Colby Wood, a SR. Biochemistry and Biology major tells us about his internship with Amarillo Heart Group.
How did your internship help prepare you post-graduation?
Shadowing Dr. Martinez, I gained better insight as to what awaits me in medical school. The more I learned, the more I understood how much I still have left to learn. With this internship, I have learned so many valuable things outside the classroom, and I got to witness first hand what following a medical path will hold for me.
Describe briefly what you did for your internship.
Every Friday, I would go and shadow Dr. Martinez through his day as an interventional cardiologist. Cardiology is an amazing specialty to shadow and possibly study. Dr. Martinez said a lot: “Cardiology is so much fun, it’s almost sinful”.
I have seen, done, and learned more than I have ever thought possible with this internship. The more I learned, the more I understood how ignorant I am and how many things I still must learn.
The working life of a physician is much different than I expected it to be. It is nothing like the stories people read about and most certainly nothing like the glamorous portrayals on television shows and movies. Being a physician involves near endless and many times thankless effort to better human lives. Unsurprisingly, most of the health aliments going on with many of the patients Dr. Martinez sees could be fixed with a lifestyle change. I have heard the general exercise and diet, speech so often I know I could recite it in my sleep.
The Amarillo Heart Group Staff were so welcoming and they all truly made me feel like I was an asset to the team. They were excellent teachers in all aspects of practicing health care, whether it be juggling insurance requirements, scheduling, patient assessment, or even patient interactions.
At many times, I thought that the patient interaction was possibly the most difficult part of working in the health-care field. However, Dr. Martinez and his whole team were all able to interact professionally with even the most difficult of patients. This was an excellent example for a student to see because it drives home the fact that even in the most strange and adverse situations a physician and his team must act with the utmost professionalism. This experience really hit home to me the old saying, “You never know what someone’s life is like, until you walk a mile in their shoes.” Obviously, being a physician, no matter what the specialty, are big shoes to fill and miles to walk.
