What the Marin Community Clinics do

I intern at the Marin Community Clinics. There are three facitities around Marin, one in Novato, one in San Rafael, and the one that I work at in Greenbrae. These clinics offer low cost medical help to low-income patients around Marin county. Their goal is to provide the best service they can to as many patients as they can. The clinics offer help to many people everyday, and often have more clients than they can support, which is why having volunteers is so important to them. They help people with things as small as birth control distrubution, and TB shots, to things as big as baby delivery and surgery. The doctors and nurses that work there do not get paid as much as they would if they were working for a big name hospital, or for a facility that relied on insurance to pay them, but they work at these clinics becasue they believe that everyone is entitled to having good quality of life, and good health. The majority of the patients that come into the clinic do not have insurance, and can only pay a very small co-pay, but they are always greateful to the doctors and nurses for helping them. Another one of their goals is to promote education about good health to their patients. Whenever a patient comes in, the nurses and medical assistants always ask them a lot of questions to really get to know their patient before they meet with the doctor. Once the doctor has seen them, the medical assistants make sure that the patient knows exactly how to deal with the medical issue they have, and gives them advice about how they could live healthier. I think that my internship is very rewarding because of all of their goals of how to better the communities they serve.

Add a comment January 30, 2012

Interning at the Marin Community Clinics

I intern at the Marin Community Clinics in Greenbrae. There are three clinics in Marin, one in Greenbrae, one in San Rafael, and one in Novato. These clinics offer low cost medical services to low income patients. I work in the referrals department with a man named Javier. He is the head of the department, and is young so he is easy to relate too which makes working there even more enjoyable. During my internship time I make appointments, file referrals, create demograhics, etc. This internship is really exciting for me because I want to go into the medical feild after college, so this is really good exposure for me. I applied to all of my colleges as a pre-nursing major so it is really nice to get to see what goes on inside a medical clinic. This internship is really rewarding for me because I get to work along side doctors and nurses that work so hard to provide quality care to the patients in need. It is also really rewarding for me to actually get to work with some of the patients because I get to learn so much about them, and get to really know some of them when I am working with them. So far this internship is going really well for me other than the fact that sometimes my mentors are a little bit flakey and don’t communicate too well with each other. So sometimes I get to my internship only to find that my mentor doesn’t work that day. So that is hard, but all of the other good times definately make up for those few bad times. Hopefully my internship will keep going well, and I will continue to be allowed to do more and more as I have these past few months! 

Add a comment January 23, 2012

Favorite Experience

Throughout my internship so far, I think that I have had two favorite experiences. The first one was the very first day of my internship when I got to shadow the medical assistant. I just found that to be so interesting, and I really feel like I got to be hands on, and actually help the patients, and like I learned a lot that day. This was one of my favorite days because it allowed me to work so closely with the patients, and kind of experience an aspect of the profession I want to go into. The work that I do now is great too, but its not quite as rewarding, and not quite  as relavant to what I want to do after college which is being a nurse. But I am greatful for any experience that I can get in the medical field not only because it looks good on my nursing program applications, but also because it is getting me comfortable, and used to working in a hospital setting. This is good because when I actaully start working in a hospital, or if I get another internship in college I will have more experience and be more qualified for the position than some of the peers I will be up against.

My other favorite experience was when I was working in the referrals department, and I had to make an appointment for an older couple who happened to be in the clinic that day. They had their grand daughter with them, and after I made the appointment for them, they had an appointment in the clinic, while the two were in the doctors room the little girl followed me all throughout the clinic, watching me, and trying to talk to me (which was kind of hard because she didn’t speak very much English). This was one of my favorite experiences because it allowed me to see how closely I am able to work with the patients, and it was just nice and fun to get to take a little break from working and to get to play with the little girl.

Add a comment January 4, 2012

New Skills

I think that I have honed quite a few skills since starting this internship. I was never really “babied” into my responsibilities, I just sort of got thrown in and was expected to figure out how to do most things on my own. Which was hard at first, but I think that it really helped me take responsibility for my own work and helped me develop more problem solving skills which will be very helpful for when I start working in the real world.

I have also developed my people skills more because I am working with such different personalities from my own. Me and three other people work in a rather small office together, so it is essential that we get along and work together as a team.

Most of the people that work, and go to the clinic are fluent in both Spanish and English, but for most of the people Spanish is their first language, so being around them, and listening to all of them speak in Spanish to one another, and sometimes to me by accident is really helping me to develop my lingustic skills, and to remember some of the Spanish that I have learned and to really apply it in everyday life instead of just in the classroom.

So far I think that I have developed a lot of useful skills that will not only help me now, but also when I go off to college, when I get a job, and all throughout my life. I hope that I will develop even more skills as my internship progresses.

Add a comment January 4, 2012

First day of internship

My first day of my internship was different than what I do most days. On the very first day I started my internship, I shadowed a medical assistant to see what they did on a daily basis. I learned a lot of things form shadowing Diana (the M.A.). I learned what medical assistants do, and what their purpose is in medical facilities, I got to interact with patients, and watch her give different pateints shots, I also got to learn how to take vital signs and got to take a few of the patients vitals myself. This was pretty exciting, but i learned that there is a lot of confidentiality, and so there was a lot that I was not allowed to see, or take part in so that was kind of hard.
After that very first day, I started working with a man named Javier in the referrals department. The first day I just had to make copies, and I thought that this was how it was always going to be, and that it wasn’t going to work out, but after that day I got access to the data base, got to start making appointments and talking to patients, I got to collect charts and learn more about the business side of the medical industry.
So far my internship is going very well, and I am still working in the referrals department and as of now am satisfied with the tasks that I am given!

Add a comment January 4, 2012