This week truly opened my eyes to the intense world of neurology. In late October, my grandfather in India suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, and he had been in the Intensive Care Unit ever since. Nonetheless, there was ample hope because my grandfather had started to slowly regain his cognitive and motor functions. Recently, however, my grandfather suffered an ischemic stroke and developed sepsis at the hospital, so his conditions worsened drastically. As a result, my family and I took an emergency trip to India to unfortunately see my grandfather one last time.
From a medical perspective, it was quite shocking to see the differences in standards of care in India versus the United States. While in the Health Science Clinicals Program, I had seen how many safety precautions are taken in the United States before entering the ICU, such as putting on gloves, masks, shoe covers, and gowns. However, in India, there was simply a bottle of hand sanitizer to prevent the spread of infection. It made me think back to my interview with Dr. Aiyagari, who had immigrated to the United States because of the better technology, and I realized that the quality of healthcare is often dictated by not only socioeconomic standards but also by location. While in India, I talked to my grandfather’s neurologist, and due to the knowledge that I had gathered from ISM, I was able to understand everything he said and even explain it to my relatives in layman's terms. After having such a personal encounter with neurology, I am even more motivated to become a neurologist. Not only do I want to help prevent such injuries, but I also want to improve the standard of care in developing countries. As a result, I will try to integrate this into my original work and final product.
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Just as I thought that I would have to start over and look for another mentor for ISM, Dr. Dike responded to my messages and said that he still has time to work with me over the course of the year. Thus, the journey into neurology with Dr. Dike continues!
As the end of the semester draws closer, so does the due date of original work, and there is still an ample amount of work that needs to be done, especially since I have been unable to meet with Dr. Dike for quite a while. Thus, over winter break, I plan to start the actual case study portion of my original work so that it can be done before school starts back up next year. In the meantime, I have been conducting research for my original work by looking into different types of technology. Since the differences between CT scans and MRI scans have always been confusing to me, that is my topic of research for this week. The pharmaceutical aspect of neurology is also quite interesting, and when I was shadowing Dr. Dike over the summer, I was able to write down the names of some of the medicines that he prescribed to his patients. As a result, for a future assessment, I also plan on looking into the different types of drugs that are prescribed to patients and their side effects. Overall, I am quite excited to see how my original work will turn out. One of the most difficult, yet rewarding parts of ISM is the obstacles that we face along the journey. Although Dr. Dike had previously agreed to be my mentor, he will unfortunately not be able to help me in my ISM journey due to his busy schedule, so it is time to start looking for a mentor again.
At first, I felt quite discouraged because I was looking forward to moving on to the actual mentorship part of ISM and working on my original work, but now I realize that there is ample opportunity to benefit from the knowledge of other neurologists in the area. As a result, I have begun the process of cold-calling once again. So far, I have already called five more neurologists and this time, my focus is on the Allen and McKinney area since I have already called and been denied an interview at multiple clinics in Frisco and Plano. Neurologists are quite busy, and going into ISM this year, it become evident early on that finding professionals in the area willing to meet with me would be difficult, but I am hopeful that my persistence will pay off. My ultimate goal is to have a mentor secured before winter break! |