Internship

The first time I felt successful was when I created my first Redcap survey. I was provided with a list of questions that needed to be turned into a functional survey. Through the use of Redcap tutorials and a little help from Google, I successfully created my first survey. The others in my lab confirmed that I did a great job, especially for my first time using the program. Another win for me was through Covidence. Covidence is the platform that my lab uses to conduct literature reviews. This program allows the team to read abstracts and choose to include and/or exclude the article. I considered my first week of using this program to be a huge success as I only had one disagreement with my choices. This is something that I am extremely proud of.  My ability to accurately evaluate research papers is a huge success that I will continue to use for the rest of my academic career. I am often writing papers for classes and need to be able to perform a metanalysis using only those papers which best reflect my work and topic. In fact, I just finished writing a paper for an honors contract that I used these skills for. Furthermore, my ability to pick up new software, such as Redcap will also aid me in my professional career as I navigate new experiences. Every day whether in an academic or professional manner, new challenges arise, and it is important to be able to confidently take them on. I am confident that I will use these, and many other, successes from this internship for the rest of my life and in my career as a radiation therapist. Another success I had later in my internship involved strengthening my creativity. I was assigned a task to visually edit and improve a clinicians worksheet set for adolescents. This gave me an excellent opportunity to go above and beyond and create tools to help children in need. I was able to further develop my professional writing skills while also learning about the importance of creativity in the workspace. I find this to be a huge success as i have never been able to use creativity in a professional setting before. I am positive that i can use these writing and creativity skills both as I continue my schooling and in my future career. Specifically, to encourage and support patients that I may be treating.

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On that same note, the Covidence was also one of the most challenging tasks I've had so far. The criteria were very specific, yet there always seemed to be something else that brought up uncertainty. This was something that I struggled heavily with. Until recently when we began to hold biweekly meetings to discuss some of the disagreements and to clarify the criteria. These meetings have greatly helped me overcome this challenge. My team is always open to collaboration and questions to ensure we put our best work forward. Another challenge I experienced was learning how to communicate when needed, in other words, my interpersonal skills. In the beginning, I felt a little shy about asking for clarifications when I needed them. However, the entire team is extremely open and accepting. Because of this I quickly gained the confidence to ask questions and overcame this fear of conflict. With this continued support I do not have any worries for the future. Both of these challenges taught me that even in a professional setting there are unknowns that need to be addressed and asked. I plan to continue to ask clarifying questions in both my coursework and in my future career. Additionally, working with your coworkers is another great way to overcome a challenge. My challenges with the literature review on Covidence have taught me that two brains are always better than one. Collaboration is something that I will ensure I continue for the rest of my life. Even now, as I complete some large end of the semester group projects, collaboration has been an important integration into my academics.  This year came with a very difficult and unexpected challenge. A loss in my personal life occurred and it unfortunately aligned with the work that I perform in my research lab. This made it difficult to continue to work when the research issue became a very personal one. At the time I was completing intake forms for adolescents with suicide ideation. This became a emotionally strenuous task. I notified my team and took a week off to allow myself time to process. Although it was difficult, my team offered me a plethora of support and allowed me to take as much time as I needed. When I decided I needed to get back to work, I tried to see our work as a positive thing. I was able to connect more with our research on a personal level and become more dedicated because of my situation. I was able to turn the feelings of pain into drive to help others and prevent families from feeling how I am. I am grateful to my team for being so understanding and helpful in overcoming this tough time.

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