Pre-Med Junior Fieldwork Reflection Writing:  

 
Name​: 
Kendal Zootis 
 
A/B Day:  
A day 
 
Advisory Teacher:  
Fitz 
 
Fieldwork Location:  
Memorial Hospital Shadowing 
 
 
PREPARING FOR YOUR VISIT:  
Complete this section ​before​ you go on your fieldwork trip. If you do not know about the 
organization, please research and include your research findings below. 
 
 
1. What do you know of the location you will be visiting? What services does the 
organization provide?  
I don't know really anything about Memorial   
hospital. Some services that they offer are 
specialized programs such as cancer care, 
heart care, hospitalist program, 
orthopedics, stroke care, trauma care, 
urgent care, and women’s health. They are 
for emergency services and I know that 
they have multiple different areas of work 
such as neurology and cardiology which I 
am interested in. 
 
2. If you are visiting a specific department within the agency, what is that department's 
primary focus?  
 
If I were to visit a specific department within the agency I would like to visit neurology or 
cardiology. Both of these departments are my primary focus just because I find them 
interesting and I would like to shadow in these departments. 
 
3. What is the public health function the organization/agency addresses?  
(Assessment, Policy Development, Assurance) 
 I know that they follow HIPAA which keeps information of patients confidential.The public 
health function that this is with the healthcare because they provide assistance to people 
in need of any urgent care or in need of surgeries that they would need. They offer 
multiple things that play into healthcare and how our healthcare affects the world. All the 
different clinical specialties that they have play in the healthcare because of things such 
as women’s health. 
 
4. What preconceived ideas (personal bias) do you have about the location you will be 
visiting? 
 
I don’t have any preconceived ideas or personal bias towards Memorial Hospital because 
I really don’t know very much about it which I am hoping to learn more during my time. As 
I visit their website I see that they do have a lot of services and things about their 
foundations and community outreach programs and I think that’s a very good idea to have 
in order to have a big effect on the community. They also have a section on their website 
for patients and visitors which offers ways you can read about billing and payments things 
such as the cafeteria, insurance and health plans which is good if someone is looking to 
go to memorial hospital. 
  
​ URING YOUR VISIT - OBSERVATION: 
D
Review the prompts i​ n advance​ and take a small notebook on your fieldwork visit. You should 
be taking notes on each of these topics so you will be able to add your observations ​after you 
return.  
Close Read your Surroundings:  
Observe the physical space and "read" them as if close reading a text. Pay attention to: 
● sensory details 
● signs posted 
● languages you hear 
● colors of the offices and uniforms.  
● does the location have a certain smell? 
● what sounds do you hear?  
Observations: A few sensory details that I noticed when walking around was, I could smell 
the sanitations that they used to keep the hospital clean. I didn’t notice that my area in the 
hospital had a distinct smell from any other part. It was pretty loud in the area of 
cardiology I was shadowing in I could hear the beeps of monitors, people talking, keys 
clicking from nurses charting. I saw a man with his toes amputated get his foot dressings 
changed, the physical therapist do a session with an other women, and a lot of computer 
screens while the person I was shadowing charting. I only touched a few papers that I was 
asked to hold and didn’t taste shit. I saw a couple signs just saying to keep the noise level 
down and signs showing the areas that you are in. I heard people mostly speaking English 
but their was one of the nurses who spoke Spanish to a couple patients.  
 
 
Observe your Emotional Response: ​Take notice of your reactions (emotional and physical) 
to different things and reflect on why you might be reacting this way.  
 
Observations: : Right before I was a man's foot with the toes amputated I got a little 
nervous because I didn’t know how I was going to react. I usually love to look at graphic 
surgeries online but I’ve never seen something that grafic in person. When I saw the foot I 
wasn't grossed out or scared which was good, I wasn’t really shocked due to the fact that I 
like looking at things like that. Most of the time walking around I was happy to meet 
different people and it was fun to talk to the patients. 
 
Ask questions of the person you’re shadowing and/or the industry people you encounter:  
- general questions of interest 
- relating to your potential career choices 
- public health related issues and challenges they see as important to consider.  
 
Record your questions and answers here. 
 
Observations: Why did he get his toes amputated? 
He had diabetes and wasn’t taking care of it properly. 
I didn’t ask very many questions about the career because I wasn't very interested in the 
place that I was put in. 
 
Summary Reflection   
After your return from your fieldwork experience address each prompt below to capture your 
thoughts on your experience.  
 
Reflect on specific highlights or observations from the day. What was a lesson (big or small) 
you took away from your experience? . Consider lessons that presented themselves in both 
positive and negative ways.  
Reflection: The lesson that I learned is that it is very important to care for your heart at 
any age but especially as you get older. A lot of the people in cardiology were old 
people and it was sad to see then in there. A negative lesson that I learned was that I 
don’t want to be a nurse as my top profession. This is a negative because I always that 
that it was something that I wanted to do for sure in the future but now it is my fall back 
job. 
 
 
How did the experience meet, exceed, or fall short of your expectations? Explain and 
include specific details from your fieldwork notes to help support your answer 
Reflection: This experience fell short of my expectations because I thought that being 
a nurse in cardiology would be more interactive and exciting throughout your day. I 
think that I could be a nurse just not in cardiology, I don’t mean to say bad things about 
their career but that section just isn’t for me. I believe that I would want more 
excitement. 
 
What connection can be made between what you ​saw​ on your fieldwork experience and 
the functions of Public Health?  
Some suggestions 
- the role of public health within this career path 
- public health needs or challenges within the field you observed 
- thoughts on how to address these needs 
 
Reflection: The role of a nurse in public health is ​to work within the community to 
support population health and deliver preventive health care services. They are a big 
part of making a hospital work how it does, they take care of patients and answer 
question of the patient and family. Some challenges with hospitals in public health is 
that a lot of medications are grossly overpriced. If we were to regulate the production 
of medications through the government, then large corporations would not be trying 
to get so much money for production.