Blog Week 7

Last Friday in the clinic was definitely one of the worst times I've ever had volunteering here.  I worked with an ER doctor that did not really know what she was doing.  The week before this the medical assistant had warned me that it was very difficult to work with her.  The reason is that as an ER doctor, she does not encounter patients with these kinds of problems.  She would question the patient normally but once outside, she would look up information online, ask the medical assistants, or even myself, questions concerning the patient's disease and wondered what the next mode of action should be.   At one point, she asked me what the best treatment would be for the person's high cholesterol, since Lipitor had resulted on mild side effects.  My opinion is that if her skills have deteriorated to this point, it would be best for the doctor and especially for the sake of the patient to stop practicing in this setting. This makes the doctor look really bad and it may be harmful to the patient's health, which ultimately, it is the most important thing.  At first, when the medical assistant told me about it, I thought that she maybe was exaggerating or just making it up, but then I got to see it first-hand and I was very surprised at what I was witnessing.

Blog Week 6

Last Friday in the clinic, I was able to work with the doctor that I enjoy the most working with.  One of the reasons why she is a very god and efficient doctor is because she lets the medical assistants transcribe her notes into the computer software that they use, and as a result, she goes from patient to patient relatively quickly.  As most days in this clinic, many diabetics attend to be treated and checked, and since most are Hispanic, I get to translate to the doctors.  The reason why I like to work with this doctor is because I can seethe attributes of a good and caring doctor and how I feel every medical professional should act in front of the patient.  Because I get to work with different doctors every time, I can compare the different ways that they show as they are dealing with a patient that does not speak English.  Unlike some doctors that tend to ignore the patient and only focus on what I say, she speaks directly to them showing care and concern, which in turn create a sense of comfort in the patient.  Outside of the examination room, in the small window of free time that we have, we talked about medically related issues as well as medical school and her work outside the clinic.  I think this attitude is essential to make a good working environment, and more importantly it enables for the better servie to the patient.

Blog Week 5

Last Friday I went to the clinic and it was a little different than the other times that I had gone.  I was in the optometry section of the clinic and, since they did not need translators in this wing, the medical assistant asked me to do some paperwork.  I had to transfer PDF files saved in the computer into the special program where they save all of the patient's information.  I had to analyze each document, place it under the patient's file and briefly summarize what the document was about and place this information as a cover sheet.  I enjoyed this work because it showed me another part of how the clinic runs.  It is essential for the patient's health to have their records straight and easily accessible so that the doctor can analyze them and make the best judgement for each case.