My senior project was quite a wonderful experience. My physical project included a lot of listening and using applied knowledge to answer questions and figure out what could be wrong or what could be done to fix a problem. Each week, I had to read on a new topic relating to something I saw at the physician's office or something the doctor and I spoke about. I used that knowledge to infer on the different things I saw in the children and what's wrong or if anything is wrong. I had to work with the doctors and use everything they told me in order to know what they were talking about while working with the kids. In order to create my presentation, I had to be creative with what I put on my slides and really think about what I specifically wanted in it.
From my Capstone experience, I learned so much about what it's like to be a doctor and what happens behind closed doors. I gained a lot of hands-on experience and worked very closely with the doctors, nurses, and children. I interacted a lot with the children and was able to use the stethoscope, and perform tests for the patients. I increased my social skills by talking with people I didn't know and by being open ad friendly right from the start, knowing that it's important to create a relationship with the patients. I learned so much about what the doctors learn in medical school and I have pages and page of notes about every topic I researched.
The challenges I faced include transportation, money and getting sick. I had to take BART and Muni by myself and I had to pay for the train fees. I also had to be careful about what I touched and who I interacted with to be sure I don't catch a disease, get an infection or get sick. As well as those, I had to use critical thinking to answer questions and to make guesses and opinions about different topics.
Overall, my Capstone project was a great experience and very informative as well as interactive. I gained so much experience and knowledge and it has helped me decide in a future career as a pediatrician.
