Sarah Hecker

Dr. Lidstone/Dr. Kaninjing

Spring 2019 Internship

Journal Week Four

2/4/19 9:00-3:00, 6 hours; 2/5/19 9:00-3:00, 6 hours; 2/6/19 9:00-4:00, 7 hours; 2/7/19 9:00-

3:00, 6 hours Total hours worked for the week: 25 Total hours cumulative: 87 hours and 15

minutes

This week I continued to work on my fundraiser and toy donation drive for Children’s

Healthcare of Atlanta. I am still finding it hard to receive actual toy donations, since people

would much rather donate money online for convenience. The online money has been set up

through a direct Facebook fundraiser, which will transfer funds directly to Children’s Healthcare

of Atlanta from the donors. We have received $85 online so far for the fundraiser. I made a new

flyer that discussed the option of shipping toys directly to our urgent care, so that we can have

some toys to present to the hospital. The hospital is mainly trying to gain toys such as Legos and

coloring books, but any toy donation will make an impact. I have learned how fundraisers can

increase morale in the office setting. My coworkers seem to be getting excited about the project

and have helped give flyers out to local businesses. My coworker Amber brought the flyers to

her child’s daycare to give to the teachers to pass out in the Friday folders that the kids bring

home.

Aside from working on the project I have continued to shadow the medics on site. Mary

works with me Monday through Wednesday, and John works with me Sunday and Thursday. I
believe that both will be good contacts to have regarding my professional career. I have also

gotten closer to the main doctor, who is also the owner, Dr. Dennis.

We have been getting more injury related visits lately with around half of them being

workers comp related. We have had a lot of open wounds that have needed stitches, so I was able

to watch how doctors prepare and inject Lidocaine (a numbing substance). I also have gotten

familiar with how stitches are placed, as well as how to wrap the stitches after the procedure.

Most of the injuries that come through our office are presented on the hand.

We are still in flu season, so early in the week we had a lot of the same issues coming in

presenting as “flu like symptoms”. I am becoming familiar with what flu looks like in patients,

and how strep varies from the flu. The two are often mixed up. I know how to confidently run

tests on my own, and I know how long the tests run for since they vary from test to test. Flu tests

run for ten minutes, and they have three lines on them. One is for control, and then A and B are

for the two different strands of the flu. We also have a machine that you run the flu tests through

that helps give a more accurate reading of the stick, since occasionally the lines are there but too

faded to see. The strep tests run for five minutes, and one line means negative, and two lines

mean positive. I am still really enjoying the internship, so I am excited to see how the weeks

progress.