As I approach the end of my 8-week medical internship, I have reflected on the fulfilling experiences and opportunities I have had at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. As a full-time intern in the anesthetics department, I improved my skills in professional communication and leadership. I have also improved my ability to liaise between multiple people in different departments, corresponding to my wide range of projects. I feel more confident relaying information to healthcare professionals, making suggestions, and contributing to projects that I would have previously found daunting. Initially, I felt a strong sense of imposter syndrome during my first week. I felt underqualified to be given responsibilities that had large impacts, such as accessing and analyzing patient data on EPIC or editing data in large Excel spreadsheets. As the weeks went on, I felt more and more comfortable in my role at King’s, and I am proud now for trusting myself and my abilities to contribute to projects in a meaningful way.
Throughout my internship, my supervisors did a great job coordinating fulfilling projects and shadowing experiences to help me get the most out of my time here. In all, I spent 45 hours shadowing various procedures and specialties. I learned from anesthetists, including neuro anesthetic consultants, general anesthetic consultants, and pediatric anesthetic consultants. Correspondingly, I shadowed 2 neurosurgeries: a pediatric endoscopic debulking of a brain stem tumor and a craniotomy for an intraventricular brain tumor. In addition, I shadowed general procedures: a laparoscopic appendectomy, endoscopy procedures, and oral surgeries under a general anesthetic. Finally, I have aspirations of working in pediatrics. Therefore, my supervisor arranged for me to observe liver biopsies on infants and children ranging from 5 weeks old to 7 years old.
As a pre-medical student, I found my time in the operating theatre fascinating. I noticed differences in surgical practices from the UK to the US, such as the equipment they use and their sterility practices. Observing surgeries from an anesthetic standpoint was also a unique and new perspective, enabling a much more comprehensive understanding of the patient journey before and after the procedure. I am proud that during my shadowing experiences, I made an effort to ask questions and clarify things I was unfamiliar with, especially since this was my first experience in surgical settings. The anesthetists were all welcoming and eager to explain anything I asked about, making my experience much more enjoyable and comprehensive.
This experience has strengthened my confidence that I am on the right track in my career choice. I hope to have more medical experiences such as these to continue solidifying my passion for medicine.
