Dr. Uday Patel
August 28, 2018
Student Internship Final Paper Project
During this past summer I had the amazing opportunity to shadow Dr. Patel at Calvert Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center. The internship consisted mostly of observing Dr. Patel working with various patients. I would stand and watch as he performed various tasks. These tasks included diagnosing a patient’s problem, having a follow-up appointment from a surgery a patient just had, injecting a patient with medicine for various problems such as knee pain, draining a patient of synovial fluid, and other various tasks. Apart from observing patients, Dr. Patel also showed me x-ray images of patients and pointed out what the images meant. He taught me what to look for on an x-ray in regard to a patient having arthritis, a bone fracture, bone on bone contact, or other various problems. I learned valuable information about the career of an orthopedic surgeon and received amazing advice on what it takes to make it in the medical field.
My internship was very interesting because not only did I learn a lot, but I also got to meet a lot of amazing people. If this internship taught me anything it was that communication and people skills are very important if you want to be a medical doctor. Throughout my whole internship I met a lot of interesting patients of various backgrounds. This internship taught me really quickly that some patients require a different approach to treatment than others. Dr. Patel showed me how to adjust the way you speak to a patient based on the care a patient needs. Dr. Patel is a very good people person and I learned a lot from him in this regard. So, this internship taught me two very important things. One is the importance of communication skills in the medical field and the other is the various tasks and daily activities an orthopedic surgeon does.
Ultimately, this internship gave me a wonderful opportunity at such a young age to learn about the medical field. Specifically, I learned about disorders of the human body and its multiple parts. I also learned about various medicines used to treat disorders such as arthritis, joint pain, and other pain around the body. I was also able to learn about the communication skills and the level of attentiveness it takes to be a good doctor with patients. Dr. Patel was a wonderful mentor and taught me a lot about the career of an orthopedic surgeon. This experience will never be forgotten and has made me seriously consider pursuing a career as an orthopedic surgeon.