Week 5: Personal Contributions through Seeing Patients

I believe I have contributed a lot to DelRicht Research during this internship. I have weekly tasks to complete that keep the company organized on top of seeing patients like any other study coordinator working there. This past week, I saw 6 patients while the other coordinators saw a range between 3-9. The manager makes a point to keep count to see how each coordinator contributes to the weekly patient goal. Considering I am only on the delegation log for about half of the studies, I feel like I am contributing my fair share. Now that the other study coordinator in training quit, I think I have been indispensable helping complete patient visits. I truly think they would be under staffed without me. I am also enjoying the job a lot more now that I am regularly seeing patients. I have met some really sweet people that make me feel welcome in New Orleans and love to share their stories.

On Friday, we had an “All Hands on Deck” meeting with everyone in the company. I work at the location attached to the hospital, but there is also an urgent care location. The company is currently expanding to another clinic in New Orleans that is prepared to start several new studies. They are also planning to expand to Baton Rouge and Oklahoma. It is nice to see the company growing so much from the approximately 20 people in the conference room. It made me feel like I am contributing a lot to help make the company run in these few weeks as they spread out the staff they have to other locations with new studies. In the meeting, they also asked about branding and getting our name out there in the community, so I suggested having fundraising teams to participate in walks for different causes. They seemed to like the idea, so I hope there is an opportunity to do something like that before I leave. I have a 30-day review meeting scheduled this week, so I am preparing to share more insights about my experience and training at that. I am looking forward to seeing what they have to say about me and how to focus my last 3 weeks at the internship.