Blog #8: What I've Learned So Far

1) What have you learned how to do since you started working on your senior project?


throughout this senior project, one of the most important things that i have learned to do was to treat my volunteer hours as an actual apprenticeship or "service learning" opportunity, rather than just an opportunity to rack up community service hours. 


Every week when I go to the Kaiser LAMC Emergency room, I make sure to leave with a bit of knowledge that i didn't know before. From watching surgeons perform surgery, to asking nurses questions, I gain a bit of experience and knowledge every Sunday at Kaiser. 


So far, I've learned to a vast quantity of knowledge about medicine and the medical industry. From placing an EKG monitor on patients (i'm allowed to do this), to seeing a catheter inserted into patients, I've learned much first-hand. Also, alot about society through the medical industry; i learned facts such as 50-60%of homeless people in America have schizophrenia. 50% of patients admitted into the ER are due to drug and alcohol related emergencies. A large percentage of patients admitted into the Kaiser LAMC ER are homeless; i look at this large percentage from a humanitarian perspective about society. 


I am the only 17 year old that volunteers at this facility because it is mostly geared towards interns and students entering medical school, but luckily for me I have hookups that got me into this program (my mommy). I am very grateful and i make sure to take full advantage of this opportunity every week.


2) This is the badge that i take with me every week. I have access to any room and elevator because of this bad boy.

3. There wasn't a specific piece of research that changed my attitude towards service learning. however, psychiatryonline.org had a few articles that talked about the humanitarian aspect of medical care. So articles from psychiatryonline.org have allowed me to view patient care with a sense of empathy. Also, learning about medicine from a biology aspect made it easy to understand medical jargon and phrases, so that made it easy for me to focus on what exactly the doctors and nurses are performing.