My STEP signature project comprised earning my Emergency Medical Technician certification followed by completing an internship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. During the Summer of 2018, I took a class at Columbus State Community college to earn my certification. This class was comprised of a lecture section, lab section, clinical section and ride-along section, where we not only acquired the knowledge needed to be a good EMT, but also practiced the skills that are required. During the Summer of 2019, I had the opportunity to become a student intern in the neonatology department at Nationwide Children’s hospital, where I shadowed different medical professionals, as well as attended neonatology and pediatric grand rounds.
At the beginning of my STEP signature project, I was a little unsure of the career path I had chosen as a pre-med student. At that time, I was wondering if I truly had enough discipline and confidence to be a good doctor. My intentions were always to help people and give them hope, but as a sophomore in college, I began to realize that you needed a lot more than pure intentions to become a truly good and reliable doctor. I wanted to use my STEP signature project as an opportunity to explore who I was, what I wanted, and what I was capable of. I think that the process of completing the STEP project helped me to understand myself in terms of what I wanted as a career, as well as what was important to me in terms of achievement. At the beginning of my sophomore year of college, when I began the STEP program, I was pre-med. At the beginning of my senior year, after completing my STEP project, I am now pre-PA.
During my EMT class, I had the opportunity to work with and learn from a great group of classmates. My class was comprised of students younger than me, older than me and even students from OSU who were also completing their certification for their STEP project. There were different people there for different reasons and it made me realize how many options and opportunities there are for all career paths. Some students were looking to become firefighters, some students were looking to become EMT’s or paramedics, some were looking to use the experience to get into nursing school and some people were hoping to use experience as an EMT as a stepping stone for medical school. Ever since I was young, I had said that I wanted to become a doctor—a pediatric oncologist, to be exact—but working alongside people from all walks of life helped me think more broadly about my options.
As mentioned, the EMT class included a ride-along portion and clinical portion where we had to use the skills that we learned in the classroom and lab and apply it in a medical, such as in a hospital or in an EMS vehicle. During these sections, we learned bedside manner and how to interact with patients. It was during this part of the class where I realized how much I value patient interaction. Though my interactions with patients were quite brief, I learned so much about who they are and what they are going through. The moments where I could talk to the patients and give what little comfort I could give during our brief interactions were significant to me. It was at this point that I started explore more options in the medical field, such as becoming a nurse or a Physician Assistant.
During my internship, I had the opportunity to shadow multiple different medical professionals including, a nurse practioner, Physician assistant, social worker and nurse. It was during this time that things started to click for me. Experiencing a full work day was truly eye-opening. What I admired about all these professionals that I shadowed was how much they interact with the patients and families and how much support –physical, mental, emotion—that they provide to the patients and families. There was so much teamwork that went into taking care of each child, and that was touching to me. I realized how much I wanted to be part of team as a medical professional.
I think this STEP project helped me think deeply about what I want and what I value as a person. Being young, it is easy to be guided to a direction that simply is not meant for you because you simply do not have the experience to know what might be right and what might be wrong. It can be scary to take a chance based on intuition because you cannot know for sure what the end-product might be, but this project helped me make a life-changing decision based on experience. I had the chance to experience what it is like to be a first responder, and I had the chance to experience the day in the life of different medical professionals. I think I knew what I wanted all along, but completing this project helped me trust my intuition a little bit more. It helped me decide the type of medical professional I would like to be and how I want to make a difference in other people’s life. The skills that I have learned throughout the duration of my project are skills that can be applied to my personal and professional life. I have learned life-saving medical techniques, life-changing communication techniques, and have learned life-molding personal development techniques and I am looking forward to using them in whatever path lies ahead.