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Hello everyone! I am currently almost two months into my first co-op at Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center and I thought I would give you a look into what I do in a typical day and share some of my favorite opportunities I've had since starting. As an overview, I started co-op in July and will continue through December, meaning I am on a fall cycle. I work 5 days a week from 8:30am-5pm and function as a medical assistant.
On a typical day, I am assigned to run clinics for 1-2 providers. This means I will obtain vitals for each of the patients they are scheduled to see and escort them to the exam room. In the case that a patient has vitals outside the normal range, I must communicate this to the nurse practitioner (NP) or doctor (MD) who is seeing that patient. Often times, vital signs can indicate bigger issues that require further investigation. This is when I get to put my skills to the test and complete ECGs (electrocardiograms) or in more severe cases, take patients to the emergency department.
Memorable Experiences
The two opportunities I've had to shadow some of the doctors here have been amazing. I would definitely say the most exciting was watching a MOHS surgery. During this procedure, the surgeon removes thin layers of skin one layer at a time and examines each layer under a microscope to determine if any cancer remains. The doctor I observed was very kind to let me look into the microscope with him and as we were looking, he explained what he looks for while examining the tissue. The slide we looked at was a biopsy of squamous cell carcinoma, which looks abnormal compared to the nearby healthy skin cells. I was able to ask him questions about some of his most memorable cases and was able to get a glimpse into the pathology side of medicine.
Another shadowing experience I had was sitting in on a New Oncology appointment. These are hour long appointment with patients who have been recently diagnosed and often have undergone surgery to remove their tumors. During this particular appointment I got to listen to the doctor's treatment plan for a woman with grade 1 breast cancer. Afterwards, I was able to chat with the doctor about why she chose that specific treatment and ask questions about elements of cancer such as risk assessment which I did not know about. It was really interesting and I ended up doing a lot of research when I went home that night.
Although it's only been two months, I can say I've already gained so much experience from being on co-op . It has been so exciting to be immersed in the field I am pursuing as my career and I can't wait for the other opportunities that will come from this experience. Thanks for reading!