What is it like to be a Business Major in the medical field?

Sometimes, it’s a little rough. I started off taking the same courses as others in my class; however, after a few semesters, I was behind a lot of the other business students just because I had to take a ton of hours for my science medical courses. Due to all of this, I ended up not knowing too many people from any of my classes. When everyone is getting ready for career fairs and finding a job after college, I’m stressing out about totally different problems. But, the good side is I know I am doing something completely different. Both business and medicine opens a lot of doors for me; if I decide to pursue medicine in order to help others, I will need a business-type background if I decide to open a clinic or even just to handle my finances. In the end if medicine doesn’t work out, I will have a business degree to fall back on. Either way, I win.

How did you find the opportunity to shadow a doctor in Taiwan?

It was March 2006 and I still had no idea what I wanted to do with my summer. Most of my business friends had internships and the rest of them were taking classes or traveling. I knew I wanted to shadow some doctors but really didn’t know where to start. In search of summer plans, I called my mom. My mom use to be a nurse at the most prestigious hospital in Taiwan. In the past, she used to work closely with young medical interns from a lot of different departments. From then and even after we moved to the United States, she remained in contact with them. After several years, those young interns grew to be some of the most recognized doctors in Taiwan and because of her connections; I received the opportunity to shadow several doctors in different clinics and hospitals all across Taiwan. I was able to see several surgeries (even a C-section), help directly with patients, and learn about real-life medical cases. It was a great experience and I enjoyed every minute.

What was a typical day like while you were in Taiwan?

For the first week, I woke up around 4:30 AM due to jet-lag. After that, I had to be up and dressed before 6:00 AM. I would walk to a small family-owned restaurant on the corner, pick up a sandwich, and walk to the bus stop. Taipei is a very congested city; driving a car can be quite frustrating. Most people walk, take the bus, or ride scooters or bikes. I would ride the bus to the clinic or the hospital I was interning at and walk in to meet the doctor I was working with for the day. Some days, the doctors would sit at a desk and see patients and on other days, all he/she will do would be surgery. On days when we had doctor-patient contact, I would put on a medical coat, sit next to the doctor, and watch as he interacted with the patients. Sometimes, I would have to deliver a record or help a patient onto a bed– little things like that. We would talk about any interesting cases and the diseases/conditions that caused them. It was interesting to see the differences between doctor visits in America and ones in Taiwan; there is almost no doctor-patient confidentiality over there and nobody really cares that there isn’t any either. People are lined out the door from the doctor’s desk, where a stack of files will lay. Since the doctor already knows each patient pretty well, he will spend about 5 minutes looking over the charts and talking with the patients. It’s a pretty fast process but every single patient still treats the doctors with the utmost respect. Some people will even bring homemade goodies and little presents. Another difference between American and Taiwanese doctors is the pay. American doctors usually make five times more than doctors in Taiwan; the doctors in Taiwan, therefore, have to spend each day seeing five times as many patients.

On other days, the doctor and staff would be in surgery all day. I had to wear clean scrubs as well as booties and a hair net into every surgery room. Surgery was probably my favorite part of the whole experience. I was literally two feet from the doctors in every surgery I saw– whether it was with an urologist, a gynecologist, orthopedic, or a pediatric. During surgery, we would quietly talk about the tools they were using, point out internal structures with the live-camera feed on the television screen, or learn about the different X-rays that were taken. Some of the doctors told me that I was learning a lot of the things second-year and third-year students in medical school would be learning. Honestly, I would probably have never gotten that opportunity in the United States.

Around 5:00 PM, I would get off from “work” and eat dinner with my host family. We would also see local shows, go sightseeing, or walk around the outdoor markets in order to bargain and shop. There is always something to do at night in Taiwan, but I definitely had to be in bed before midnight.

What was the best part of your internship?

The best part was just getting the opportunity to experience work as a medical professional as closely as I could. I’m still amazed that I got the chance to see the surgeries and meet with real patients first-hand.
I was also blessed with wonderful doctors who taught me so much during the entire process. On top of the medical part of it all, I was able to live everyday life totally different than I do back in Texas. Finally, my Chinese definitely improved and I was pretty happy about that.

What are your plans for the future?

I plan to study abroad in Shanghai, China for a semester at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Afterward, I will continue neuroscience research here at Texas A&M and apply to medical school in the process. I will graduate in December, 2008 and afterwards, join a medical trip in Costa Rica for a few months. In the future, I plan to have a family practice with hopes of joining Doctors Without Borders for a few years as well.