Mentorship

Literal

• Service Learning Log
• Contact Name and Number: Leila Chong, (626) 856-5156

Interpretive
What is the most important thing that you have gained from this experience? Why?

• The most important thing that I have gained from my mentorship experience is that I got to see firsthand how a medical team works. I feel that this is important because it has prepared me for the future. Although I am thinking way ahead of myself, I believe that now that I have got the opportunity to experience the environment of a hospital and how medical teams work, I will be definitely be pursuing medicine as a career. Before senior year I was very confident in focusing my career on something that dealt with the medical field. As senior year progressed, I realized that medicine is indeed for me due to what I have experienced at the hospital. Also I realized that in medical teams, you have the opportunity to work individually but in a group as well, which is something that I really enjoy.  Another important aspect that I have gained from my mentorship experience is how to treat patients when they come in for visits. Customer service is incredibly important when seeing patients, no matter if its early in the morning or if you are ready to go home. This is a skill that not only applies to my future career in medicine but to a job that I might get in college or just in everyday life. 

Applied
How has what you have done helped you answer your EQ? Please explain. 

• This experience has helped me answer my essential question which is "what is the best method in modern obstetrics that lowers infant mortality?, because I have seen my first answer being applied almost everyday. My first answer is that women should receive prenatal care in order to reduce the rate of infant mortality. When I go to volunteer at Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park OB/GYN department, I see countless of women coming in to receive prenatal care. This is incredibly satisfying because more babies are beating the odds of suffering from infant mortality just because their moms got the adequate care that they needed while pregnant. Another way that I can tell that moms are receiving prenatal care, specifically at Kaiser is when I have to resupply a cabinet with prenatal packets which is a constantly. 

  

  This is a picture of the first newsletter out of 10 that compile the prenatal packets. 

Mentorship Update 3/16/2013

Today I have had the opportunity to do an update on my mentorship. With that being said, below you can find a few pictures on what I have been doing or what I have encountered at my mentorship.

This picture is a handout that the nurses at Kaiser give out to patients. It basically talks about what  the 17P-injectable progestrone shot is, who should get it, the side effects of the shot, and what happens if someone should miss a dose. I decided to add this picture to my blog because it relates to my second answer which is reducing preterm birth. 

This is a picture of a ultrasound machine that doesn't work, however I  thought that it would be interesting to share it because I have never seen an ultrasound machine up close until the day that I took the picture. 

This picture is of the cover of the 3rd Trimester Packets that I make in the OB/GYN department. I constantly  have to  these packets because the nurses are always using them! Inside these packets, there is useful information to the patient which includes a handout about taking a tour of the L&D department, what to do after the baby arrives, along with other useful handouts. 

Mentorship Update: 2/26/2013

Now that I have had more time on my hands to update my blog on my mentorship, I thought I would share some pictures of some of the things that I was assigned to do while volunteering at Kaiser.

While at the hospital, I had to put these congratulatory cards in envelopes to mail/hand out to patients who had their babies at Kaiser. I thought this was a really nice gesture of the OB/GYN and L&D department because of the message that it had inside which was very thoughtful.

These are the Healthy Beginnings Newsletters or prenatal packets.  These packets consist of a newsletter numbered 1-10 which outline how far along the mother is depending on the newsletter. For example if the mother is in her first trimester, she would read the 1-3 and near the end of her pregnancy or third trimester, she would read newsletter 7-10. Every time that I go  to Kaiser, which is Tuesdays and Thursdays, I always have to make a new batch of packets because they are constantly running low. One time I made  two sections of packets in about 30 minutes which is about 50 packets overall, which resulted in REALLY dry hands! Although it might seem weird that I like making these packets, they are actually very informational because they have helped me learn more about prenatal care which is my first answer to my EQ. 

Mentorship Update: 1/23/2013

A while ago while I was volunteering in the OB/GYN department, I asked the Lead L.V.N, Jeannette, about this really big machine that I saw earlier that day. I explained to her that this machine made a big whoosh sound and she told me that it was a Fetal Doppler Machine which listens to the baby's heart rate. Jeannette said that every whoosh I heard was the baby's heart rate and I thought this was pretty cool because I was actually hearing a baby's heart rate which I rarely hear. Also another interesting fact that I learned was that whenever a baby is born they play a lullaby for about 10 seconds and while at the hospital I heard it about 4 times in a single day which means that a lot of babies are born at Kaiser! 

Blog 11: Mentorship Hours Check

Content:
1. I am doing my mentorship at Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park
2. My contact is Leila Chong
3.  I have done 124.5 hours at the hospital
4. While at the hospital, I have helped the OB/GYN department with making prenatal packets, third trimester packets, copies for the receptionists, making urine cup baggies for the receptionists  or refilling the pitchers in all modules with water. On the weekends when I have done concierge, I have helped patients get to their destination and I have also helped the Health Education Department with directing patients to a particular class in the hospital's basement. 

Summer Mentorship Component

Service Learning Log

Literal (Need to Know):

• How important are good customer service skills?
• Does everyone in the hospital have to have good customer service skills?
• Besides customer service, are there any other skills needed?
• Why is it important for volunteers to show good customer service skills to patients/members?

Interpretive:

The most important thing I gained from this experience is that I got the satisfaction of helping people going where they needed to go. Although this might sound small next to the hours that I spent helping patients/members, I really enjoyed taking patients/members to various departments throughout the hospital. It was really interesting to hear the stories that they told while I was taking them to their desired destination. 

Applied:

Although I have not worked in a specific department yet, I have really liked being a concierge ambassador because it has taught me how to handle people of various races and temperaments. It has also taught me how to talk to people better and improve my customer service skills. So far I have enjoyed my time at the hospital and look forward to my upcoming days at the hospital.