My internship will be held at the office of Spine Colorado and Durango Orthopedics, as well as other areas in the hospital complex. Spine Colorado specializes in the spine, including analysis, surgery, and physical therapy. Durango Orthopedics specializes in the joints of the body, also offering analysis, surgery, and physical therapy. These offices are located in Mercy Regional Hospital, allowing easy access for patients between all of the offices there. I will also be in Durango Family Medicine’s office shadowing the staff to get a feel of what a more common doctor’s office entails. The final doctor I will be shadowing is Valarie Mckinnis, MD, a doctor who works in the hospital. Valarie works weeks and weekends alike, nights, and is constantly on call, so this will show me the opposite side of just having an office where people are by appointment only.
The Resources for Medical and Educational Collaboration (RMEC) is an organization that is trying to advance evidence based medicine and improve health care quality by supporting education and collaborative research, locally and globally. They have conferences here in the states, provide internship opportunities, and also reach out of the U.S. In Belize City, Belize there is a spine program in the hospital that provides the care you would receive here to residents of Belize, and this is a major branch of RMEC.
My mentor will be one of the doctors at Spine Colorado, Jim Youseff, MD. He is a highly acclaimed spine surgeon and a co-founder of Spine Colorado. He has received the highest level of training possible in the U.S., and continues to improve spinal medicine here in the states and abroad. Through all of his experiences Dr. Youseff will be able to provide me with extensive knowledge of what it takes to go through college studying medicine, and especially how to succeed while doing so. Really the only thing I have to offer Dr. Youseff is a student who is ready and willing to learn and excited to have this opportunity.
I pursued this internship opportunity so that I could experience what it’s like being medical professional for three weeks. I am aspiring for a major in pre-medicine in college, then to be accepted into med-school for a post-graduate degree. These three weeks will show me rather or not I want to continue pursuing medicine, and open the door for relationships to people who have been in my situation. As I stated earlier, having the opportunity to talk to a man who has succeed has much as Dr. Youseff will give me insights into what I should expect and prepare for as I look towards medicine in college.
