Today Sarah joined us for the first hour of the day to hear from us about our clinical rotations. First, we shared meaningful experiences we had while shadowing, whether that be a very nice medical student who guided us around or getting to talk to a patient for while. Sarah wanted to know the good, the bad, and the ugly, so she pushed us further to not just think of the experiences but think of the impact it had on us. For example, when saying “I saw a physician talking over the patient,” I can add to that by mentioning how I can be careful of that as a future healthcare professional; making sure to allow time for the patient to fully explain what is going on and offer an ear to fully listen to everything they are saying. I was fascinated by hearing the different experiences we each had even in the same office and sometimes the same doctor. I did not enjoy my emergency department rotation and I opted it out as an option, however, after hearing my peers stories, I learned that just because I did not enjoy the way the physician interacted with the patients, it doesn’t mean all emergency physicians are the same.
There were two groups left to present their great collaboration research projects. The first was the topic of legalizing marijuana. I learned that there are medications that already use cannabidiol (CBD) which is the chemical in marijuana that has health benefits. It's not that marijunana is bad or different from all the other drugs, it's that it is stigmatized because of its subtle use throughout the years. Because marijuna has been illegal for so long, it has been used subtly which makes it even more suspicious. Another reason it is stigmatized is because it is associated with specific groups. Sometimes it is also misunderstood with other drugs like crack, which is nothing like it. To say the least, I definitely gained a lot from this presentation. The next group talked about organ vending. Right now, the law prohibits the acceptor to know who donated to avoid any material transaction between the two. Even the flight and hotel, the donor must cover for themselves. This prevents the acceptor from feeling obligated to pay anything to the donor. If one puts monetary value on their organs, the price would only keep increasing, directly targeting the poor and allowing no room for them to survive. Personally, I like the current system with a few modifications. The donor gets absolutely nothing while the hospital gets everything. The donor gives away their organ while the hospital deposits all of the insurance money. In Iran, the donor gets insurance for a year which is something we need to incorporate here.
We had a long lunch today which was much needed. Mrs. Kelly Premo from Julie Valentine Center joined us for an extremely informative lecture about Sexual Harassment and Healthy Relationships. We talked a lot about the difference between flirting and harassment. For both its one person initiating some sort of romance, a touch, a look, a word, etc. It's all about the reaction of the other person that determines whether those things can be reciprocated or not… if they aren’t and the person doesn’t stop initiating those things, then its harassment. I am the type of friend that throws random compliments at people while my friends and I are driving around. This opened my eyes to see that if the other person doesn’t receive my compliments well then it can very well be harassment. Later that day some of the tier and I went for ice cream downtown and I made that realization and quickly stopped myself in case of the embarrassment of others. Mrs. Premo also enlightened us with what a healthy relationship looks like. The following are two charts comparing the cycle of an unhealthy relationship versus that of a healthy one. The major difference is the lack of communication in the unhealthy cycle that makes it toxic.
I learned that uncomfortable conversations are what pushes a couple forward. However, it's not just any type of communication. It's not passive, passive aggressive, or just aggressive, it's assertive communication that is efficient. Assertive communication is when both peoples’ needs are equally heard and met in a relationship. Something that stood out to me was when Mrs. Premo said “if it's not about you, it's not your story to share.” This is something I am working on because I don’t enjoy talking about myself much so it is so easy for me to say “oh yeah well my friend is going to Australia next week!” Not in a gossipy way, but in an excited to share way. But, even with that it's not my story to share. Needless to say, this lecture was extremely eye opening to listen in on. I learned so much and already began making changes in my interactions. This is one of the many reasons why I love MedEx: although it is a healthcare internship, it raises our awareness of things outside of medicine. MedEx grows individuals more than professionally.
It also grows us socially, the tier and I went downtown to burn some time before the cookout. We had Spill the Beans ice cream and then drove back to the med school. There was some BOMB food laid out ready for us to demolish. There was pasta, salad, and bread. After I ate, we started a very heated kickball competition between Tier II and Tier IV. We started off with winning 12 to 7 and had no worries. Slowly but surely we tired out and eventually lost :( regardless, I had so much fun spending one of the last days on the field with some of my favorite people. I got to see their athletic side and got to know Tier IV a little more. I absolutely loved today.
Can’t wait for tomorrow!!
