// Co-Op Talk //
Did you accomplish all of the learning objectives/goals you identified when you started your work term? Explain why or why not.
Yes. Working at the Texas Heart Institute really showed me how innovative, diverse, and productive the healthcare field is and must be in order to provide adequate care to patients and sponsors. From my position perspective, I worked primarily in research assistance and learned under individual doctors and pathologist. In addition, I also was able to explore different departments in the research facility such as the engineering labs, necropsy procedures, and some understanding about the consulting and administration side of things.
Overall, what activities did you enjoy most? What activities did you do best?
I would say that our routine maintenance and exploring the different department focuses throughout the research facility were my favorite aspects of the job. Routine maintenance was a good way of keeping up with the instruments and equipment throughout the lab and exposed me to the types of analysis that is being conducted throughout the different protocol studies and sponsor requests. I learned that a lot of my strengths involving consistency, attention to detail, communication, technical skillsets in MS, and organization were highly commended in my student position.
Overall, what activities did you find most challenging? What activities did you like the least, or need to improve on?
From this experience I had come to terms that I am not very interested in surgical proceedings as I thought I would be. I was able to view some and assist were applicable. However, they are not something I would be fully ambitious for in a full—time career. I also realized how intensive, time consuming, and tedious the medical device design process can be for research or clinical purposes. Keeping track and documenting everything is a must in the healthcare industry whether it be electronically or via hard copy. Improving on patience and waking up in the morning are some minor things that challenged me at times throughout the co-op but never fully defined the overall experience for me.
Describe an example of a new and/or unexpected experience you had during your work term.
Using Outlook on a daily basis for the first time. I like the design and cleanliness look to the software, but I wish Microsoft made it more rugged like Gmail. That way it does not take almost 5+ minutes just to open an email. Another sort of expected but also unexpected thing was the feeling of having to wear scrubs every day. To be honest, I adapted, but deep down I would have liked the possibility of piecing together outfits everyday rather than just having on scrubs and buying miscellaneous clothes that I would only wear on the weekend. Everyday things such as tax rates, rent, places to eat, grocery stores, entertainment, friends, and even what to wear to work every day were some small things I would have never thought of when selecting an occupation.
What kind of professional skills (e.g., non-technical skills such as communication, organization, and time management) have you gained during your work term? How have you applied them, and how have they benefited you personally?
Communication and Time Management have to be the two biggest professional skills that I have improved on during this experience. Communication is key with your teammates and supervisor. On various occasions, I would have an appointment, or I was running a little late to work and as long as I communicated to my supervisor about my situation, she was very understanding, and I did my best to not make it a repetitive pattern. And just getting to know my co-workers as individuals made attending work more fluent and comfortable.
Time management was another skill that improved, and I have to thank the Houston traffic for this one. Overall, I learned several back roads to avoid major traffic, and I received tons of experience being on highways. So, whether it was planning to get to work on time with the tram train or visiting friends to make plans, I became way more accustomed to predicting my schedule and prioritizing my commitments.
What are some of the suggestions you have received to increase your effectiveness or understanding of your job responsibilities? Describe any training, coursework, seminars, or other opportunities you took advantage of to broaden your skillset.
So far, I have not received too much constructive criticism since I started this position. I worked diligently to ensure that all my ‘i’’s and ‘t’’s were dotted and crossed before I submitted anything, and I had no shame in asking questions or asking a colleague to proofread my reports and notes. At some points I was instructed to prioritize certain samples based on the intensity of the study or demand from the sponsors. Otherwise, majority of my responsibility was covered in my training. Some technical wordings are still confused me, but nothing a little Google, common sense, or trial and error couldn’t solve.
What aspects of the co-op related to the application of your classroom studies? In what ways did your coursework prepare you for the co-op? In what ways did classroom theory differ from what you experienced in the field? Are there areas where you felt your coursework could have better prepared you for your job?
Lots of the physiology that I learned in VTPP, of course, carried over to this position. As well as some technical knowledge with MS Office such as Excel was very useful. But some applications such as LabView, SolidWorks, and general medical device design techniques were applied in a more professional and efficient manner that I wish I could have had more training with. Many projects were carried over from previous PhD students; so, having some prior knowledge on LabView and SolidWorks would really have helped with knowing were to begin on designing a medical device or one of its components. In the classroom, it is aways instructed that a single and specific way of knowing the problem and answering the question. However, in the workplace, sometimes we know the answer but not the problem, or we know the problem but can’t find the answer, or in some cases we don’t know were to begin since we don’t know what the problem is, and we are unable to pair a compatible answer. There is a lot of trial and error in the workplace, lots of googling, and, especially in long-term, medical device proposals can take up to years upon years of development and efforts for research funding/approvals. As far as my general comparison from schoolwork to the workplace goes, I hope that college coursework will continue to encourage the students to approach the problem from different perspectives; not like how a test is taken where we are restricted to four choices. When realistically, there could be a single right answer, but that does not necessarily mean there is only one approach when there could be millions of possibilities.
What have you learned about yourself (strengths, interests, career goals) as a result of this experience? How has your co-op changed the way you think about your degree program? Does it change the way you approach your studies? If so, how?
I knew the co-op when signing up would give me the tangible work experience that I needed for my resume, but I was not expecting it to affect me in such a way that improved my strengths (in MS Office, communication and time management), build a better relationship with my friends and family as I learned from the life experience from many of my co-workers, and that I started to fully grow and strengthen an appreciation for my self-worth. Biomedical Engineering is still a degree I strive to pursue, and I hope to obtain a Master’s in Science on Management in Information Systems. I look forward applying my skillsets to a consulting and healthcare administrative focused career where I can travel and use my gregarious personality to meet different communities. I believe that this experience has improved my confidence in my choice of study and refines my understanding of how I want to leave my positive impact on Aggieland and the experiences that have helped me to become that person I am today.
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