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Health Science Internship: MUSC GI Department

May 2015 – July 2015Kaitlyn Greiner

Introduction

The following presentation delivers an overview of my summer 2015 internship at MUSC, including information on the following topics: Internship Site Description Site Mission and Goals Department Description Internship Preceptor Roles and Duties

Clinical Shadowing Research Projects

Weekly Conferences PA Class Lecture Conclusion References

This is a photo of myself in front of the Ashley River Towers

at MUSC

MUSC Site Description

Established in 1824

First medical school in the South and a nationally recognized academic medical center

Leader in latest advances in medicine, research, and technology

Multidisciplinary team approach to patient care

Focus: To provide state-of-the-art patient

care “Changing what’s possible in

health care”

My internship was located in the Ashley River Tower at MUSC in Charleston,

South Carolina as seen in the picture above.

MUSC Site Description

Pictured above is the Ashley River Tower of MUSC

MUSC Mission Statement

Mission To improve health and maximize quality of life

through education, research, and patient care

Site Goals To be a leading and transformative Academic Health

Center Integrity, Trust, Respect, Social Responsibility, Fiscal

Responsibility, Cultural Competence, Adaptability, Sustainability

Department Description: GI Surgery Clinic

Many pre and post-op patients are seen here on a daily basis. The pre-op patients are examined and evaluated for

surgery. The post-op patients are seen often in the clinic to watch

for signs of complications and to make sure they are healing properly.

The most common conditions that I observed were patients with pancreatitis, gastroparesis, and hernias.

Department Description: GI Surgery Clinic

I interned in the GI surgery department of MUSC. Pictured above is the office of the GI surgery clinic in which I worked.

Internship Preceptor

Stefanie Owczarski Physician Assistant Clinical Instructor GI Surgery

Department

Pictured above is my internship preceptor

Roles & Duties

One of my main roles was to shadow Stefanie in the clinic. During this time, I obtained hands-on experience. For example, I was able to reset a gastric pacer on a patient with

gastroparesis.

In between seeing patients, I worked on research projects and practiced using the medical record database, Epic, in the clinic office.

On Thursdays, my primary duty was to work on research projects for my internship preceptor and another PA.

In addition, I attended several weekly conferences involving resident presentations.

Clinical Shadowing

I shadowed Stefanie when seeing patients in the clinic on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays.

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Stefanie and I worked alongside world-renowned physicians when seeing patients.

On Fridays, she ran her own clinic and we primarily saw gastroparesis patients.

I wore this badge at all times during the internship. It was important that I wore it while seeing patients so that they knew that I was a student with the hospital.

Research Projects

This is a photo of Stefanie’s office, also located in the Ashley River Towers.

This is the setting in which I worked on my research projects about once a week. I sat at the desk to the right and Stefanie worked at the desk on the left.

Research Projects

I became familiar with the patient chart database, Epic, and inputted data from this database into the Redcap database.

The Redcap database is where my two research projects were located.

Link to projects: https://redcap.musc.edu

Research Projects

Islet Longitudinal Outcome Database: Data was collected from patients who had total

pancreatectomies and autotransplants of islet cells over the years since their surgeries.

This is Stefanie’s main research project.

Research Projects

Islet Longitudinal Outcome Database I updated data for patients who had

anniversary appointments since the day of their surgery.

I collected lab results, daily morphine intake, survey results of mental and physical health, and weight/BMI information from Epic patient records to enter into Redcap.

This patient data is tracked over time through the Redcap database so that trends can be observed.

I mainly input anniversary data from Epic into the Year 1 through Year 6 categories on the Redcap Database.

I also entered some Vital Status data.

Research Projects

All Pancreas Database Data was collected from patients who had other various GI

surgeries besides pancreatectomies for only 90 days since their surgeries.

This is another PA’s research project who also works with GI surgery.

Research Projects

All Pancreas Database For this project, I input the

Demographics and Preoperative Data. I collected demographics, pre-op

diagnoses and symptoms, past medical history, survey results of mental and physical health, previous surgeries, test results and descriptions, lab results, and comorbidity indices.

I was able to learn about the symptoms and test results and then identify the corresponding surgery for these problems.

Research Projects

This is a view from Stefanie’s office in the Ashley River Towers in which I worked on her project.

Weekly Conferences

This is a photo of the outside of the Drug Discovery Building.

In this building, Stefanie and I attended Surgical Grand Rounds and Morbidity and Mortality conferences.

These conferences mostly consisted of residents presenting recent complications as an educational opportunity.

Doctors, professors, residents, and PA’s attended these conferences.

Weekly Conferences

Above are additional pictures of the Drug Discovery Building in which the conferences where held.

Weekly Conferences

The conferences were held at 7am every Tuesday morning and lasted about an hour. After the conference, I walked to the Ashley River Tower where clinic was to

begin at 8am.

PA Class Lecture

I had the opportunity to sit in for a lecture that Stefanie gave to a PA class at MUSC. She serves as a guest speaker for the PA class about once a year.

Her lecture was mainly about the pancreas and what goes on in the GI surgery department. She also talked about her roles and experiences as a PA.

Conclusion

During this internship, I was able to learn about various GI surgeries and conditions.

I was able to observe how a team of health professionals work together in a surgery clinic.

Through this internship, I was able to see how a teaching hospital operates and how MUSC integrates research and education into patient care.

This internship gave me the opportunity to learn how to read and interpret patient records and how this data can be used for research.

This was a truly invaluable experience for me as a student preparing to enter the healthcare field.

References

http://mcintranet.musc.edu/communications/resources/facts.htm

http://academicdepartments.musc.edu/muscdiversity/vision.html