🦋 Nationwide Children’s Hospital – Patient Care Assistant

At the time of writing I am working at Nationwide Children’s Hospital as a patient care assistant and I think I have found the population that I would want to work with! I have never imagined myself wanting to work in the pediatric world but after about a year at NCH I think I really enjoy working with this population. There are many days where it is hard working as a PCA but it only takes a single event to make my day better.

As a PCA, I work with kids closely as we check up on them hourly and this help me further develop my time management skills. From my previous jobs, I have only had to work on one patient or participants at a time but as a PCA, I am responsible for up to 8 kids total. In order to get all the task done I needed to learn how to prioritize and work with the assigned nurse to care for these kids.

Resume – Edited 2023

Zhiwei (Zach) Wang

Experiences

Patient Care Assistant, Nationwide Children’s Hospital
August, 2022 – Present

Med-Surg floor with patients focused on colorectal and pelvic reconstruction; bariatrics; pediatric surgery; urology; and intestinal rehabilitation services.

  • Empties and records drain output pre and post surgery; drains include but not limited to: ostomies, malecots, wound vacs, and JPs. 
  • Collects, documents, and reports vital signs into EPIC EMR and collects minor specimen testing.
  • Prepares all materials and supplies needed to assist, hold, and position patients for procedures.
  • Completes screening questions and documents all items from admissions into EPIC EMR.
  • Manages up to 8 pediatric patients per assignment.
  • Train new incoming PCA.

Safety Aide, OhioHealth: Grant Medical Center
February, 2021 – June, 2022

Emergency Department; Trauma-Surgical  Floor

  • Ensured consistent and appropriate oversight of patients who were at risk of intentionally hurting themselves or others under direction of a Registered Nurse.
  • Provided hygiene, comfort, and safety needs of adult patients.
  • Documented patient activity into EPIC EMR.
  • Managed up to 2 adult patients per assignment. 

Student Clinical Research Assistant, OSU Wexner Medical Center
August, 2018 – December, 2019

Dr. Lynne Gauthier Neuro-recovery Lab focused on examining the effects of home-based video game therapy for hemispatial neglect for participants who suffered a stroke.

  • Contacted, screened, and scheduled new participants.
  • Performed post-treatment assessments and 6 month follow-up assessments.
  • Documented participant screening and assessment into RedCap.

 

Education

Ohio University
Expected Graduation: May 2025

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Columbus State Community College
Expected Graduation: December 2024

Associate of Applied Science in Nursing

The Ohio State University 
August, 2018 – May, 2022

Bachelor of Science in Psychology

Minor in Neuroscience; Minor in Integrative Approaches to Health & Wellness

 

Certifications

Basic Life Support (BLS)     September, 2022 – September, 2024

American Heart Association

State Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA)           July, 2022 – July, 2024

Registry Number: 602523250722

 

Additional Skills

Language Skills: Fluency in Mandarin Chinese & English. Proficiency in Spanish.

Healthcare: HIPPA Compliance; EMR Proficiency (RedCap & EPIC)

Volunteer Work: Remote Area Medical (RAM); OhioHealth Grant Medical Center; OSU BioScholars Program

Technological Skills: Proficient in Microsoft Office Systems, MATLAB, & R

2023 – Working Towards New Goals

2023 started in an interesting way for me. I began nursing school at Columbus State Community College (Associates Degree Nursing) and Ohio University (RN to BSN Early Start). My thoughts behind this decision is a little controversial but it made the most sense to me. After working at Nationwide Children’s, I wanted to focus my career in providing service and care in pediatrics. Nationwide Children’s Hospital has a tuition reimbursement for employees enrolled in a nursing program and I wanted to take full advantage of that. In my first 2 semesters of nursing school I learned a lot regarding pharmacology and simple skills such as obtain a manual blood pressure and as well as develop critical thinking skills for acute situations. However, as I went through my program, I soon realize that there are a lot of of gaps in medical knowledge and reasoning. It was during this time I took the chance to re-explore other fields in healthcare.

 

I shadowed a pediatric nurse practitioner as well as a osteopathic surgeon from my unit; I took this time to ask about difference in the level of practice, what a day to day life looks like, the amount and quality of patient (and family) interactions they have in their respective practices. This will help provide me a better sense on what each occupation does and if it is a good fit for me. After graduation, I took the time to carefully reevaluate my path. OSU has been a great experience for me but somewhere along the way I started to lose sight of the bigger picture, I started losing pieces of myself constantly comparing myself to the class averages and others around me. 2023 really gave me to time to rediscover myself away and I have been grateful for it. I am excited for what 2024 has in store for me as I head into the new year with excitement and optimism.

2022 – Tough Decisions

So I graduated in May. Funny thing is, my parents came up a few days before to get graduation photos taken and I caught COVID-19 for the first time just 3 days before graduation. So I wasn’t able to walk. I was a little sad about it but I think my parents were more upset as they were probably more excited than I was. I started at Nationwide Children’s Hospital after graduation.

2021 – Uncertainties

I am a bit nervous as I am nearing graduation next semester and I just feel like I do not have my life in order. I guess that’s always how it is going to be. I did pick up sand volleyball over the summer and I found this group that I play with on the weekend. It’s actually pretty fun, work at Grant has been steady but I just feel like I am ready to move on to something that will allow me a little more patient contact and care. Fencing has been interesting. We got new people who are very eager to take on leadership roles for the following year so I guess that has been handled. Not much happened this year, but I guess we’ll just play things by ear.

A night of TopGolf with the volleyball group. I am really bad at golfing.

Grant Medical Center – Safety Aide

During the COVID-19 pandemic, my role at the research lab slowed down and it allowed me time to work at Grant Medical Center as a patient safety aide. As hospitals were struggling with the sheer amount of COVID patients, I worked as an safety aide to provide 1:1 care for patient who are at risk for self harm and elopement. Being able to work in one of central Ohio’s biggest hospital allowed me to work with a diverse population. I works mainly in the emergency department, cardiac surgical floor, and the trauma floor.

My most memorable story from my time as a safety aide there was when I was sitting with a middle aged man on the trauma floor after multiple attempts of self mutilation. We spent my shift talking about whatever he wanted and when he opened up and explained why he did what he did. From this job, I learned that connecting with the patients is a key role in what medicine is and learning about them and their “whys” can help me better connect with them. Trust is earned through conversations. Being a safety aide has help me build on communication skills and learn to work with a diverse group of people.

2020 – Dealing with Change

Well spring semester was cut short due to COVID-19 and all of my classes got moved online and we had to go home for the semester. Honestly, 2020 was a hard year. My research lab could not continue with trials and everything was just cut short. I spent all of spring semester and the summer at home and honestly it was rough as I had to learn to live with my family. It was a tough adjustment. For fall semester, I did move off campus and classes had started back up. It was very weird to have blended classrooms where some classes were taught in person while others were online. Things were just confusing but I did begin my job at Grand Medical Center so I can also be of help for others during the pandemic. I wanted to do something that actually made a change.

Something very exciting that happened is I got a DOG, he is a 1 year old Golden Retriever Mix named Bentley! My family has never allowed me to have a pet before so this was all new for me. My dad broke his leg back in October so I brought him home for the first time without my family knowing and honestly my mom was furious at first. But eventually they both fell in love with him as I did. He honestly saved me this year. I’m hoping next year I would be a little more eventful.

2019 – Year of Progress

I think after fall semester, I realized that I would need to focus a little more on my schoolwork especially when it comes to chemistry. That is my Achille’s heel. I ended up joining OSU’s fencing club and I really love the people there! I actually got to go on my first tournaments at OU for their spring open. I eventually lost of one of my teammates when it came down to elimination but I still had a good time. After the semester in the club I became the secretary for the club, in that role I began outreaching to other schools in Ohio to begin conversation between school clubs. I also stayed in Columbus over the summer to take a few classes and continued to work in my research lab. My grades in chemistry were still not what I wanted them to be but I did enjoy the club activities for the year!

I did get to go back and visit my grandparents in China, it has been years since I have visited and honestly a lot has changed in my hometown. My parents and I did not stay too long at my grandparents as we went to Hai Nan for a short vacation. I really enjoyed winter break and it will be a while before I get another chance to visit.

 

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center – Student Research Assistant

I started in Dr. Lynne Gauthier’s Neuro-recovery lab fall semester of 2018 as a student research assistant. The team I joined worked on the computerized therapy for rehabilitation of upper extremities for patients after stoke. As the project title suggest, the research primarily focused testing the effectiveness of a video game model for patient rehabilitation. As a new addition to the lab, I focused on learning the background of the project and any necessary skills I will need for the lab. A major tool that I had to master was learning to to code in MATLAB as that is where all the data was analyzed.

As time went on, I slowly transitioned into an active role in participant screening and follow up testing allowing me to work with participants directly. Through the screening process, I get to test participants to gather their baseline level. If their level is within the project’s acceptable constraints, the participants will be enrolled. After the participants complete the therapy, I schedule and complete the initial follow-up and then another follow-up in 6 months.

Through this experience, I learned the ins and outs of a clinical trial and learn that my passion lies on working with people directly. In my role, I got to explore all aspects of research from following participants from start to finish, assist in paper writing, analyzing data, and communicate with patients to work through technological issues they experience at home with the treatment. It was an amazing experience and I learned greatly from this project.

Link to published paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101239