​WEEK THREE
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Describe what you accomplished at your internship this week. Be specific in describing the knowledge you have gained and the skills you have developed.
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Discuss a difficult, challenging and/or awkward situation you faced at your internship and describe how you handled it. What have you learned from this experience?
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How is your internship changing your impression of your career field/industry as a whole?
This week I accomplished a lot at my internship. For the last couple weeks I have only been allowed to observe consent visits. This week I was allowed to begin observing actual stimulation visits. Stimulation visits are where subjects actually get the tDCS stimulation. tDCS is the abbreviated term for Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation. I was able to watch closely as the protocol that I had been reading actually come to life. I have learned a lot about tDCS and other types of non invasive brain stimulation. I read about 2-3 articles a week in my free time so that I understand tDCS and the many studies that have been carried out regarding it.
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Observing my first stimulation visit was a bit awkward. I lost track of time and had to enter the visit after it started. It was very awkward walking into the room late and missing introductions. Afterward the person I was observing told me to next time be there when the subject is there to avoid those awkward interactions, and so I am able to see the entire visit from start to finish. Now I am very careful of the time before visits I check in with the person I am supposed to be observing and make sure that I am with them as soon as the subject arrives.
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My internship is changing my impression of the medical field/ studies a lot. I'm beginning to understand how difficult it is be in the medical field. Not only do you have to have an understanding of conditions and anatomy, you also have to have a firm grip of ethics. When doing research especially with human subjects you have to establish many protocols both written and internalized in order to make sure that the work you are carrying out is ethical. Thinking about if your subjects can give informed consent, if they know about alternative treatment options etc. Although this is a very difficult field to work in in I also think it is very rewarding. It is rewarding in the sense that you are actively working to find more efficacious ways to reduce pain. Maybe one day tDCS will be the way that pain is managed for people with a variety of conditions.