Week 2:
The Project Begins

June 24, 2017

Week 2 was full of exciting events both at my internship and outside of work. On Monday, I was finally granted access to the data list of records for our project, so I was finally able to get to work. I met with the physician in charge of my project and we set a reasonable goal for how much data I should get through this summer. Hopefully, I can get through one year of data, which will be around 7,000 patient charts. While I still have a lot of work ahead of me, it is much better than the original 14,000.

Each week all interns attend a presentation that is part of a summer lecture series. A different person presents on a different topic every week. This week, one of the sports medicine physicians presented “Sports Med Mythbusters”. We talked about all sorts of different misconceptions people have about being active. Did you know it is true chocolate milk is one of the best things you can consume for recovery (maybe better than water!)? It has the perfect ratio of carbs to protein you need after a hard workout. We also talked about how high protein diets don’t work, the type of stretching to do and when, and how helmets and mouth guards don’t prevent concussions. Being an athlete, I loved this lecture! I learned so many useful dos and don’ts that I can apply to my own workouts now.

On Friday, I had my first shadowing experience of the summer. I shadowed one of the pediatric orthopedic physicians. Since she is in general orthopedics, I got to see a wide variety of orthopedic issues. I saw everything from club feet to scoliosis to hip dysplasia. I would like to go into orthopedics, so this was a very enlightening experience. I loved that no case was the same and the variety that this specialty allowed. I learned quickly that I love the pediatric setting. Working with kids not only keeps you on your toes from their jokes and questions, but it also provides an extra level of difficulty. Kids can’t always tell you what their pain feels like or when an injury happened so you have to play detective a bit, making the job more challenging. Pediatrics was a great balance of challenge and fun.

This weekend, I was able to get out and explore. I met a family friend who moved to Colorado 2 years ago in Boulder for the morning. We went to an indoor rock climbing facility and did some climbing to start the day. I have never rock climbed before, so I was a little nervous.It was such a blast, I can’t wait to go again!

After climbing successfully wore us out, we went the base of the mountain. Unfortunately, we didn’t go hiking as the weather wasn’t overly nice. We went to an area where there is a really good overview of the city and I was still able to see the mountains up close. We made plans to go hiking soon, which I am very much looking forward to.

Finally, I made a big step in becoming a real adult this week: I made my first ever meal! I have never really cooked before, but living on my own I had to venture away from just making Kraft mac and cheese every night. With a little help from back home, I was able to successfully make tacos.

Next week I am looking to get down to work and get lots of data entry done. I have another shadow coming up,  this time with a physician’s assistant (my career of choice as of now). I may get to do a little traveling next weekend, so more exciting adventures to come!