Rural Health Experience Breakdown

Overview

The Rural Health Experience is a short, three day shadowing experience that was arranged through a company called Illinois AHEC. There were two representatives that came and spoke with the Pre-Health Society during a meeting, and after the meeting I approached one of the workers and asked if it were possible to set up an experience for me. So, the experience was set up for January 8th-10th in Carthage, IL. This town is a small town of about 3,000, and it is located just ten minutes East of my home town.

Day One

My first day started at 8:00 am sharp with myself shadowing the physical therapist that worked at the connected physical therapy company. I was with him for about two and a half hours, and during that time I spoke with him about his journey to physical therapy. He also was very open about the various exercises that he was having his patients do, and what their injuries were. For the second half of my first day, I was placed with the diagnostic imaging staff. During my time with this department, I was able to sit in and observe a head CT on a patient who had just suffered a seizure the day before. I was able to see what goes into taking a diagnostic image like this, such as the placement of the patient and different technical steps taken on a computer to ensure the scan happens smoothly. After the scan was completed the technicians allowed me to see the scan and actually see what a healthy brain looks like when a scan is performed. After this happened, I was taken on a tour of the hospital's facilities to see what types of scans they offered. The technician who took me on this tour was incredibly explanatory of just what goes on inside those machines to create a diagnostic image. At the very end of my stay in the diagnostic imaging, I got to sit in during a meeting with the entire department. This was mainly a meeting about how to allocate funds for the next year. I found this interesting because I got to see how the department lays out a plan on spending while every employee had a say.

Day Two

I started out my second day with the department of pharmacy shadowing a pharmacist. The first thing that I did was take a tour of all of the pharmacy spaces. This included seeing the Omnicell, the main desk, the stock shelves, and the IV room. After this, I was shown the computer systems and how the pharmacist verifies different prescriptions. The pharmacy tech allowed me to check her counts for different medications that were to be taken to the patients on the floor. This was enlightening because I got to see the prescription sheet, and the different medications/medication counts prescribed to each patient’s unique case. Once this was completed, I got to deliver the medications to the rooms that they were designated to. This was very interesting because I was able to see the path a prescription takes. The path included the doctor/physician’s assistant, the pharmacy, and then to the patient. One of the last things I saw in the pharmacy was the restocking of the O.B. and E.R. dry boxes and Omnicells. The time spent with pharmacy was very hands-on and extremely helpful with any questions I had about pharmacy or the path it takes to become a pharmacist.

During the lunch hour, I sat in on the Hancock County Addiction Coalition meeting. This coalition is made up of nurses, hospital staff, high school teachers and coaches, members of local law enforcement, and community members. This coalition’s goal is to help spread awareness of addiction and how parents can prevent a child from falling into drugs. During the meeting, a group of speakers came in and spoke about a new women’s addiction program that was formed in the area. This program was a 12-month program that involved lodging and various other services to any woman in need. This was really interesting to me because I was able to see a rural community coming together to make the area healthier. It was encouraging to know that there is a group out there willing to work for the betterment of the area.

The remainder of my day was spent shadowing Dr. Rosalinda Campos in the clinic. Dr. Campos is a family medicine physician and throughout my time spend shadowing she saw a variety of patient maladies. To name one, there was a six-week-old baby that was coming in for its initial checkup with Dr. Campos. The very next patient was an 89-year-old patient with COPD. This wide range of patient age really opened my eyes as to the sheer amount of what can walk into the clinic and what she has to know how to handle. Dr. Campos was incredible with every single one of her patients. I was in awe of how smoothly she handled questions and offered medical advice. In between patients, I was able to speak with Dr. Campos about her journey to becoming a physician. This included questions on her medical school experience and her experience in residencies as well. She was incredibly receptive to questions and opened my eyes as to what being a rural physician really means.

Day Three

My third day began with a few hour stint with Ashlyn, who was the Dietician at the hospital. We took a trip to WCAZ, which is the local radio station to talk about a wellness program citizens of the community could take advantage of. The people who qualify are individuals with a BMI over 30 and they must have Medicaid. As this interview came to a close, Ashlyn and I went back to the hospital and I was able to sit in on a dietary consultation with a patient. I enjoyed witnessing this consultation because I was able to see what types of professional advice and services a rural hospital’s dietician could offer. Also, the program criteria illuminated the demographic for the at-risk people in the area.

Next, I met with Tyler Hall who ran the pulmonary rehabilitation clinic at the hospital. Tyler was very helpful because he spoke about how he decided on pulmonary rehabilitation and what goes into the profession. He even went as far as to let me take a patient's blood pressure! The patients that Tyler saw included recovering heart surgery patients and patients dealing with COPD and Emphysema. The patients did a variety of different exercises from walking, to riding a stationary bike, to simple step-ups. Tyler would speak to me a lot in between patients and he would discuss how the area he was located in was perfect because there is such a high concentration of older citizens that require pulmonary rehab. The time spent with Tyler was very relaxed and I am thankful that he was so receptive to the various questions I had about his job.

After lunch, I was able to shadow two ER nurses and Dr. Delrosario in the emergency room. Taylor and Angela started off my time by showing me around the ER and explaining the triage system they have in place at Carthage. It was a rather slow day in the ER so the patients I saw numbered at about 8 in about 4 hours. One of the patients that Dr. Delrosario saw was a patient in their 60s who had been losing consciousness on and off for about two weeks. After all of the tests and rigorous questions, Dr. Delrosario diagnosed the patient as having mini-strokes, which I had not known existed until then. Another patient came in who was incredibly dehydrated. This patient needed an IV, so I was able to see Angela go and start an IV on the patient. The final patient that Dr. Delrosario saw was a patient who was 10 years old and had been vomiting for the last week on and off. Dr. Delrosario completed the initial check-up and ordered labs, then started to tell me what he saw in the patient’s ears. He explained what an ear infection looks like and how the boy had one. He then handed the instrument to me, and I was able to see for myself! The time spent in the ER showed me the realities of working in a rural hospital's ER.