This summer I had the privilege of spending seven weeks at the Texas Medical Center as a Gilstrap Student. Located in Houston, Texas, this internship is a glimpse into the many different specialties in OB/GYN. I participated in seven different rotations over seven weeks, where I was shadowing in clinic, labor and delivery, and even in the Fetal Center. Each different specialty came with its own new topics to learn about and a different workflow. I learned to be adaptive and to also learn as much as I can from the experts in these fields. From this internship I was able to learn about and shadow cesarean sections, fetal intervention, procedures in gynecological oncology, and even just learning how to effectively communicate with patients. The balance of OB/GYN clinic and the different specialties I shadowed gave me a clear picture of how I want to contribute as a future doctor.
While this was an internship revolving around OB/GYN, this internship also gave me an understanding of the field of medicine as a whole. Being a Gilstrap Student taught me many lessons that I will take with me into my future career in medicine. The biggest one was understanding the commitment a career in medicine requires, which I learned from communicating with the residents. I also learned how to be an effective listener and communicator through shadowing the doctors and presenting background information to the residents on topics that I had seen earlier in the week.
I would like to thank Dr. Sean Blackwell, Dr. Sunbola Ashimi, all the residents, and attending physicians that I worked with throughout the internship. Dr. Blackwell and Dr. Ashimi helped make my time in Houston something that I will remember forever. The residents and the attending physicians took time out of their hectic schedules to teach me what and why they were treating the patients a certain way. The learning opportunities that I was given were unmatched by anything that I have ever been a part of. I would also like to thank Jill Rogers and Dr. Wetzel for organizing the internship through the Global Health Initiative.
