1. Health Care Exploration: A Summer of Volunteering and Shadowing
Rahul Joseph, Centre College ’14
Brown Fellows Summer Enrichment Project 2013
ABSTRACT
PERSONAL OBJECTIVE
This summer, I engaged in a two-part health care enrichment experience.
The first component consisted of career-oriented shadowing with general
surgeon Dr. Paul DeLuca at two inpatient and two outpatient locations: Central
Kentucky Surgeons PSC, Central Kentucky Surgery Center, Ephraim McDowell
Regional Medical Center, and James B. Haggin Memorial Hospital. The second
component focused on volunteer service with Mission Lexington Medical Clinic,
a free clinic serving uninsured working adults in Fayette County, Kentucky.
Through this two-part summer enrichment experience, I developed a greater
awareness of the social, economic, and political factors that drive healthcare
policy and programs as well as rounded off my medical summer experiences,
with clinical, research-oriented, and finally observational and policy-oriented
enrichment experiences.
To engage in a two-fold health care experience—career-oriented
shadowing with a local general surgeon and volunteer service with a local
public/community-oriented health organization—focused on gaining first-hand
knowledge of the effects of healthcare policy, medical procedure, and/or
community-based medical practices on medical professionals and their
organizations. Each experience was chosen to allow me to observe and
participate in the inner workings of health care organizations as well as to
provide close interactions with patients and medical professionals in my local
community.
SHADOWING
I shadowed Dr. Paul DeLuca, general surgeon, Centre alumnus, and
trauma medical director at Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center, over
the course of several weeks. I observed several surgical procedures for the first
time while shadowing, including thyroid lobectomy, laparoscopic colectomy,
laparoscopic cholecystectomy, hernia repair, portacath placement, colonoscopy
and colonic polypectomy, and ultrasound-guided biopsy and aspiration. I
shadowed him at four different (two outpatient and two inpatient) medical
facilities: Central Kentucky Surgeons PSC (his private practice clinic), Central
Kentucky Surgery Center, Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center, and
James B. Haggin Memorial Hospital. Through my interactions with patients and
medical professionals across these four Central Kentucky medical facilities, I
developed personal and professional networks and learned more about the
general surgery specialty. I was also able to gain the perspectives of surgeons
and nurses regarding current health care practices and policies, such as the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
VOLUNTEERING
When not shadowing, I volunteered with Mission Lexington Medical Clinic,
a free clinic serving uninsured working adults in Fayette County, Kentucky. As a
volunteer, I made patient appointments, answered and returned phone calls,
faxed and filed medical records, maintained examination rooms, provided
computer assistance, and shadowed physicians and nurse practitioners when
available. Through this experience, I interacted regularly with patients, learned
how health policy affects healthcare providers like Mission Lexington, and
observed the daily management of a small primary care clinic. I also developed
personal connections with medical professionals and local volunteers, and I was
particularly glad to help facilitate an important health care service for my
community.
BACKGROUND
Summer 2010: International trip to Vietnam and Cambodia with the Brown
Fellows Class of 2014, focused on learning about Vietnamese history and
culture as well as gaining travel experience abroad.
Summer 2011: 5-week health internship with Cross-Cultural Solutions in
Guatemala City, Guatemala. I primarily volunteered in a local government
health clinic, assisting nurses with recording patient weight, height,
temperature, and blood pressure; recording prescription information and
handling drugs in the clinic pharmacy; administering vitamins and vaccines;
and shadowing physicians in the clinic and in the surrounding community. I
also researched and presented to my fellow CCS interns on the topic of
leading causes of child mortality in Guatemala.
Summer 2012:
10-week intensive research experience through the
Mechanisms of Behavior Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at
Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, sponsored by the National
Science Foundation. Working under the supervision of Dr. Staci Bilbo, I
experienced every aspect of behavioral laboratory research, including animal
care, surgery, behavioral tests, microscopy, and analytical molecular
techniques, in addition to participating in innovative research in a highlyspecified area. Over the course of the summer, I networked with other healthand science-inclined undergraduates from around the country, lived and
worked with greater independence than ever before, and focused my healthrelated interests on a specific developmental and behavioral phenomenon,
fetal programming.
PERSONAL CONCLUSIONS
Through this enrichment experience I have:
Gained a greater awareness of the social, economic, and political factors
that drive healthcare policy
Networked with medical professionals and staff in the Central Kentucky
community
Observed several major surgical procedures for the first time
Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center (top), James B. Haggin Memorial
Hospital (middle), and Mission Lexington Medical Clinic, located in Danville,
Harrodsburg, and Lexington, KY, respectively.
Followed patient cases from pre-surgery consultation to the operating
room to post-surgery follow up
Fulfilled my goal of more direct involvement with local medical practice
and patient interactions in my final summer enrichment experience
Deepened my commitment to pursuing a medical education and serving
my community as a physician