, including patients and mostly all sort of professionals who are involved in health care. I also learned about many things which I never thought of or expected.

5) Describe a memorable moment or experience.
My memorable moments was when we was having the volunteers awards and our last day at internship. At the volunteer awards we had a big party for all the volunteers and we been congraduated by a sort of awards. The last day we were leaving was a happy and also a sad day because we all were crying. Our mentor was so pleased abou our work and behavior. She gave us a benevolent card that we will always remember.

6 ) what challenges have you faced and how did you overcome them?
The challenges I faced was that the nurses didn't really assisted us on our services. I tried to have more of a assertive voice. In the patient transportation we didn't have much work to do because we could seat for an hour if we don't have patients to transport. So to solve these problems we try be be more familiar with the nurses and ask questions. We always asked them if they need help. We pushed our selfs to be more self-directed and be more assertive. We also talked to our mentor about the transportation department and she replaced us in her office.

7) what advices will you give to the future interns?
I advice I have for future interns is to be very observant and ask a lot of questions when they don't understand something because that's how they become self-directed. Always challenge their self and try their best even when something is hard to accomplish.

8) what will you miss about your internship?
I will miss everybody who I worked with because all the people I meet were so nice and they have a lot of sympathy. I will mostly miss my favorite patient. Since we came in the hospital he was so nice to us. He always welcomed us in his room with a happy smile on his face. He had a lot of funny stories that always used to make us laugh. Sometimes we played a french game with him and sometimes we play logics related to academic subjects. I will miss the way he always tried to convince us to take some of his food. I will also miss Nicky, Sister Patricia and Dan.

Mentor Interview

1) What is your full name?
My full name is Patricia Cusack.

2) Where are you from ( city, state, country )?
I am originally from the state of Pennsylvania in Pitchburk.

3 ) Where did you go to college? For how long? Do you plan to go back to school?
I actually went to three colleges. THe first college I went to was Dominican University in Columbus Ohio for three years.The second college I went to was Xavier University.The third college I went to was Columbia University in New York. I don't plan to go back to school because I have the highest degree there is to have.

4) What was your major in college and what kind of degree did you earn? Did you attend graduate scholl for an advanced degree? If yes, what degree and where?
My major was working in the education field. I earned my undergraduate degree in Dominican University in Ohio.
My first master degree in xavier University. My second master in Columbia University and my doctoral degree inColumbia University also.

5) Why did you choose your professionel field?
I chose this professionel field because I thought that I can make a difference in the field of education for professionels.

6) what got you involved in this field of work? What inspired you to do it?
I got involved in tis field of work because I wanted to make heath care stronger by bringing my education backround to health care.

7) Why did you choose this particular job at this particular company?
I chose this particular job at this paricular company because I wanted to work in a Catholic hospital. Saint Vincent is a Catholic hospital.

8) How long have you worked here?
I been woking at Saint Vincent's since 1995. In another word, I been working here for 14 years.

9) What is your job title?
My job title is Director of volunteer services.

10) What do your duties include? Or what kinds of work does your job involve?
The kinds of work that is involve in my job is administration, directing the entire department. I direct over hundreds of volunteers.

11) what are some of the challenges you have faced working here?
The challenges is that I don't have a big enough staff. I need more space for my department and my volunteers.

12) What is the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is have the opportunity to meet all different kind of people who are so generous and heling the patients.

13) What is something you would like to change about your job?
If I would change something I wish that I can have a full time record paper.

14) Did you worked somewhere else before this job? Where? For how long? How was that similar/ different?
In Columbia Ohio I was an assistant super attendent of schools. Over all the principals, I was in charge of them. The similarity is that I do administration now from what I was doing before. The difference is that before I was in charge of people who were employed, but now I deal with volunteers.

Midpoint Reflection- Weeks 8/9 - Due Thursday April 30

Midpoint Reflection - Weeks 8/9- DUE Thursday April 30th

Midpoint Reflection Questions
You are now more than half way through your internship.
Assignment:
Use the following questions to guide you in creating a post reflecting on and analyzing your internship experience up to this point.

• How has the internship been the same as and/or different than your expectations?

My internship has been very different from what I expected. Now I know working in a hospital needs a lot of responsibilities and dedication. This past week been a necessary change for me in my internship. As I mentioned the last time that in transportation we didn't have much work to do. Sister Patricia who is the directer of the volunteer department hired us to work in her office. From now on we always busy. We do filling, put the orientation papers together as a pamphlet. We also do zerocksing which means to make copies and print some workers folders. I like it so much to work with sister Patricia because she's a very great teacher who always persist and expect the job to be done in a very organize way.

• What is similar and different about the culture of the school environment versus the workplace environment?

the difference between my school and my workplace environment is that in my school, we have much freedom. Students don't have to wear professional and they can hang out with their friends during lunch time. In my school, we have the diversity of different languages and cultures form all over the word. This diversity makes my school a very important place where students can learn abou each other culture. That's the best thing I like about my school. But in a hospital you have to be very self directed, responsible. You have to follow the rules, specially when it comes to savety, infection control, isolation and the patient confidential.

* What new skills have you learned that apply to the workplace? Which of these are transferable skills?
The new skills i have learned that apply to the wokplace is my interpersonal skills meaning the way help the patients in their needs. I keep company to the patients and I make sure they fell comfortable talking with me. I also developed and i am utilizin my communication skills because i verbaly communicate withe the patients and I ask my mentor questions about how thw work sould be done. Asking questions is very good because it don't make you a ignorant person. I aslo gained organization skills because to do an office work you need to be very organized and prepare all the materials before you start the work. Both of these skills are transferable skills.

* What kind of relationship do you have with your mentor and co-workers? How have yo grown as aresult of interactng with professionels adults? What kind of communication ( verbal- non verbal skills ) have you gained?

My mentor, my co- workers and I have a very good relationship. Everyboy who I work with is very nice people. Someyimes my mentor make jokes just to make us laugh. As a result of interacting with professional, I start talking more. Professionaly and try use use as much sofisticated vocabulary words to show my level of education. I also ask more questions as I get more use to the people who I am working with. I mostly use verbal communication skillsa to inyeract with them.

*What challenges at the internship have you faced that you have overcome and how did you overcome them?

I hardly didn't have many challenges. The only thing that was bothering me was when we use to seat for like two hours without doing anything. It wasn't our fault because when there is no patient going back home, we don't get to have any patients to transport to the lobby. It is just like when you have a store and you don't get custemers to buye the thing that you selling. So you cannot do anything about it. We over come them by our mentor's help because she made us now work in her office.

*What challenges have you faced in school as a result of the altered schedule and how are you handling them?

In school, I didn't faced any challenges even though I go to school and work at internship at the same time. In school. I. Stay focus in class, I try my best to learn new things everyday, I do all my homewoks, I manage my time and I love my schoo because evrybody is so nice.

*What goals are you working to accomplish during the remaining five weeks of the internship?

For the remaining five weeks I my many goals that I already start to gain. I learn better how the hospitals function and that is the knowledge I wanted gain. The goals I want is to know I to use the materials to help patients get a better health. I want to practice like the real nurses. I which to use my imagination base of my knowledge of. What goes aroud of hospitals to develop new ideas.

*What new things have you learned about New York City?

I learned that New York City is a perfect place that have lot of opportunities for eveyone. Everything is availabe in here. The is mich freedom but to get what you want you have to work hard. New york is also a plae where the American Dream can be realized. Don't think that its just a dream, you have to believe on it to make it happen.

week 7 - Second Vocabulary Installment

Word: inventory
Meaning: a company's merchandise
Context: My mentor told me to check the inventory to investigate if the company brought the same furnitures they ordered.

Word: illness
Meaning: disease
Context: My mentor told me a hospital is a place where many illnesses get treated.

Word: manifestation
Meaning: demonstration, expression without words
Context: Whole working in the nursing floor, from my observations, I notice that certain allergies can result different manifestation on people.

Word: cluster
Meaning: a grouping of a number of similar things
Context: All the volunteers at Saints Vincent's are classified in a cluster department.

Word: liaison
Meaning: a channel for communication between groups.
Context: During the volunteers award ceremony, I heard my mentor giving praise at a very role model volunteer by telling her that she has been in a wonderful liaison for the hospital.

Word: monitoring
Meaning: the act of observing something and sometimes keeping a record.
Context: Saint Vincent offers a monitoring of patients with communicable diseases.

Word: cardiothoracic surgery
Meaning: the field of medicine involved in surgerical treatment of diseases affecting organs inside the threaux.
Context: At saint vincent's, there's cardiothoracic services offered in the special field of surery.

Word: epidemic
Meaning: new cases of a certain disease occur in a givin human population during a giving period.
Context: saint Vincent's have agencies that are in charge of epidemic significant events when ever it happens.

wee 5 and Beyond - Weekly Vocabulary Assignments

Word: IV
Meaning: IV is into a vein.
Context: The nurses mostly put the IV into the patient vein to help them gain the blood they neede by diffusion.

Word: stretcher
Meaning: strecher is a medical device to carry casualties or an incapacitated person from one place to another.
Context: Stretchers are so hard to find in the hospital where I intern because everyone is looking for one to transport patients.

Word: Lobby
Meaning: lobby is a room in a building which is used.for entry from the outside.
Context: I always transport patients to the lobby because I work at the transportation department.

Word: orientation
Meaning: an introduction as to guide one in adjusting to new surrounding, employment or activity.
Context: Before I began my internship, rather than having interviews, we had an oriatation with our mentor.

Word: Isolation
Meaning: the state of being separated.
Context: Before the nurses or anyone else goes to the isolation rooms, they have to wear protection ( mask and a special cloth ) before they enter the rooms.

Word: Exellence
Meaning: an attitude which recognizes that we can always be more and be better.
Context: In the orientation, my mentor told me exellence is our way of demostratind that we can always be more and always better in our job.

Word: compassion
Meaning: an attitude of deep concern and love toward each person.
Context: My mentor told me compassion is the way we share deep concern, love and care toward our patients.

week 4 - You're a third of the way there

1) it's a hospital.
2) I am working ina hospital called Saint Vincent Hospital. There a many kind of work that the professionels does. For example working as a docter, nurse office, management, supervising etc...
3) The hospital is located in Manhattan170 West 12th Street, N.Y 10011. Comparing to my school neighborhood, my internship neighborhood is very busy because that's in Manhattan where money runs a lot according to the businesses. Rather than that, the neighborhood is very calm and you can get all your needs in one place.
4) I actually have two mentors. My first mentor is the head director of the volunteer department. We call her sister Patricia. She's very educated, organized and strict because she like the work to be well done. She consist that her interns always have to wear professionel cloths and maintain a perfect attendence. My other mentor is named cheril. She's the supervisor of the transportation department. She's a very nice person. She has no problem and she like to work with her interns in a yoyful atmosphere. Everytime I see her I think of ms Sherine because they have kind of a familiar name and they are both nice people.
5) So far when I work at the nursing floor, I talk to the patients and I make sure they fell comfortable talking with me and they are getting help with their lonelyness. I change the pitchers, meaning the pot where we put water for the patients. Sometimes a worker named Tacha send us to the central to get some materials like bed pants etc... In the transportation department I always transport the patients to the lobby. While I am transporting the patients, I talk with them and I ask them about how they feel and if theyb are happy to go home. Sometimes I also do filing for my mentor.
6) Some highlights of the fourth week is I am very exited because I am developing my communication skills and I am utilizing my interpersonel skills. The other difficult thing is that at the transportation department we can sometimes seat for 2 hours without doing anything because we don't have patients. I really don't feel comfortable with it because its not challenging and I don't like to seat around. But that's not uour fault if our mentor cannot supply us work to do.
7) I leave school at 11: 40.
8) It takes me 1 hour to get to my internship.
9) I arrive home at 6: 15 pm.
10) my schedule is that I work Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 1pm to 5 pm. In another word I work 4 hours for 3 days.
11) My first mentor, meaning the director of the volunteer department is the one in charge to sign my time card everyday when I intern.
12) There is not much difference for me between the third and the fourth week because I do the same work everyday. The only difference is that I am more adapted to the system and I am increasing my knowledge about what goes around hospitals.
13) The most thing I really like about my internship is that I have the opportunity to interact with patients and I sees what goes around the hospital.
14) So far I have read some students blog such as Daichka and others but I didn't left comments because I didn't know. But starting now I will read and leave comments.

Week 3 - Life as a High School Intern

First of all, when I reach at my internship, I go to my first mentor to say hello with a good smile and I ask her about her day. Then I sign in by the computer. I put on my volunteer uniform and my ID I got from the department. After that, I goes to my assigned job, meaning the nursing or the transportation because each one of these has a different day for my attendence. I am not working alone. I am actually working with my friend Mariama. But the are also two others girls who works in the same hospital as us. I work in two kinds of space. The first one is a nursing floor and it's called smith 7. The floor is clean and the are isolation charts in the hallway. Just next to the elevator the is a litle reception where you can get help by the nurses and doctors if you were looking for a patient. I n the nursing floor, the are mostly old people who have many different heath propblems such as high blod pressure, disabilities etc... My other working space is called the transportation department which is located in the basement. This place is actually my mentor's office. Transporters goes there to be informed if they have a patient to transport in different parts of te hospital or to the lobby.

Week 2 Getting Better Acquainted With Your Site

So what's the lesson of this story? In your post today's question. Create a plan that you think will be the best plan to make that you are able to explain to your mentor at the end of a day, week or month about what you've been accomplishing. What about being able to record all the things you're learning and doing so that you can write an essay in April about your internship? What can you do? The lesson I learned today about the story is to always take our notebook with us at the internship and write down all the things we did the whole day. It is very important to do that because in case our mentor ask us abot our accomplishment today, we will know what to respond. My plan is to always take my notebook with me at the internship and write down eveything I did. This way I will not look ridiculus when ny mentor will ask e about my accomplishments. I also take my notebook because sometimes I may have a free time without doing anything. So when evr this happens, I can write about what I think of my internship and what kinds of things I am learning at my internship. Also in the tranportation department where I work at, I always have a sheet where I record the patient name, in which part of the hospital I got them form and where I am transporting them, meaning to the lobby. Even when I don't take my notebook will alays remember about what I accomplished. But the safer way is to always record it.

First Week of Internship - Job Description

In my internship I have two types of jobs. My first job description is working as a nurse. I go room to room just to talk with the patients to make them feel better because most of them are old and very lonely. I change the pitchers meaning the pot where they put water for the patient for drink. Sometimes the nurses send us downstairs to the pharmacy to pick up medical stuff.
My other job description is working as a transporter in the patient transportation department. I go in different buildings in the hospital to transport the patients to the lobby, meaning the entrance. I take them in front of the door. Sometimes when I see the patients cannot walk, I take them alway outside wait for them and help them find a taxi if they are not with their family members. I also had to find wealchairs in different parts of the hospital and it's really hard to find one because everybody is loocking for one. Sometimes when we are not busy at the transportation department, I do some filing and I organize some papers for my mentor.

First Week of Internship - Internship Goals

I want my internship to be a place where - can utilize my imagination and creativity skills to generate new ideas. I want to learn more about how the hospitals function so one day I can have the opportunity to open hospitals in my country to give free services for the one who cannot afford their medical stuff. I also want to use my interpersonal skills by talking to the patient, give them company and help the feel better because most of them are old and they feel very lonely. I really want to stand out for my internship and complete my work well done with a lot of success.

First Week of Internship -My First Day at Work

The first day I begin working, my mentor told one of her wokers to show us the different buildings in which we going to take the paients and transport them to the different buildings in the hositals or to the lobby, meaning the enterence. That lady teached us how we going to utilze the weal chair in a safe way to tranport the patient. She showed us where we can easily find a weal chair and what the differnt buildings stand for . For example ER is for emergency building, ASU2 is for ambulatory and many more such as the Smith building, the colmen and the Cronin building. After that, when the lady had patients who she was supposted to take to the lobby we folowed her by watching carfully. The whole day, we followed her with a lot of observation. So the next day we can do the same thing.

First Week of Internship - First Thoughts Of My Internship

When I first arrived at my internship I thought working in a hospital is a very serious occupation.
The way that my mentor was making the orientations with us was very serious. She told us that we have to be self directed, recpect the rules of the hospital . The rules consist of respecting the patient confidential, no open toes shoes for safety. I always have to wear the ID card while I am working, no jeans and sneakers are allowed. I alwyas have to wear professionel cloths and always wear the hopital uniform. The first day I satart working, I had the idea of what is it like to be in a hospital. For example being around patients and the working environment.

First Week of Internship - My Mentors

I actually have two mentor. My first mentor is the head director of the volunteer department. We call her sister Pateicia. She's very educated, organize and strict because she like the work to be well done. She consist that her interns always have to wear professionel cloths and maintain a perfect attendence. My other mentor is named Cheril. She's the supervisor at the patient transportation department. She's a very nice person. She has no problems and she like to work with her interns in joyful atmosphere.