Meds 140 - Health Careers

Emily Griffiths

MEDS 140

Final Reflection paper

        Over the course of the semester many different speakers have explained their unique journeys to the careers they hold today. They included the training, education, and personality characteristics needed for the job, as well as a unique glimpse into their daily life. All the speakers shared compassion for helping people and were enthusiastic about the many different aspects of their work. I hope that I will one day be able to share the same infatuation with my line of work. The speakers were all charismatic individuals who had a lot of experience and memories to share.  I found that each one had a unique view of how to help people, but that they were all essentially on the same team.

While all the health professionals were inspiring, I found some fit my goals and aspirations more than others. My little sister was diagnosed with hereditary type one diabetes when I was young, and ever since I have wanted to do my part to help her in any way possible. I knew that I wanted to go into health services, I just didn’t know which one. I really related to the podiatry speaker when she was talking about nerve pain caused by the disease, but I wanted to do something with more resounding consequences. I found Dr. Richard’s speech on bioengineering to be calculated, precise, and helpful to people with many different afflictions. Many of the classes I’ve already taken correlate to the major, and by doing research on my own I realized that bioengineering has a big future in diabetic research. With the application of pumps, insulin injections, and bionic pancreases the possibilities are endless.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the presentation made by the physiatrist near the beginning of the semester. She made great points about relationships and how to deal with people who think differently than oneself. It made me realize that although I may be working behind the scenes, I’ll still have to collaborate with other professionals. While working on different materials to help diseases, I’ll need to learn the biochemistry and mechanics involved. I’ll need to work with doctors to gain a full understanding of the disease and the current research being done. This is directly related to working with different researchers and teams to collaborate how this new technology could be used to better people’s lives.  Engineers and biotechnologists will also be utilized to collectively collaborate on new ideas. Finally, contact with patients and their families will prove to be useful to improve aspects of their daily lives.