Victoria Riddle
When I was growing up I never quite knew what career path I wanted to pursue when I was older. Most kids had one or two professions that they were interested in, but I was changing my mind every week. When I was in high school, probably my sophomore year, I decided I wanted to pursue a career in medicine. My twin sister, Savannah, is severely autistic and epileptic. Growing up with sibling who is difficult if not impossible to communicate with was a challenge. It also helped me realize that I wanted to help not only people with special challenges like my sister but their families as well. I always thought of medicine as being process oriented. Every patient presents a new problem to be analyzed, with the diagnosis and treatment being the solution. I went to college to learn about biology and pave the way to attend professional school in order to practice medicine. I am thankful to have found the Professional and Civic Engagement Pathway because it has given me experiences that have shaped my desires to become a healthcare professional and to give superior and ethical patient care. My job experience and my Medical Ethics classwork have taught me that being compassionate is not only a character trait, but also a way of life.
Be Compassionate
My twin sister Savannah and I
I recently (Spring 2015) decided to pursue a Medical Humanities minor to better understand the relationship between the scientific and ethics factors of medicine. I always knew about HIPPA and patient privacy but I never considered the ethics of medicine as it relates to healthcare professionals. I went into the minor excited to learn new things and to broaden my experiences. The first class I took related to the Medical Humanities minor was Medical Ethics, Philosophy 321. My professor, Dr. Kiesha Ray, was excited about the class from Day 1, which sparked my consideration about what it really means to treat a patient. As we learned about patient autonomy and truth telling, it became apparent to me that there was much more to a patient than a diagnosis. There are so many other things to consider when treating a patient such as letting them know all of their medical treatment options (even if you think you know which treatment path is “best”). We frequently completed homework assignments outlining ethical theories and their implications in the world of healthcare. I have attached a homework assignment I completed that I found to be particularly relevant to ethical patient care. Medical Ethics helped me to learn that a patient is not just a number, but a person with feelings, wants, and even concerns. Sometimes their treatment is not only physical but also emotional. Part of being a well-rounded healthcare professional is learning how to balance a patient’s wants and needs with a treatment plan that is also effective.
I somewhat unexpectedly came into a job in the summer of 2014 at Clark’s Termite & Pest Control. The person with whom I interviewed with has been a member at the church I attend since I was a child. I was very excited for the opportunity, but was unsure as to what I would be able to take away from the experience and how the experiences I would have from the job would relate to my future endeavors. My position title is “Operations Support Specialist”, which is really a catch-all title for a lot of diverse tasks that I complete. My primary responsibility is doing IT work, which is most relevant for computer problems for office users and setting up cell phones for technicians. I would say that I am extroverted to an extent, but I have always had a little bit of trouble meeting new people and being confident in my ability to carry on a conversation. At first, it was hard dealing with individual people that I hardly knew because initiating contact for me was not comfortable. Additionally, their problems were computer related, which posed an even larger challenge because I did not have a strong background in IT prior to my employment at Clark’s. As I became more comfortable with my co-workers and my skills in diagnosing and solving computer problems, I found myself wanting to not only fix their apparent problem, but wanting to make their computer usage more effective in general. Before I realized it, I was fixing 3 or 4 peoples’ problems a day and then fixing problems that were not even related to their initial concern. I began implementing emails with helpful technology tips to the whole company. I have attached a PDF of one of them about summer weather. After a few months, I realized that doing IT work was much like caring for a patient—they come in with a concern, you consider their symptoms and eventually come up with a diagnosis. However, my “patients” were more than just that, they were my friends and office pals. Developing personal connections with them helped me want to discover more about the problems they were experiencing. I realized, after learning about ethical patient care in Medical Ethics, that my job at Clark’s was teaching me that a patient is more than just a number. At work, I not only dealt with the apparent issue that a coworker was having but also their concern about how their problem affected them. Having my job at Clark’s has reinforced my desire to go into healthcare and help others not only with my medical knowledge, but also with my knowledge of ethics and fair treatment practices.
Clark's Termite & Pest Control Corporate Office
Learning about patient care was broadened for me outside the classroom through my involvement in Alpha Epsilon Delta, a premedical honor society. We frequently hear from healthcare professionals about their respective fields and their role in patient care. Last September, we heard from Dr. Fulton, who is an Interventional Radiologist. Please refer to the meeting minutes to view an outline of her lecture. Although the field she is involved in is not one of my main interests, I learned the most from her advice on life and her career. She talked about finding the right career when you say to yourself in the morning: “I can’t believe I get paid to do this”. She continued her lecture by giving us lessons she ‘learned the hard way’. Before listing these lessons, she mentioned that medicine is a service industry and it is important to always keep that in mind. This resonated with me because my colleagues at Clark's are not usually excited about their computer problems, and it is important to keep in mind that most problems, both technical and medical, are not positive experiences. She talked about how your typical patient will not always be happy to see you, and that gratitude is not always apparent. This forced me to realize that patient care is not necessarily easy, but especially necessary if the patient has a low morale or underlying concerns. Listening to someone who was so positive and uplifting, even about the negative aspects of her job, made me realize that going into medicine and standing up for patients’ rights made me feel that same way too.
My experience as a Medical Humanities minor at USC has taught me that patients are people with real lives. They have parents, children, and many things that weigh in to their decision to seek treatment for their ailments. Learning to consider all of the factors that a patient is dealing with helps to be a more insightful Physician’s Assistant and a better humanitarian. My professional work experience for my Professional and Civic Engagement Pathway at Clark’s Termite & Pest Control has shaped my personal skills and my understanding of the importance of ethics within a service industry job. Alpha Epsilon Delta has helped cultivate my interest and understanding of the field of healthcare. These experiences differed in that Clark's and Alpha Epsilon Delta gave me practical knowledge through the fields of Information Technology and Healthcare while Medical Ethics taught me the knowledge that helped me to understand that helping people and employing ethics go hand in hand. All three experiences both within and beyond the classroom helped me to take a more humanistic approach to my interpersonal interactions. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason, and my sister has given me a gift that is unique, and my place in the world is to help people and their families that are struggling to cope with their medical issues. I think that learning more about how to ethically treat a patient has made me realize that being compassionate in the field of healthcare is not a weakness, but a strength.
Alpha Epsilon Delta Group Photo
