Career Goals
Finding Inspiration in Every Turn
My present major is pre-nursing, and my ultimate goal is to become a nurse practitioner.The reason why is because I have a strong desire to serve people and because I think nursing is a practical field where I can have a significant influence. Since this career choice fits with my ambition for a steady, fulfilling, and service-oriented career, I am very confident in it. In order to make sure nursing fits with my preferences and strengths, I will concentrate this year on obtaining pertinent experience through volunteer work and shadowing possibilities in healthcare settings.
This internship has also given me a greater appreciation for the skills and dedication required in nursing, reinforcing my motivation to continue gaining hands-on experience. Moving forward, I plan to seek additional opportunities such as volunteer work, shadowing, and clinical experience to further refine my skills and prepare for nursing school. I feel more confident in my ability to make informed career decisions because I now have firsthand exposure to the profession and a clearer understanding of my strengths and areas for growth.
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INTERNSHIP GOALS
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Learning Goal #1: The first goal is to increase my research skills. This is heavily research based, so I will volunteer to do research and to attend optional meetings. Doing this will help me learn and understand the information I am researching so I am not just thoughtlessly typing. I will also make sure I find viable resources and improve my writing. In the future, I will be researching a lot and improving my research skills will help me inthe long run.What tasks, responsibilities, projects, or activities will you do to meet this goal?
1. Drafting papers on specific concepts or findings and having my supervisor review them.
2. Entering data from watching the behavior after we finish a round of experimentation
.3. Looking for trustworthy sites to back up my research.
Progress: I have made strong progress in improving my research skills by drafting papers, receiving feedback from my supervisor, and refining my analytical writing. Observing behaviors after experimentation has enhanced my attention to detail, and actively seeking credible sources has strengthened my ability to assess information. These experiences have boosted my confidence in research, and I will continue refining my skills through feedback and more complex projects.
Learning Goal #2: This may seem vague, but I want to understand the experiment and terminology better. In the future I want to delve into the field of psychiatry and studying behavior and the effect of the experiments. Understanding the terminology and the experiment will put me ahead and give me experience, which is priceless.What tasks, responsibilities, projects, or activities will you do to meet this goal?
1. Ask questions, when I am presented with terminology I am not familiar with.
2. Be more proactive in experiments, and switch from wet lab and behavior.
3. Take some responsibilities by doing the experiments and taking down data.
Progress: have improved my understanding of the experiment and terminology by actively asking questions and engaging with unfamiliar concepts. Switching between wet lab and behavior experiments has given me broader experience, while taking on responsibilities like conducting experiments and recording data has deepened my knowledge. These efforts have strengthened my foundation for a future in psychiatry, and I will continue expanding my expertise through hands-on learning.
Learning Goal #3: Time Management is a lifelong goal. Having good time management skills will help you wherever you go, and developing good time management habits then this will make my life a lot easier and help me become more organize.
Progress: I have been actively improving my time management by prioritizing tasks, setting deadlines, and staying organized. Balancing responsibilities effectively has made my work more efficient and reduced stress. These habits are helping me stay on track, and I will continue refining them to enhance productivity in the long run.
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Learning Outcome
This assessment helped me realize a few things about my skills. One thing I know for sure is that my communication skills are one of my best skills. On the first day of my internship I felt really comfortable around everyone and it felt like I knew them for almost a year. I am very confident in my communication skills. One of my other skills that I am trying to improve is my application skills. Sometimes I find it hard to be independent and do something alone, just because I fear doing it wrong. I would rather be supervised until I am confident that I can complete this task, but this quality will not help me in the future.
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Skills I am Using:
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One of the skills I’m using right now is communication, like I mentioned before. Another skill I’m working on and trying to get better at is responsibility. Even though I’m still learning how to do things, like handling the rats and measuring ethanol and water, I try my best to put myself out there and do it on my own. I know I won’t learn if I’m just waiting for someone else to do it for me.
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I’m also working on time management. While I’m still improving at this, I’ve used my time well for this internship. I have a lot of responsibilities in my life, but I’ve made sure to finish my work for the internship and always show up on time. Most of the rat experiments, like PRP or PRL, take about 2-3 hours per group, and we usually have 2-3 groups, depending on the day. Since we don’t want to stay until it’s dark, we work together to find a schedule that fits and allows us to finish everything and get home before sunset.
Skills I need to Improve:
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One skill I need to work on is letting people know when I can’t do something. Sometimes I try to force myself to do things I know I can’t handle. My teammates are really nice and always willing to help me when I need it. But not being able to do certain things makes me feel useless, so I need to work on accepting that it’s okay to ask for help. It’s not the end of the world if I can’t do everything on my own.
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Another skill I need to improve is data analysis. This is an important skill, especially since I’m planning to go into the healthcare field. Taking care of the rats and feeding them was easy for me, but when it came to analyzing the data, I felt lost and didn’t know what I was looking at.
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The internship has been incredibly helpful in giving me a deeper understanding of my pre-nursing coursework and future career in healthcare. One key way it has helped is by allowing me to practice responsibility and time management, which are crucial skills for nursing. In particular, managing the schedule for the rat experiments taught me how to balance multiple tasks effectively, something I’ll need to do when caring for patients with different needs.
Additionally, working with the rats has given me hands-on experience that connects to what I’ve learned in anatomy and physiology. For example, feeding and handling the rats helped me understand the importance of proper care and attention to detail, which are essential in patient care. Even though analyzing data was challenging, it gave me a glimpse into how critical thinking and interpreting information will play a role in understanding patient health and medical research in the future.
This experience has also highlighted the importance of teamwork. My teammates’ willingness to help me when I struggled with certain tasks showed me how vital collaboration and communication are in healthcare settings. I now see how asking for help and working as part of a team can directly impact the quality of care provided to others.
Overall, this internship has made my coursework feel more meaningful and relevant. It has shown me how the concepts I’m learning now will apply to real-world situations in nursing, helping me feel more confident and prepared for my future in the healthcare field.