Tuesday 15 August 2017

Karen Gao - Summer STEM Work Placement Student - Weekly Reports

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 


Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!


See how Karen is getting on with her STEM placement! 



Week One

"I have gotten to know all of the doctors and visited the clinic a lot. I've sat through a lot of consultations in this cardiac speciality hospital and even watched an ajmamine test being performed on a person that turned out positively checked for Brugada syndrome. Between these clinics, I spent my time learning a lot about all the different cardiac conditions that someone can have and the symptoms and how to diagnose them. I have taken a lot of time trying to read some scientific papers, and admittedly had to Google a lot or ask doctors. I've also helped my supervisor with some of her databasing, so I learnt how to use the NHS system. Basically, I learnt how unglamorous research can sometimes be, but it was still a good experience!" 

Week Two

"I have started my project by creating a questionnaire and sitting in clinic and asking patients to fill it in. By doing this, I have met some very interesting people. However, I've also met some very unhappy people and I've had to learn how to deal with that! I've also started writing up my report and by the end of the week, I have pretty much finished my methodology. I have finally finished reading all of the scientific papers that were given to me! Sometimes, the clinic is very slow and I don't have much to do but sometimes it's so hectic (especially in morning clinics). I find that part really exciting! Also, I've been talked through an electro cardiogram by this friendly pediatrician and I can finally understand when the ECGs are wrong which is also really great because for the first week they looked like funny squiggles." 

Week Three

"On Monday, one of the echo technicians taught me how to read an echo. He patiently went through what a normal heart looks like and what a heart with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy looked like. Then, I met a patient and he carefully went through all the angles we can see a heart but on a real life patient. This was super interesting and taught me a lot about the heart muscles and veins that I didn't quite understand previously in school! I've spent the last two weeks with doctors that always checked echos and I've always been confused but now everything makes so much more sense and even the complicated words are finally understandable! I think this is really great and I can't wait to actually see more patient echos now and actually be able to read them." 

 - Karen Gao

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