Taofeecoh
New member
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2021
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Nigeria
- Current Location
- Nigeria
Working in a clinical environment has always been my childhood dream. Donning the white coat, blue or green scrub, were all concepts that seemed fascinating to me. Flashing a warm smile at patients, with the intention of calming their anxiety while giving them one or two reasons to keep hope alive. However, all these lasted until a couple of years ago.
Hoping to experience what it really feels like to be in the midst of patients, I applied for an intern / volunteer position at the diagnostic unit of a hospital. My roles were quite similar to what I had always envisioned during my childhood. I had a first-hand contact with both the patient and their guardians. There was the room to interact with them (the guardians) and assure them of a sickness-free day ahead. However, all these did not feel as fulfilling as I wanted.
Being an intern, I volunteered in different arms of the organisation, though my primary assignment was to train as an ultrasound technician. Among the notable encounters I had was on one of the occasions of my volunteer session, which was successfully convincing a man who was in his early thirties to undergo a fertility test, as he happened to be reluctant -even after his doctor must have duly enlightened him-questioning why a fertility test should be conducted on him, since there’s the popular misconception of infertility being a female problem.
Also, in the course of my training as an ultrasound technician, there were a number of occasions I was presented with cases of breast cancer. I couldn’t help but imagine how much could have been prevented if they were attended to more urgently (from the onset), but owing to a variety of factors, which include; lack of awareness, ignorance/nonchalant attitudes of individual, stigma from the society, finance et al amidst the rest are all underlying causes of what would make a man/woman watch a slight change in his/her breast go through such without prompt attention.
Another situation I deeply felt concerned about is that of road traffic accidents’ patient patronising local/traditional orthopaedic doctors. Personally, I’m not totally against employing the services of traditional medical practitioner as I know they can be effective but not like managing the case of a serious road traffic injury, where more than one bone could have been fractured. The need to prevent further damage that could occur as a result of poor management or negligence is something I’m deeply interested in.
All these events made me realise my true feel of happiness; my sense of actually feeling alive, lies in the science of preventive medicine -public health-. It was a really enjoyable gesture when I enlighten individuals on the benefits of paying optimum attention to their health, taking necessary precautions, avoiding the use of medications without prescriptions or without adequate diagnosis. In particular, the use of medication without adequate diagnosis is something I’d have been guilty of but on account of a training on drug resistance which I had previously undergone, courtesy of World Health Organisation, I was able to avert the possible negative outcome and got properly diagnosed, followed by the right treatment. All these were easily accomplishable for me as a result of my ability to communicate excellently, not to mention that I do get frequent compliments on my eloquence and wittiness.
The different folds of experience really got me thinking to myself that I’ve found my journey. A phenomenon relatively different from my childhood concept as it won’t necessarily be in a hospital environment, yet astonishingly similar in nature as it all boils down to helping people live an illness free life.
On another note, I’d say this program also tends to be the perfect fit for my kind of personality. Truthfully, I felt suffocated and limited at the thought of having to work a clinical job all through the years of my life. The thought of repeating a similar pattern everyday is what I’d call a nightmare. Thanks to the opportunity I had to volunteer, I was able to explore another angle of being useful to the human community in the world of healthcare. Owing to the diverse and adventurous nature of this program, being the best fit for me would be an understatement.
Being a professional with lots of international network and exposure is what I aim to achieve as this would give more rooms to approach my dream of helping both locally and globally. I can’t seem to get over the excitement at the slight thought of studying what I’m enthusiastic about, not to mention it being in different parts of the world. A platform to experience a taste of new culture, ideas and network and in turn, give back to the society.
Thanks for reading,
[Personal info removed by moderator]
Hoping to experience what it really feels like to be in the midst of patients, I applied for an intern / volunteer position at the diagnostic unit of a hospital. My roles were quite similar to what I had always envisioned during my childhood. I had a first-hand contact with both the patient and their guardians. There was the room to interact with them (the guardians) and assure them of a sickness-free day ahead. However, all these did not feel as fulfilling as I wanted.
Being an intern, I volunteered in different arms of the organisation, though my primary assignment was to train as an ultrasound technician. Among the notable encounters I had was on one of the occasions of my volunteer session, which was successfully convincing a man who was in his early thirties to undergo a fertility test, as he happened to be reluctant -even after his doctor must have duly enlightened him-questioning why a fertility test should be conducted on him, since there’s the popular misconception of infertility being a female problem.
Also, in the course of my training as an ultrasound technician, there were a number of occasions I was presented with cases of breast cancer. I couldn’t help but imagine how much could have been prevented if they were attended to more urgently (from the onset), but owing to a variety of factors, which include; lack of awareness, ignorance/nonchalant attitudes of individual, stigma from the society, finance et al amidst the rest are all underlying causes of what would make a man/woman watch a slight change in his/her breast go through such without prompt attention.
Another situation I deeply felt concerned about is that of road traffic accidents’ patient patronising local/traditional orthopaedic doctors. Personally, I’m not totally against employing the services of traditional medical practitioner as I know they can be effective but not like managing the case of a serious road traffic injury, where more than one bone could have been fractured. The need to prevent further damage that could occur as a result of poor management or negligence is something I’m deeply interested in.
All these events made me realise my true feel of happiness; my sense of actually feeling alive, lies in the science of preventive medicine -public health-. It was a really enjoyable gesture when I enlighten individuals on the benefits of paying optimum attention to their health, taking necessary precautions, avoiding the use of medications without prescriptions or without adequate diagnosis. In particular, the use of medication without adequate diagnosis is something I’d have been guilty of but on account of a training on drug resistance which I had previously undergone, courtesy of World Health Organisation, I was able to avert the possible negative outcome and got properly diagnosed, followed by the right treatment. All these were easily accomplishable for me as a result of my ability to communicate excellently, not to mention that I do get frequent compliments on my eloquence and wittiness.
The different folds of experience really got me thinking to myself that I’ve found my journey. A phenomenon relatively different from my childhood concept as it won’t necessarily be in a hospital environment, yet astonishingly similar in nature as it all boils down to helping people live an illness free life.
On another note, I’d say this program also tends to be the perfect fit for my kind of personality. Truthfully, I felt suffocated and limited at the thought of having to work a clinical job all through the years of my life. The thought of repeating a similar pattern everyday is what I’d call a nightmare. Thanks to the opportunity I had to volunteer, I was able to explore another angle of being useful to the human community in the world of healthcare. Owing to the diverse and adventurous nature of this program, being the best fit for me would be an understatement.
Being a professional with lots of international network and exposure is what I aim to achieve as this would give more rooms to approach my dream of helping both locally and globally. I can’t seem to get over the excitement at the slight thought of studying what I’m enthusiastic about, not to mention it being in different parts of the world. A platform to experience a taste of new culture, ideas and network and in turn, give back to the society.
Thanks for reading,
[Personal info removed by moderator]
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