Back to Square One: Jan 24th - Jan 30th

During this week of ISM, I definitely had a major setback. My shadowing opportunity with Dr. Parmar ended up falling through. This is due to the fact that the hospital, Baylor Scott and White, has initiated a blanket ban on shadowing due to the surge in covid patients. I was definitely worried this would happen, and although I am quite sad it did I am hopeful that I will be able to shadow in the future once the ban is lifted.

I am back to square one regarding finding a mentor, nevertheless, I have learned valuable insight through this experience that I did not have earlier. For example, I have researched much more information about cardiology and I now have practice in contacting cardiologists and getting interviews. In addition, I have asked Dr. Parmar to be my research advisor. I am waiting on a response regarding that. Although I am definitely worried about finding a mentor, I have more resources and support than I did previously.

In addition, this week I completed my fifteenth assessment. It was a research assessment of the effects of music on patients’ anxiety due to cardiac invasive surgery. Since I am in band, music is a huge part of life so it was extremely interesting to see my future career and one of my passions intersect with each other.