Pierce-Matlack

Name: Alexa Pierce-Matlack

Guiding Question:

(optional) Use this space to list possible activities, tasks, experiences. Remember everything you do should help you answer your Guiding Question.

(Required) This plan is a “best guess” as to what you and your mentor think you will be doing. It is not meant to be a hard and fast schedule for your Exploration. The plan should illustrate how you intend to complete a minimum of 80 hours.


 * = Date ||= Location/Activity ||= Number of Hours ||
 * = 5/20/11 ||= Christiana Care: Training Session ||= 6 ||
 * = 5/23/11 ||= Christiana Care: Hospitality Cart ||= 7 ||
 * = 5/24/11 ||= Christiana Care: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ||= 7.5 ||
 * = 5/25/11 ||= Christiana Care: Interventional Radiology Unit ||= 8 ||
 * = 5/26/11 ||= Christiana Care: Surgery & Procedure Unit ||= 8 ||
 * = 5/27/11 ||= Christiana Care: Volunteering Office ||= 7 ||
 * = 5/31/11 ||= Christiana Care: SPU/Education Department ||= 8.5 ||
 * = 6/1/11 ||= Christiana Care: VEST Lab ||= 8 ||
 * = 6/2/11 ||= Christiana Care: Surgical Procedure Unit ||= 8 ||
 * = 6/3/11 ||= Christiana Care: SPU/Volunteer Office ||= 5 ||
 * = 6/6/11 ||= Christiana Care: SPU/Volunteer Office ||= 8 ||
 * = 6/7/11 ||= Christiana Care: SPU/Volunteer Office ||= 7.5 ||
 * = 6/8/11 ||= Wilmington: Volunteer Office ||= 7.5 ||
 * = 6/9/11 ||= Christiana Care: Volunteer Office ||= 8 ||
 * =  ||> Total Number of Hours ||= 104 ||
 * Training Session: Went to class with other volunteers to learn all about the hospital and what we might be doing to help as a volunteer. Worked to learn practices for safety and evacuation of the hospital if the need ever comes along while we are working. Learned how to use the log in computer system to keep track of our hours while we are at Christiana Care. Also learned specifics about the different departments in the hospital to help us, as volunteers, decide where we would prefer to donate our time.
 * Hospitality Cart: In the morning, I went around with another volunteer to specific waiting rooms, surgical prep areas, and patient rooms, to offer visitors free coffee, hot chocolate, and tea while they wait for their loved ones or for their own procedures to occur. After lunch, I learned the mail system in the hospital, by picking up all of the mail for the volunteer office, sorting the mail by floor and room, and then delivering each letter by hand to the patient in their room, ensuring that the mail got to the correct person. After the mail was delivered, I did the afternoon shift of the hospitality cart on my own.
 * Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit: I went on rounds with one of the two units in the NICU. We reviewed all of the cases that we had, looked at each back up close, and saw if any changes needed to be made in the treatment of the baby. If the parents were there, we also made sure they understood the condition of their baby or babies and asked if they had any questions. I saw babies at all different stages of care, including a young preemie who had to be isolated for a possible infection that he had, who also had many life threatening desaturations that required manual bagging, while waiting for the necessary machine to keep the young baby alive. I also learned about the admittance and the requirements a baby has to meet before they can be discharged from the NICU. There were many alarms that went off in the NICU, because many things have to be strictly controlled and monitored. I got to see babies intibated and extabated while I was there, which had to be strictly controlled by the nurses, doctors, and respiratory staff, to ensure that the baby was getting the right amount of oxygen. In the late afternoon, right before I left, I went around with another volunteer to bring patients on the fifth and sixth floors magazines and books to keep them entertained while they're in the hospital. Once we finished this, we also had to go around to each of the patients' files in the hematology oncology unit on the sixth floor to ensure that there were enough patient progress sheets for the doctors to log information, that the patient's admittance forms were in the file, and also that they had the proper paperwork if they were a Medicare patient.
 * Interventional Radiology: Today was an amazing day. As soon as I got to the Interventional Radiology Unit, they told me that I was going to scrub in and be in the procedure rooms, to have the best possible learning experience. After putting on the scrubs, I had to get shoe covers for my sneakers and a cap, to ensure that I was as sterile as possible to go into the procedure room. Because all of the surgery is completed using x-ray, I had to wear a full set of lead to protect myself. This was a full gown of lead and a neck protector. I had the opportunity to see three different procedures today. The first was to break up a blot clot using the process of ballooning in the veins with multiple different sizes and shapes of catheters. This was my first ever experience being in a procedure room, so it was very cool to see how all of the instruments came packaged and how many people are actually needed during surgery. It was cool to see the contrast material being injected into the patient, and then watching live on the x-ray screens as it is pumped through the vessels in the patient's leg. After this procedure, we went up to the floors to see patients that had procedures the day before. Dr Garcia wanted to check in with the patients and make sure that they were doing well and progressing the way he wanted them to be. For the second procedure, a port was being placed into the patient's chest so it would be easier for the operating room doctors to remove the large mass of kidney stones in the patient's kidney. Dr Garcia was chosen to place this access point because it would allow for a smaller incision to be made, rather than cutting the patient open completely to remove the kidney stones, which leads to a faster recovery time. Again the x-ray and contrast material was used to place the access point in the correct spot, using multiple catheters. On my lunch break, I went back down to the volunteer office to take a picture in my scrubs, so I would be able to document that huge and amazing accomplishment in my life. In the afternoon, we had the third procedure, which I got to see the complete process of the procedure. I helped the nurses prepare the procedure room before the patient got there. Once the patient was brought into the room, we made sure that he was transferred to the procedure table and receiving the necessary doses of medication. This procedure was to inject chemo directly into tumors in the patient's kidneys. Through the same process as the first procedure, the chemo was injected into the patient's body through the different catheters. A clotting solution was also injected, which should effectively block the blood vessels leading to the tumors, which blocks the flow of blood to the tumor, killing it. After the procedure was completed, we moved the patient back to the transport bed and then had to clean the room for the next procedure that would be happening later in the afternoon.
 * Surgical Procedure Unit: I worked only the morning in the SPU with another volunteer. We cleaned patient rooms, folded and organized gowns and blankets, organized file backs, and made the basic packets for the materials that go into the patient files. Because I was working with another volunteer, I was not able to be involved with the patient care directly. We went to the waiting rooms to bring the patient's family back to the recovery room when the patient returned from surgery. We also completed discharges, where we wheeled the patient in a wheel chair to the front of the hospital, so their family member could pick them up. We also made sure that there was crackers and an assortment of drinks at the three different nurses stations, so if the patients wanted something to drink, it was right there for the nurses. In the afternoon, both my mentor and her assistant had to attend an off campus conference, so I manned the post in the volunteer office. I organized all of the paperwork for the kids that are coming in for the summer program in two weeks and I answered the phone, completing tasks that I could, like signing volunteers out to record hours, or taking messages for Chris to finish when she got back into the office.
 * Volunteering Office: For about an hour and a half in the Surgical Prep Unit again, just cleaning the chart backs and getting them ready to be used again. Then I delivered the mail to all of the patients in the hospital, including birthday cards made up for the patients by the volunteer office. We had gotten a donation of Pokemon cards on monday, so I organized the large amount into much smaller bunches to give out to different parts of the hospital. I even got to deliver some cards to the pediatric unit, though not directly to the children themselves. In the afternoon, I delivered the flowers to the patients that are sent to the hospital from area florists, by the patients' families.
 * SPU/Education Department:
 * VEST Lab: All day today, I spent my time in the basement of the Ammon building of the hospital. The VEST Lab is essentially a replica of the different parts of the hospital in a patient-free setting. There is an operating room, two patient exam rooms, a two-bed patient room, a trauma bay, an OR scrub changing room, and an ICU room, all of which are exactly the same as they would be all throughout the hospital, with the same beds, instruments, equipment, and medications, just without patients. This gives the doctors and residents a risk-free environment to work in, where they can push themselves past their comfort zone, without putting the patient at risk. Using all of the high-tech manikins, any situation that might occur in the hospital can be replicated to ensure that each doctor and nurse will have the best training possible. These manikins are so controlled that they can "talk" to you through a speaker system in the control room, blink, bleed, tear up, urinate, sweat, seize, code, and even have the color of their skin change with applied pressure and oxygen intake. All of these factors are strictly controlled by a computer program run on a laptop in the control room.

Journal:

#1: May 25, 2011
I got a late start on the actual hours of my exploration due to all of my IB exams and playing baseball. I officially started this past Monday at the main location of the Christiana Care Hospital. In this pilot exploration, I will be volunteering in multiple different departments, to see which I might like to work and specialize in during my future medical career. As seen above, I have already worked in two different departments and worked as a plain volunteer in the past three days. I cant say there were any official changes made to the schedule that my mentor and I cam up with, because we have to wait on the departments, so the schedule is kind of last minute, but I know that I go to the volunteering office at 8:30 every morning, where I will then find my assignment for the day. I'm trying to work at least seven hours a day, so I will be able to meet my 80 hour requirement in the limited time frame that I have due to sports and testing. While I have only gotten to go to work in two different departments, I have completely confirmed my desire to be a doctor. I am planning to continue my volunteer work with CCH after my 80 hours are complete both throughout the rest of this summer when needed, and also in the fall, because the University of Delaware has a partnership, where I can complete 50 hours at the hospital each semester. Seeing these two different units, I know that they are not the ones I want to specialize in for my future career, but I am quite glad that I am getting a chance to get this experience in many different fields, so I have a better idea of what area I want to specialize in, before even getting to med school. This is an opportunity that most people don't get as an adult, let alone a high school senior. As of right now, I have 28.5 hours completed out of the required 80 hours. I have no worries about finishing my necessary hours, as I am working almost a full three weeks at the hospital. I know that working in a hospital, that I wont be able to have the same cool pictures to document my progress during my volunteer hours, but the memories and experiences that I will be able to take away from my time will be something that I will keep with me for the rest of my life. My mentor has played a huge part in my senior exploration, as she has been able to pull many strings to give me the amazing experiences that are being opened for me. She has her normal job to work with all of the volunteering needs within the hospital and she was willing to take on the extra work of finding openings in the specialty departments. Without her, I would not be able to have any of the new experiences that I am having.

#2 June 1, 2011
I have really been enjoying my exploration at Christiana Care Hospital. Like before, my mentor has been working hard to allow me to see the most amazing things possible in the hospital. Since my last journal, I have gotten to see the Surgical Procedure Unit, helping with the Volunteer Office, exploring the Education Departments for the hospital, and today, I got the amazing experience of touring the VEST Lab, which is given in more detail above. Seeing this lab made me feel even closer to my journey of going to medical school, because I saw many residents throughout the day today, working on different parts of their residency, using all of the different manikins available, which are so life-like. The scheduling has been the same way, finding out where I will be working when I get to the office in the morning. Ive been having an amazing time working at the hospital and it has only strengthened my belief that I want to go to medical school and become a doctor.

#3 June 6, 2011
Now that my official exploration is coming to a close, I know I can answer my guiding question, which proves my original idea that I really do want to fulfill my dreams and become a doctor. While I have not gotten to see either the Emergency Department or shadow an infectious disease doctor, I still believe that those are the two tracks that I am very interested in. Through this exploration, I saw many different parts of the hospital that I did not even know existed before I started working up close and personal with the hospital staff. While most of my time was spent between the volunteer office and the SPU, I still had the opportunity to see many different pieces that happen daily to keep the hospital functional.


 * POL Comments: Smith/Rizzi**
 * Alexa gave a thorough and polished presentation about her internship with a hospital. She kept up with and completed her journal and handed in her sponsor report. Great job!**