Calvert Health Systems

Over the course of my time in the Community Mentorship Program, I have had many great experiences while shadowing the general surgeon, Dr. Bhogte, the pediatric hospitalist, Dr. Smith, and one of the radiology assistants. I have learned that it takes great work and responsibility to work inside the hospital. My favorite area to shadow was general surgery because I got to see Dr. Bhogte interact with the patients and even perform a small surgery that involved the removal of a port. This was the most interesting to me because his day was very busy and occupied with meeting with patients with many varieties of conditions. I learned about the formation and removal of many different diseases just by watching Dr. Bhogte interact with the patients. I admired the work and found myself to be interested in the many different surgeries that he had performed. His day seemed to never have a dull moment and it allowed me to find a new interest in the general surgery profession. A few weeks later I shadowed the pediatric hospitalist, Dr. Smith. She was a wonderful lady who taught me new information about newborns and young children. To me, this profession was not as interesting because she often informed the parents how to take care of their child and did checkups on the baby. Dr. Smith had a great deal of knowledge and I learned a lot during my time with her, but I found her job to be repetitive. I realized that I was more interested working with my hands and fixing the problem rather than advising patients and informing others of an issue. Finally, I shadowed a few of the radiology technicians. Again, I admired their great deal of knowledge in their area of study. They took x-rays of multiple patients inside and outside the room. I learned how to read an x-ray and where the injury was located. I found this to be interesting but again, repetitive. I still wanted to fix the problem rather than diagnose it. Overall, these shadow opportunities were a very positive experience for me. I had no idea what it was like to work in a hospital and have now come to the conclusion that I would enjoy working there. It is an interesting place that always has something new happening. I enjoy working with my hands and helping others which I can do both at a hospital. I am extremely glad I took these opportunities because I now have sparked new interests and ideas that may possibly contribute to my future.