MARISOL SILVA'S DIGITAL PORTFOLIO
What is LINK?
At Animas High School, LINK is a three-week long mandatory internship (30-40 hours a week) that promotes community involvement and connects classroom learning to the outside world. Students do not attend classes in order to focus all their attention on the internship. LINK supports students in lifelong skills such as:
• thriving in a professional setting
• refining college and career goals
• application of what they learn in our classrooms
• making positive contributions to the community
• developing a strong sense of self
• thriving in a professional setting
• refining college and career goals
• application of what they learn in our classrooms
• making positive contributions to the community
• developing a strong sense of self
My LINK
1010 Three Springs Blvd
Durango, Colorado 81301
Phone: (970) 247-4311
https://www.centura.org/locations/mercy-regional-medical-center
Mercy Regional Medical Center is a care hospital that specializes in orthopedic and spine surgery, cardiology, emergency and trauma care, cancer care, and more. It is a non-profit hospital that is part of the Centura Health network.
LINK Anticipation
11/6/18
I am very excited to get started on the whole link process. At this moment I am not stressed. I do wish I could set up my internship in Denver but it would be a lot more complicated which I don't want. I'm a little glad that I am able to stay in town because I wouldn't be alone in a city that I don't really know.
I am very excited to get started on the whole link process. At this moment I am not stressed. I do wish I could set up my internship in Denver but it would be a lot more complicated which I don't want. I'm a little glad that I am able to stay in town because I wouldn't be alone in a city that I don't really know.
1/11/19
I had few meetings with Jenae so I could narrow down to a few possible mentors. I did like Animas Surgical Hospital but they said that there wasn't much action so there wouldn't be much for me to do therefore, I had to contact Mercy Hospital. Their process to accepting interns is complicated so Jenae had to reach out to them so all I had to do was step back until I hear back from them. So far they haven't confirmed anything which is making me feel a little worried and stressed especially since LINK is 3 months away. It may seem like a long time but times goes by really fast.
3/8/19
I am really excited about LINK at this point. My LINK is confirmed but I don't have a mentor quite yet. I do have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing. If I don't get the internship as a trauma nurse I will be fine with whatever I get assigned to. I just really want to know if working in clinics is going to be something that I enjoy.
LINK Preparation
Setting up my internship wasn't very hard because I didn't have to worry to much about the process. My LINK coordinator explained that Mercy Hospital had different steps for setting up internships so I just had to wait for the whole process to be completed by the staff and my coordinator. My internship was confirmed a few weeks before we were sent off so I did get a little nervous at first. I originally had wanted to work in the emergency room but there was a policy that stated that you had to be 18. This did upset me a bit but I was glad to hear that I would be working in different clinics. I hope I learn ways to treat those who are in need of medical help as that has been something that I have always been interested in. With this great opportunity, I am able to see if nursing is a good fit for me. When interning at a hospital, there isn't much that I could bring because I am not educated in medicine. I was able to help the medical assistants take patients blood pressure and help in small ways like that.
LINK Project
LINK Projects are meant for the intern to help the business in some way. There wasn't anything that I could have made for the hospital that would help their patients so for my project, I decided to present on one of the programs they have for risk lever 5 and 6 patients also called LINK. I made a slideshow presenting what the program is and how they help their patients that are in need.
LINK Reflection
Active listening was a very useful skill I had coming into LINK. It is very important that the medical assistants and the Physician Assistants listen to their patients. They need to know what their patient needs are in order to treat them. During my LINK I was able to talk to an elderly lady who would come in mostly for encouragement. She brought in pieces of wood where she colored them in with felt tip markers. She gifted one to the Registered Nurse I was working with. She was talking a lot about the art she does and I was able to talk to her about it too as I am also interested in art. It was really nice that we let her talk and we listened because we were able to learn things about her and encourage her.
An important skill I developed during LINK was advocating for myself. Sometimes when I was working with the Registered Nurse, I would want to do something more active because most of their work was on the computer. The first few days I would be to shy to advocate for myself so I would sit there quietly. After a few days, I got more comfortable and realized that I didn't want to spend my LINK just observing. I finally got the courage to ask them if they could show me new things or if I could work with the Medical Assistants. By doing this, I was able to get more out of my LINK and I was able to enjoy it more. This taught me to always advocate for myself even though its hard for me because I need to take charge in what I'm doing. Mercy Regional Medical Center is a very important hospital because they try to better patients health in many ways. They really care about everyone of their patients and have a connection to a certain extent. Everyone there is committed to meet the patients needs. This hospital specializes in so many different departments with very caring and hardworking staff. Accepting high school interns is something they must continue in the future. It helps them think about what they want to do in the next years. This helped me look into different clinics and see which one I liked the best and which position I would like to take. For my next steps moving forward, I would like to go to school and possibly study to be a Physician Assistant. My original plan was to be a Registered Nurse but after this experience, I decided that it wasn't a good fit for me. |