2014–15 Issue 11

I S S U E 1 1 - V O L X C i - A P R 30.P A C I F I C U N I O N C O L L E G E

Campus Chronicle

2 Campus Chronicle no.11

Seventy percent is quite a large number, unless that is your total score on a test. However, on PUC’s campus, roughly 70 percent of the students are registered in pre-professional programs such as pre-med, pre-dent or one of the other numerous 2-4 letter abbreviations. With such a large part of our student population striving to go down this path, the staff at the Campus Chronicle decided to do an issue focusing on you! Or them!

Inside this issue is a ton of great content designed to shed some much-needed light into the various pre-professional programs. Whether

it is getting information about the 2015 MCAT or finding out what current medical and dental students wish they would have known, all of this and more is inside these pages.

I am personally excited about this issue because it was my goal as editor-in-chief to connect more with students by bringing relevant content to the Campus Chronicle. Here is a big step toward that goal. Without further delay, the political science major will stop writing and let you read about PUC’s wonderful world of science.

Letter From The Editor By David O'Hair

Editor-in-ChiefDavid O’Hair

Assistant EditorNic Miller

Layout EditorTaylor Smith

Features EditorTaylor Pittenger

News EditorTara Hattendorf

Sports EditorTrent Broeckel

Opinion EditorCarlo Pean

Backpage EditorAmanda Navarrete

Copy EditorsEmily Mathe

Jessica WintersLaura Helms Pascale Pean

Faculty AdvisersLynne ThewMichelle Rai

Cover ArtManuel Peralta

Questions or comments? Email [email protected]

2015 MCAT Changes By Glorianne Besana Before entering medical school, all prospective students must take a standardized admissions test to see where they rank against the rest of

the candidates. In 2008, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) appointed a committee to formalize new core concepts for the Medical College Admission Test, commonly referred to as the MCAT. The aim of the new MCAT is to shift the focus to better prepare incoming medical students with subjects that reflect issues in healthcare especially with the inclusion of social sciences and humanities. Here’s what you need to know:

1. The MCAT is now double in length featuring 230 questions in 6 hours versus the old 144 questions in 3 hours. 2. Four sections in total, there is an addition of biochemistry, psychology and sociology to be integrated with the remaining general

chemistry, organic chemistry and biology in passages that replaced the Verbal Reasoning section.3. The scoring scale has been adjusted from the highest being a 45 (a score of 15 as the cap in three sections) to 528 (a score of 132 as a

cap in four sections).4. New emphasis on reading and interpreting visual data such as graphs and tables.5. The first practice exam was offered in 2014 and the new MCAT began in April 2015.

vol. xci April 30, 2015 3

When senior Elizabeth Yeo came to Pacific Union College her freshman year, she was a biochemistry major set on going to medical school. While her dreams for medical school were strong, the major still didn’t feel quite right. With the introduction of the Health Communication major, Yeo found her niche. Thanks to her dedication and education in the Health Comm program, next year she will be attending Loma Linda University School of Medicine—her first choice medical school.

How has the Health Comm program helped you with being a pre-med and preparing for medical school?

I liked the Health Communication program because it allowed me to have time to take science classes that I thought were beneficial for my future career goals or interesting to learn about, while still allowing time for me to take communication classes that I felt I could also benefit from. In essence, I was able to fulfill my pre-med four-core science requirements, which also counted toward my major. Thus, I had time to not only finish my major, but also take enough extra science classes to obtain a minor in biology and chemistry—classes that could further help me in medical school. This fit perfectly for me because I felt like I could decide which science classes I wanted to take, rather than have a list of science classes that I was required to take. In my old major, I felt restricted and had to take science classes that I felt were not essential for medical school, yet very important specifically for chemists looking to obtain a Ph.D. These classes also did not interest me as much, so I was glad that Health Comm gave me the opportunity to explore and integrate both science and communication—something I felt was especially important within patient healthcare in the medical field.

Which Health Comm class was the most useful for preparing for medical school? Why?

From the Health Communication classes I took, I thought the most useful class was Health Comm Seminar. This class taught me about the importance of benefits from effective communication in the medical field, such as improved patient health outcomes. When strong connections between health care providers and patients are built, patients feel more involved with resolving their health care, thus adhering more to their treatment and participating more in patient self-management. When communication was strong between the healthcare providers and patients, patients were more likely to participate in the treatment assigned by the provider, whether it be taking their medication, engaging in daily strength building exercises or fulfilling other treatment plans assigned by the provider.

While I learned how to communicate effectively as a provider for a patient, I also learned how to communicate effectively between providers. When communication is lost between providers, patient handoffs can become very dangerous, allowing for simple errors to occur that can cause devastating effects on patient healthcare. For example, a provider who has been the main care provider for a patient will gain the patient’s trust, and also understand the patient’s needs. During a patient handoff, the original provider must communicate important information effectively to the new provider, such as type of allergies to certain medication and history of the patient. The new provider must become aware and begin to develop a new bond with the patient. Without trust between the new provider and patient, patient healthcare may begin to diminish, as patients may feel less inclined to carry out their assigned treatment plans. Without knowledge by the new provider about the patient’s medical history, patient

healthcare may also suffer, such as when a provider prescribes a medication that the patient may be allergic to.

What are ways you intend to use your skills from Health Comm in your future?

As a healthcare provider, while understanding how to treat your patient is important, I found that communicating these treatment options seems just as important in healthcare because, at the end of the day, it’s up to the patients to decide what to do with their bodies and what kind of treatments, if any, they want to pursue. I hope to be a guide for my patients to educate them on their different treatment options, so

Health Communications to Medical School By Tara Hattendorf


If you wander onto Cody Holthouse’s Face-book page you will not be greeted by any Buzz-Feed quiz results, gym room selfies or long rants about how stressed he is about finals. Instead there will be endless photos of various insects that he posted in December, with cap-tions such as: “Ixodes pacificus (Western Black Legged Tick). Found this lovely lady today. Don’t worry, not on me! Gave her a one way ticket to the septic tank.” Not only does Holt-house’s Facebook timeline stand a few steps outside the mainstream, but his academic pur-suits also match his outlier persona.

Being a biology major is not unique within PUC’s student demographic; however, Holt-house’s choice not to filter into Loma Linda’s various pre-professional programs is his distin-guishing factor. When I sat down to talk with Holthouse, he held himself with a comedic attitude laden with happiness. I prodded Holt-house for his future plans and, in keeping with his pattern, it has to do with insects.

“I really want to go to graduate school at UC Davis to study entomology,” said Holthouse. After a pregnant pause exposed my ignorance as to what entomology is, Holthouse laughed and explained that entomology is the study of insects. “I honestly could go into details for days about the complexities, but I don’t want to bug you!” he said. When asked about what draws him to the biology field, Holthouse started to expose his inner nerd.

Holthouse finds joy in the research aspect

of biology and eventually wants to work for the USDA as an agricultural researcher. His future plans do not stagnate there, however. Holthouse said he wants to be a researcher so he “can eventually be a college professor one day. [He] really want[s] to be embedded in the entomology field so [he] can give back to students.” Holthouse continued by saying, “I see how much focus goes into the pre-med students and I want to give people research op-portunities in other fields of science.”

Holthouse is getting that research oppor-tunity this summer, when he will travel with PUC’s own Dr. Floyd Hayes to Honduras. “We will be going down to Honduras for one week to study sea urchins and various aspects of their living patterns,” Holthouse said with a smile from ear-to-ear. Our interview ended when Holthouse kindly reminded me that he needed to get back to studying for his genetics class.

Holthouse is only one of the many students at PUC who have interests outside of the medical and dental field who do not get the attention they deserve. So here is my gentle re-minder that there are many science majors at PUC who have incredibly diverse career goals. Also, it has been confirmed by Holthouse that it does get annoying when people assume all science majors are pre-med. Just remember, when you wander into Clark Hall, not every-one is planning on becoming medical doctors. You might be saying hello to the next Darwin!

Wait a second…Photo: Holthouse exploring in Switzerland

last year.

Cody Holthouse: The Biology Enigma By David O’Hair

they can make the most informed decision that they feel is best for their health.

During my time shadowing a urologist, I found that most of the time spent in the clinic dealt with the doctor communicating treatment options to his patients. Rather than the doctor ordering a particular treatment for the patient, I realized the decision for treatment must be a team effort. For example, after informing the patient of the different treatment options for cancer, such as surgery, proton therapy, radiation

or cryotheraphy, I found that the patient had to decide which he wished to pursue. As a Health Comm. major, I intend to use my skills to communicate effectively with my patients to lead them to the best possible treatment for improving their health. Do you have any regrets about choosing your major or anything you would have done differently?

No, I enjoyed my time learning about the importance of communication in the health field and how I can integrate what I’ve learned

to become a better health care provider.What advice do you have for other pre-med

students?Take science classes that interest you the

most, and explore other types of classes that can improve your ability to become a better healthcare provider.


Vicky Saunders: Allied Health Superwoman By Katie Berridge

A considerable amount of students at Pacif-ic Union College have health-related majors. Quite a few of those students are pre-allied health, which means that they have Vicky Saunders as their advisor. Saunders is the ad-visor for all students who have declared major under the dome of allied health, or who are working on their associate degree in Health Science. When asked what was in her job de-scription, Saunders stated, “I give advisees in-formation to help them choose a major, help them to explore what kind of profession might be a good fit and provide guidance to take the right classes to apply to a program elsewhere, usually Loma Linda University. I help to pro-vide a reality check about whether they can realistically expect to be accepted.” Saunders is an advisor, teacher and nutrition & dietetics consultant.

While Saunders’ official job title is coordi-nator of the Health Science program, she also teaches three different classes every quarter. One class she teaches twice a year is Intro to Allied Health. This gives Saunders the oppor-tunity to teach every one of her advisees, as it is a required class for any pre-allied health major.

Saunders also teaches the second allied health sequence called Issues in Allied Health. This class is required for anyone looking to obtain an associate degree in health science. This cre-ates a second opportunity for Saunders to get to know her advisees on a more personal level, as everyone who takes Issues in Allied Health has already taken Intro to Allied Health and she already has a good rapport with them. Having a personal relationship with every in-dividual advisee is an admirable quality that makes Saunders a unique member of PUC’s faculty because she has over 200 advisees every year, but still makes time for all of them.

Saunders’ favorite class to teach, however, is Nutrition, as this is the field in which she holds a degree. Not only does she teach five sections of Nutrition every year, but she also works in the actual field of Nutrition and Dietet-ics. Saunders says, “Before coming to PUC, I worked at St. Helena Hospital, both in the Center for Health and in the Recovery Pro-gram. I still do a regular standing lecture and nutrition consults for the Recovery Program and see some private clients.” Saunders con-sults clients in her home office and in an office on campus. She is also on various committees in the allied health and nursing programs here at PUC.

Saunders clearly has a lot on her plate and many things to pencil into her schedule. Spring quarter is a busy time for her, as she is starting to get all of her advisees ready for their next step on their way to a career in allied health. Her advisees that are graduating or transfer-ring to another school to finish their degrees often request for her to give the school of their choice a recommendation letter. Saunders’ re-ceives a number of recommendation requests from her many advisees because of the strong relationship she builds with them. Spring is also the quarter in which she starts getting all of her returning advisees registered for their classes next year, as she normally gets roughly 45-50 new freshmen advisees every fall. When asked how she balances all of these tasks, Saun-

ders said, “I balance it all by spreading out the advising appointments as much as I can. I have specific blocks of time set aside for my private practice and my hospital commitments. I also keep a careful calendar.”

It is apparent that Saunders is a busy person, but she loves what she does. “I love being part of the growth and change in somebody’s life,” Saunders states, “either in a clinical setting or an academic one.” Saunders loves assisting people in all different ways, from the Nutrition and Dietetic clinic to choosing a career. Truly serving PUC and Angwin in a variety of out-standing ways, Saunders makes our communi-ty a better place for learning and exploring for ourselves the field of allied health. For those who have been taught by her, she also keeps us eating our broccoli.

“Having a personal relationship with every individual advisee is an admirable quality that makes Saunders a unique member of PUC’s faculty because she has over 200 advisees every year, but still makes time for all of them.”


You come in to PUC with all the academ-ic gusto you can muster. You are confident in your freshman mind that nothing can stop you, not even Duncan’s Anatomy. You know that others have fallen, but you are one of the few who has the will to survive.

You manage to scrape your way through the bio sequence, and chemistry is actually a blast. Then, sitting in Genetics with Ness, you wonder: what if bio isn’t actually your thing? I mean, Systems Phys was okay, and Wyrick isn’t quite as scary as they say. But, honestly, your GPA sucks.

In high school, you were the whiz-kid. You got a 4.2, and it was even easy. As the TA and tutor for just about every science under the sun, you made all the dissections slice like a piece of cake. Besides, your parents are in the field; you could obviously learn through osmo-sis if it really came down to crunch time.

But now, as others around you start work-ing on their MCAT or DAT study plans (two years in advance, mind you!), you realize: you hate science. What are you going to do?! You can’t just…give up. That’s really not an option. You’re the genius of every crowd. You know your parents would be so disappointed, and you’ve been promising this “doctor” thing for years now. This is what everyone expects of you.

And yet…what if switching would mean better grades? Which is more impressive—a C in every class you ever take, or A’s in a bunch of easy ones? ( Just don’t tell anyone they were easy; they’ll never know.)

Not sure what to do, you decide to finish up the year and just see how it goes.

Your adviser calls you in. You face the worst: Herbert has just told you to go home and re-think your life. Your grades are about to get you put on academic probation. Is med school even a possibility anymore?

The burden of guilt weighs heavy on your mind. How can you face your parents now? The sadness is almost too much to bear. You’ve only got a few options.

1. Take the easiest road: drop out. College is re-ally just overrated and overpriced high school, after all. They’ll forgive you eventually. Maybe.

2. Forget what your adviser says; you won’t leave bio until they make you!

3. Muddle your way through the potential ma-jors you could become, mope your way over to Records and request the change as confidently as your quaking heart can handle from good ol’ Jonathan Bradley.

Whatever your decision is, it’s not some-thing worth writing home for. You decide to wait until you actually end up at the table with your parents staring you square in the face to break the news.

Even if they don’t act disappointed, that worry will loom over your head for the rest of your life: “What if there was something I could have done?” “One more all-nighter—that would have let me stay in the program!” “I can still do what I’ve always dreamed of do-ing—I don’t need a medical license for that!”

You keep telling yourself that, sweetie. You keep telling yourself that.

Realistically, changing your major can’t be that big of a deal. People do it all the time, right? And besides, that new Health Comm major that PUC is offering is like half bio classes anyway, right? It can’t be that bad.

Once you dip into a couple of comm class-es, you realize, “Hey! This isn’t so awful af-ter all!” You actually like to learn this stuff. Studying is a total breeze, and you seem to always be prepared—it just comes naturally. What’s so bad about that? And, whoa! Won-der of wonders—you’re still going to gradu-ate on time! This is great!

You still wrestle with being a flunk and a dropout. You have no idea what you’re going to do with this major of yours. Health Comm really is a vague major, and you can turn it into pretty much anything later. “What can you do with that?” people ask.

But at least you’re enjoying classes. And now you have time to make friends. Sometimes you even get to spend time off of the mountain be-cause you aren’t drowning in studies. The tal-ent show will be a lot more enjoyable next year when you don’t have three different bio tests that week! At last, a breath of fresh academic air—air you can enjoy, absorb and grow in.

Maybe this isn’t everyone’s experience. May-be not everyone has been forced into a major identity crisis, only to find that they like their odds more on the other side. But sometimes, advisers telling you to rethink your messed up life is actually really good advice. As a pre-med flunk and a bio dropout myself, I’ve found that Health Comm is the perfect fit, and that I’m a much happier, healthier person for it.

What to Do When You Flunk Out of Pre-Med By Maddy Miller

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Medical Field School Advice From the Inside By Melissa May

Would’ve, should’ve and could’ve: the three words that seem to haunt most upperclassmen as they race to finish their bachelor’s degree. “Ragrets” seems to be a trendy phrase that satirically alleviates the harsh reality of inevitable missed opportunity; realistically, even those individuals who have found success in life all possess some level of educational remorse. Perhaps the best way to avoid a “ragret” is to take advice from our elders (otherwise categorized as PUC graduates). Among our fine Pioneer alumni spread, here is some advice to those younger Pioneers looking to make the leap to Loma Linda University in the near future.

“Medical school is a lot of work and I didn’t exactly know how much of a time commitment it would be! I literally study all day and night. So to the PUC pre-med student I would say to have more fun. Enjoy the food in the area, because you won’t realize how much you’ll miss it until you leave. Also, enjoy time with your friends because you won’t be able to see them as often after graduation.”Kunal Patel, Loma Linda School of Medicine 2018

“Before going into medical school, I knew it was going to be challenging, but I didn’t know how physically and mentally draining it could be. I could give advice like ‘take more science classes’ or ‘relax as much as you can before it starts.’ Personally, I think the best advice is having a true passion that you can remember even through the whirlwind of medical school; something that can ground you into reality and hold you throughout any hardship.” -Yela Jung, Loma Linda School of Medicine 2018

“Dental school is super fun and enjoyable for the truly interested individual. I can say there were some things that I wished I had known prior to matriculation. The first thing I noticed was the diversity of academic backgrounds that my classmates exhibited. Despite such a wide range of studies, the extent to which each student was prepared in their scientific knowledge was impressive. Therefore, I would suggest to those interested in the program to take as many recommended courses during the undergrad years. Another observation I made was that there was a higher level of respect and professionalism that was expected from both students and faculty. Beyond the science and actual technical work, one of the goals of dental school seems to develop a successful generation of professionals. Hence, one’s social compatibility goes a long way in patient interactions and some professional discussion, which you will encounter daily. Although this may be nerve racking for some, I like to remind myself that everyone is human. A final word is that you have to be ready to work, but simultaneously enjoy what you are doing. The workload is much lighter when there is fun and interest in what you’re learning.”Kevin Chung, Loma Linda School of Dentistry 2018

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“Although this may be nerve racking for some, I like to remind myself that everyone is human.”


Leaving Pre-Med For Other Fields and Loving It By Cristina FariazMany students come to Pacific Union Col-

lege with the dream of someday becoming a doctor. While pre-med students may see their career choice as the only option, statis-tics show that changing your college plans is a normal occurrence. The National Center for Education Statistics notes that 80 percent of students change their major at least once. On average, college students change majors three times before graduating. Among those statis-tics, two recent graduates of PUC decided to leave pre-med behind and are happily pursu-ing different careers.

John Tan, a chemistry major who gradu-ated from PUC in 2013, chose pre-med be-cause he enjoyed science. Becoming a doctor seemed like the obvious choice. While attend-ing college, Tan was able to work as a teacher’s assistant, and he grew to enjoy tutoring stu-dents in science. He came to appreciate the hours he spent teaching more than the hours he spent shadowing doctors. “I realized that I wasn’t really passionate about medicine, but science itself,” said Tan.

Tan learned that his love for science did not automatically correlate with a love for

the medical field. “You always hear people say that you shouldn’t do medicine unless you’re really passionate about it, and I think that those words were the most influential in my decision,” he explained. “I wasn’t very pas-sionate about medicine, so I decided not to pursue it.”

Miriam Petersen, a biology major who graduated from PUC in 2014, also felt that becoming a doctor was her only career choice. “There was a moment in high school where I decided it was the only thing I could do, be-cause I’d thought it’d be the highest achieving career I could pick,” she stated. Petersen felt both external and internal pressures pushing her to succeed.

Many students feel pressured in the high-ly competitive playing field of pre-med. Tan reported feeling stressed over test scores and extracurricular activities. “There was pressure to always ace everything,” he said. “You hear from upperclassmen about how important grades are, and how you should do X, Y and Z to increase your chances of getting into med school.”

Petersen also felt pressure to achieve per-

fect grades. She would often beat herself up over missed test points and small errors. She felt that there was no margin for error. Peters-en described the culture of pre-med students at PUC as intensely competitive. “There was always gossip about who was failing and who was still a ‘threat,’” she said. Petersen spoke honestly on this topic, saying that while there was a sense of sadness when someone’s grade dropped, there was also a sense of relief be-cause that meant there was one less person to compete against.

While Tan and Petersen opted out of enter-ing medical school, they have not abandoned the scientific field. Tan is currently a Ph.D. student at Loma Linda University, along with Petersen, who is in the occupational therapy program. Both report being more content with careers that are better suited for them. Petersen is excited about becoming an occu-pational therapist. “I researched it a lot, and realized that it provided a way for me to really connect with patients in a more direct man-ner than I felt I could in medicine,” she said. “I’m currently wrapping my first year of OT school, and I’m loving every minute of it.”

Unsung Heroes of Allied Health By Kattie BerridgeIf someone were to tell you that they were

going to transfer to Loma Linda University after PUC, what program would immediately come to mind? It would probably be some-thing along the lines of medical school, dental school, physical therapy or occupational ther-apy. Your mind probably does not wander to the other various allied health programs, such as speech-language pathology, clinical labora-tory science or health information manage-ment. A number of people might not even know about most of the degrees offered in al-lied health, but there are a large number and variety of options.

One of these under-recognized programs is speech-language pathology. One of the main reasons this field is less-commonly known

is that it is often not viewed as a health de-gree. Normally, the general public thinks of a speech therapist as someone who goes to elementary schools and helps children enun-ciate their r’s and s’s and get over lisps. While this is true, it is not the only route a speech pathologist can take. The degree title for a speech therapist is Communicative Scienc-es and Disorders. This means that they deal with all sorts of communicative disorders, such as speech impediments, strokes and even autism. When a person has a stroke, traumat-ic brain injury or is not able to swallow for some other reason, the medical team consults the speech therapist. The speech therapist will then administer various types of assess-ments that test out the patient’s swallowing

and communicative skills. They are the ones who decide whether or not a patient is ready to eat solid foods. A more obscure career path a speech therapist can also take is work-ing in the entertainment industry with actors on set, assisting them with accents or speech impediments. Essentially, a speech-language pathologist is a large part of the allied health community and has many possible roles in so-ciety.

Another rather under-recognized allied health career is clinical laboratory science. A clinical laboratory scientist performs any lab tests a patient might need, such as: blood tests, urine tests or bone marrow counts. CLS’s are important because they are the ones who perform all the tests that lead to discov-


By Sacha SamuelNursing School Experiences

ering a vast variety of different diseases, such as cancer, STDs and more. CLS’s then send this information to other medical profession-als such as doctors and various kinds of ther-apists for them to determine treatment op-tions. Without clinical laboratory scientists, a hospital would not function nearly as well as it does with them.

Another rarely thought about allied health career is health information management. Health information managers manage pa-tient charts, medical histories and informa-tion regarding patient treatments. Health

information managers are important because they keep everything organized so that other healthcare professionals can view patient in-formation more quickly and easily. They also are legally required to maintain confidential-ity about all the patients’ personal informa-tion that they see every day, meaning that they are the best-kept secret and the best se-cret keepers of the hospital. Without health information managers, patient care would be extremely inefficient, as there would be no-body to organize patient information into one place for reviewing.

There is more to the health field than doc-tors, nurses and dentists. There is a whole field with an enormous amount of career op-tions that all work together for the better care of patients and their families. It is often easy to overlook many of these careers, as there are such a large amount of them with various specific duties. Each career is of the utmost importance and deserves recognition for the services that they provide that are overlooked every day.

The medical field will always have room for more nurses and doctors. The nursing field has one of the largest demand for jobs because there will always be a high percentage of people needing care. Luckily, PUC does a fine job preparing their students for the real world. A great example is the nursing degree, which is one of the largest programs on campus. We have an associate and bachelor’s program for the nursing degrees. One way that PUC prepares their students is through clinicals. This gives them a chance to interact with real people in real situations as they shadow nurses at the hospital. Many nursing students say that clinicals are very helpful because they are able to apply their knowledge from books to real life.

First quarter nursing student Juan Hidalgo says, “My first patient that I was assigned to encouraged me and told me that this was the perfect profession for me. He told me that no matter what, I should always do my best.” Hidalgo felt that this was a great example of how PUC prepares many for the real world. It had only been three weeks in and the hard work that the professors did to help their students had already shown through. Hidalgo stated that he hasn’t had a bad experience so far and he is hoping not to.

Fifth quarter nursing student Abigail Sihotang stated that she had both a bad and good clinical experience. Her worst clinical

experience was when her nurse that she was shadowing gave her a patient that she was not academically ready for. This patient was eating through a feeding tube, which she was not quite familiar with yet. Before making any important decisions, she addressed a nurse and they were able to clarify. “If I hadn’t asked a nurse, something could have gone wrong. Luckily, PUC teaches you to make precautious decisions,” Sihotang stated. She also discussed

her best experience in clinicals. Sihotang said that the moment she watched her very first cesarean section she realized that this was the profession for her. “The moment I heard the baby’s first cry was such a beautiful moment. It was so wonderful to see the bond being created in a matter of seconds. Had I not been given the opportunity to participate in clinicals, I wouldn’t have experienced beautiful moments such as these.”

Janine Enriquez, Elixise Chung, Sammi Guan and Nikki Docil


Second quarter BSN student Elexise Chung said that she never had a bad experience in clinicals, but she shared her most rewarding experience. Chung stated, “One of the most important things that I learned this quarter, which I will carry on throughout the rest of my career, was the value of being part of a team. I realized how much more productive we can be as nurses when we help each other out,

and look after one another. I finally realized the importance of not getting caught up in a single task, but instead to always look at the whole patient. As my colleague and I bathed the patient, and began building a rapport with her, she told us that she hadn’t actually received a bath since she was admitted to the hospital, nor had she been able to brush her teeth for three days. This was a prime example of a

nursing staff that was so busy with overseeing medications, and other forms of treatment, that they overlooked the patients basic need for a bath.” Chung believed that this was the best clinical experience because she was able to use the team concept.

If you see a nursing student, don’t forget to say hello and give them some encouragement that everything will be okay!

That’s A Health Care Profession? By Jessica Winters

If you believe that administering shots and diagnosing illnesses is the only way to be in-volved in the healthcare industry, think again. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities need individuals who can work with far more than just the obvious needs of the patients in their care. Here are a few jobs that might not have been the first to come to mind in connection with health care.

Interpreter: These professionals do far more than just tell patients and doctors what the other person is saying. They have to be able to understand the topic that the doctor or nurse is talking about and explain it to the patient in a such a way that the reality of the situation is clear, so that the doctor will be able to give the patient the best care possible and have the patient completely understand what is hap-pening. They also need to be able to explain the patient’s personal concerns, as well as any pre-existing conditions to medical staff so that there are no hitches in the care process. These professionals have to have a high level of concentration for simultaneous translating over a prolonged period of time.

Necessary Education: Interpreters must be fluent in both their own language and a sec-ond language, but are not required to hold a high-level degree in the area. They need to have a strong understanding of healthcare practices, and be familiar with the topics they will be required to talk about daily. Some lev-el of degree in the area is beneficial.

Clinical Social Worker:Clinical social work-ers aid in the diagnosis of mental, behavioral and emotional disorders. They also help fam-ilies and patients cope with chronic, acute or terminal illnesses. Hospitals, clinics and even schools hire these professionals to provide assistance to patients who fall under any of these categories.

Necessary Education: In order to become a certified clinical social worker, most work places will require you to have at least a mas-ter’s degree in social work. You also must be certified within the state in which you wish to practice, and complete any special certifi-cation courses required by your place of work.

Athletic Trainer: Though it may surprise you to see this job title show up on the list, athletic trainers play a major role in both prevention and recovery when it comes to sports related injuries. Not only do they work with people to keep them in the sort of shape that keeps them from injuring themselves, but they are also expected to be able to look at an injury and assess what was damaged, how it hap-pened, how to help the injury heal and how to prevent the same injury in the future. Also, if no other medical professionals are around, they need to know how to care for the person and injury in the mean time.

Necessary Education: To be an athletic train-er, individuals are required, at the very least, to earn a bachelor’s degree. Many hold master’s

degrees and have taken specialized courses to increase their knowledge about health and medicine so that they can aid their athletes to the best of their ability. Athletic trainers are also required to be licensed through a board of certification. Hospitals, practitioner offices and fitness centers are all places that hire ath-letic trainers, and job availability within the field of sports medicine is only increasing.

Art Therapists: These therapists use art sup-plies, such as paints, clay, chalk and crayons to help their patients express themselves on a level that they could not by any other means. They often work with psychiatric patients to try to get to the root of what is going on in-side their heads, and to try to find a way for these patients to communicate what they are thinking and feeling. These methods are also used with terminally ill or severely handi-capped patients to try to lift their spirits, or to at least give them a creative outlet to express the way they are feeling and how things are affecting them.

Necessary Education: Art therapists typ-ically have a Master of Art Therapy degree, but also usually have a degree in some sort or psychology or therapy. They are required to be board certified and registered in order to practice.


People in college tend to fall in either one of these two categories: science or humanities. The majority of college students who have medical school in mind choose to major in the sciences. Then there are those like myself who decide to study both. I am a pre-med European history major and it always feels like I am a double major, that I have two lives. The hardship that stems from the science prerequisites is accompanied by the late-night essay writing. To me, research is not exclusive to wearing lab goggles and recording data. Most nights my research revolves around digging through newspapers from the early 1900s and translating snippets of foreign papers. At times I get envious of those who remained on one side while I’m running around trying to balance book reviews and lab reports.

However, I do not regret my decision nor could I choose between them. I legitimately enjoy researching foreign relations while looking forward to medical school. My fascination with one does not negate the love for the other. I have found it to be manageable. Yet, due to

my presence in both subjects, it can create a slight alienation from both parties. I have always felt that even if I did as well as my fellow biology or chemistry majors, they never take me seriously, or at least have a healthy respect for my major. The stigma on pre-med students who are outside of majoring in the sciences is that we chose an “easy” major to complete. I’d like to argue that in fact it’s the opposite. We are using every academic tool and skill. For example, analysis. I am required to be able to interpret the compounds that cause the peaks in Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and within the same day have to read a book on Spanish fascism during the Franco regime and determine the Marxist elements of the text. I see many science majors ridicule humanities yet when faced with those assignments they are at a loss. I am not saying that one is harder than the other - they just require different types of intelligence. I do not always feel like I fit in with the humanities with their collective distaste for math and aversion to laboratories.

Despite being a history major it is hard to figure out my priorities because, after all, I’ve chosen to dedicate the rest of my life to science. There comes that awkward moment where my fellow history or English majors are unsure about their graduate work or what type of job they want. I sit there and shrug, unable to relate, because my own choices are straightforward as the process to apply to medical school is fairly tedious, but laid out easily.

These worlds hardly clash and friend groups differ from what building I am in. This has been a blessing because I believe I have been able to meet a wide range of people whose passions differ, which can keep life interesting. What I am fortunate for is that my education so far has been thorough in introducing me to different areas of study. In this I do not feel at a loss but at an advantage, because even if history may not be the most relevant major, I currently enjoy my college career and hope that this translates into a lifelong habit of constant learning.

By Glorianne BesanaDouble Major, Double Life

RUN FORSTUDENT SENATE!Packet Deadline: May 4


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2014–15 Issue 11