Goals and Learning
Career Goals
​My current career goals include becoming a registered nurse (RN). Also, going to graduate school to become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) or Nurse Practitioner (NP). I have these goals because I have always known that I want to help people, hands on. These career paths allow me to do just that. I am very confident in these career options because I currently work at a student nurse tech (SNT) and I love it. I actually look forward to work. This internship has allowed me to reflect upon my skills and determine what I enjoy. It has shown me that I really do love working with patients and helping them get better. Although I still want to job shadow and meet with a CRNA or NP, this internship has allowed me to make connections so that I can do this in the future. This will give me a good idea if these goals are achievable or need to be revised. I feel confident I can use my knowledge and preferences to make a career-related decision now.
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By the end of the LHSI program, I have improved my leadership skills, became a better decision maker, and developed my ability to say no in the proper situations. Program activities and assignments provided by LHSI will helped me accentuate and build these skills. I was able to further clarify my values and preferences, both personally and professionally. The internship program helped me to grow professionally and acknowledge the blind spots that I possess. By participating in the internship program, I got to use skills and explore various opportunities in healthcare. These will in turn help me to plan my next steps in my career planning process. This has helped me clarify my likes and dislikes along with my strengths and challenges. Invaluable information which will assist me in my journey. Over the next few years, I plan to job shadow and get a job at a local hospital over the summers. These will both help me explore career options and obtain transferrable skills. By job shadowing in different areas of the hospital I will get a firsthand look of medicine from the inside. A job will allow me to see the inner working of individuals, teams, departments, and the hospital at large. These experiences will contribute to my long-term goals by allowing me to explore, confirm, and reach/redefine my goal.
Internship Goals
Learning Goal #1: Learn more about research (how it is conducted, what happens after the study is complete, how does it benefit people in the end)
Relevance: This goal fits into my career journey and prepares me for my future because it allows me to explore my interest in research. This goal will allow me to see the inner workings of research and specifically how it is conducted. This goal will set me up for my future because maybe one day I, too, will conduct my own research.
Action Plan: Tasks, responsibilities, projects, or activities you'll do to meet this goal.
1. Going to learn how to screen and enroll patients.
2. Will work on multiple different studies.
3. Have the opportunity to speak to the physician/ ask questions.
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Progress: I learned how research was conducted in the ED. I learned how to screen patients for a research study, and if they are eligible, I learned how to enroll them through informed consent or waived consent. I worked in the "shared model" which is where all of our research studies are combined and make it screening more effecient. I also got many opportunities to speck with the physician about the patient because sometimes we needed more information. This all definitely allowed me to explore my interest in research and see how it is conducted.
Learning Goal #2: Learn/practice transferable skills such as communication, problem solving, teamwork, etc.
Relevance: This goal fits into my career journey and prepares me for my future because when I become a nursethese skills can really take me far. Begin a nurse with great communication skills, problem solving skills, teamwork skills, and time management skills can set me apart from others. Nonetheless, allow me to provide the best care I am capable of to my patients.
Action Plan: Tasks, responsibilities, projects, or activities you'll do to meet this goal.
1. Everyday communication.
2. Communication in staff meetings.
3. Working with the research department as a team.
Progress: I communicated with my team everyday. In staff meetings I would offer ideas up here and there to help improve work flow. I got to be a part of a team and work as a team member to screen and enroll patients into research studies. The teamwork and transferable skills that I obtain have been strengthened by this internship. I think it will definitely make me a better nurse.
Learning Goal #3: Start building a professional network.
Relevance: This goal fits into my career journey and prepares me for my future because it is simply never to early to start building a professional network. Connections are vital, as they provide you with access to resources you wouldn’t have otherwise. This goal will allow me to start having these valuable interactions with professionals in the medical field.
Action Plan: Tasks, responsibilities, projects, or activities you'll do to meet this goal.
1. Meet all people of the ED.
2. Other opportunities (CRES).
3. Studies with collaborating with different departments (MEMED - pathology) (GI Bleed study -
Indiana bio bank).
Progress: I have met all individuals of all profession working in the ED. I have got to work on studies that have collaborated with different departments of the hospital/healthcare system. This has shown me a different perspective of how all of these professionals are collaborating to improve patient care and make patient safety/health of upmost importance. This professional network that I have entered has taught me many things. Networking is so much more than making connections.
Learning
I am confident in communication, teamwork, constructive criticism and feedback, punctuality, and goal progress. I communicate and work with a team at my internship site every day. I am communciating with members of my team, supervisors, and other members of the emergency department. We have weekly meetings that I always ask for feedback and some constructive criticism on my work. I am always looking to improve and get better. I always have in mind my goals and what I want to get out of this internship so I think ahead and plan my actions so that I will achieve them. I am also on time and rarely arrange to make up missed hours. I have been using these skills and know I am growing because everyday I am at the internship I use communication, teamwork, punctuality, and get feedback consistently that I am able to learn from. These skills are getting used everyday and therefore getting strengthened.
I would like to continue to work on problem solving and confronting challenged and failure. Instead of asking for help when I come across a problem I am going to push myself to try my best to figure it out myself first, then ask for help if really needed. Specifically for my internship site, when screening patients, if I come across a patient and I am unsure if they are eligible or not I will look through the original exclusion criteria and dive deeper into their EMR. After LHSI, I will tackle any problem or challenge I may come across the same way. I will try to get more knowledge to try and fidn the answer myself, but if I still don't know what to do I will ask for help.
This internship has allowed me to see a different side of health care. It has allowed me to see how much work doctors put in. We work with patient's nurses to get a better understanding of what is going on with that patient or to help us get a blood sample. The nurse doesn't necessarily know the study they are helping us work on. When I am a nurse this internship will allow me have a different perspective. I know this is where I want to go with my career because the nurse is the hands on personnel we (as researchers) go to for help with a study, whereas the doctors have all the knowledge. I thrive when I get to help someone physically or hands on. This internship has helped me gain a deeper understanding of my coursework and nursing as a major because there is so much to learn about patient centered care - and that is what research is all about.