For my internship I worked at the Queen of the Valley Medical Center in the Radiology department. A lot of the work was giving x rays but I got to see procedures like sonograms and swallow tests as well. In the whole department there seemed to be about 20 people but other people from different departments were always involved, like doctors, nurses, lift team and paper work people.

My objectives while there varied from learning how to develop the cases to prepping a patient. I got to go on portable trips to take x rays, which were pretty, much going to a different floor with a smaller x ray machine that looked like a fork lift. On the portable trips I got to learn how to use an x ray machine and the steps to successfully get a nice picture. I got to deal with a lot of different kinds of patients while there, such as emergency room patients, kids that have swallowed things, babies, people from prison or the state hospital, etc. One of the most impacting days to me while I was there was the last day when I was the only person helping the x ray tech; usually there was at least one other person in there with them. I helped lift the person, talk to them, explained what was happening, and developed the case.

Techniques and methods that I learned at New Technology High these past couple years really helped me with my internship. The learning outcomes I think I used the most were oral communication, critical thinking, and technology literacy. Oral communication came in handy when I talked to patients, I wasn’t scared or shy when I talked to them; I tried my best to make them feel as comfortable as I could. Also I felt very knowledgeable when people asked me where a certain department was, I could answer them more than not most of the time. I used critical thinking when working with patients, every patient had a different reason they were there and they needed different care. My critical thinking skills really helped me feel more comfortable and confident working with people. The learning outcome I used the most during my internship was technology literacy. I learned how to do almost everything that a radiology technician gets to do during their day. I learned how to develop films/cases, take the steps of preparing a patient for their x ray, enter all the data and learned how to read the lingo. Everything in that department was pretty much new to me; I learned how the different computer programs that the hospitals work and how they applied them to the patients. My favorite thing that I learned while being there was how to set up the x ray machine.

I fell I had a really good internship. When I first started I was overwhelmed not knowing anything but even after the first day I felt a lot more comfortable from there on in. I think my internship was a good amount of challenge but could still be understood after it was explained. I would definitely recommend this kind of internship to someone else. Working in a hospital is very rewarding in all departments. In the beginning I was really interested in becoming a radiology technician and once I got the opportunity to see what it was all about I decided that this line of job wasn’t for me but looking around and going to different departments I’ve found a few other ones that I’m interested in, like gynecology or working in the pediatrics.