Mentor Assessment #1

Date: March 16th, 2017

Topic: Physician Assistance

Assessment:

Though I have not yet been on a formal mentor visit, on Wednesday, March 15th I was
able to go to the Childrens Medical Center of Dallas and complete my volunteer training that
allows me to observe anyone at the Childrens Hospitals.
My meeting was scheduled for 11:00AM on Wednesday but I left my house at 9:45AM
because the directions in the email I received were extremely confusing and with traffic it would
take much longer to get to the hospital. I arrived with a lot of time to spare but I needed all that
time to make my way to the volunteer office because the hospital was so big with many different
sections. Once I finally found my way to the volunteer office it was about 10:45 so I went in and
waited to begin. Soon enough, I sat down with the coordinator of the observation program,
Whitney Geary, and we began. Ms. Geary and I bonded over our shared experiences on drill
team and she expressed to me how much she LOVED the Anders Institute in Plano (the
orthopedic department I will be observing).
We started by looking over the observer handbook which told me all the rules and
expectations of the hospital and of the volunteer program. Then, I was given a quiz about the
handbook on which I scored a 100. Afterwards, it was time for me to sign all the different
documents assuring that I had read everything, taken the quiz, and agreeing to their terms and
policies. Then, I was given my observation log that I have to fill out throughout the year and turn
in on the date of my last visit to total up the hours I observed. Finally, it was time for us to go
down to make my volunteer badge. This was the part I was most excited about because I have
been looking forward to this process for so long and to me, the badge makes it official. On our
way downstairs, there were many fun events happening in the hospital so Ms. Geary took me
around a little bit and explained what a few things were. As I was walking through the hospital I
have never felt more excited for what is to come as I continue my journey at Childrens. We got
downstairs, I got my badge, and that was the end of the training process.
As soon as I was finished I texted my mentor telling her how excited I was and asking her
when she wanted me to begin shadowing her. We decided that my first visit would be next week,
Friday the 24th, from 8:00AM - 12:00PM at the Andrews Institute in Plano and then one the
week after on the 31st (most likely). We also discussed the dress code and decided that I would
wear scrubs. After this long and tedious process, I have finally accomplished my goal of being
able to shadow my mentor and I cannot wait to start learning even more about my topic of
Physician Assistance.