Irene Jo's Volunteer Work at Scripps Memorial Hospital

She is a 3rd year senior from Warren college and her major is BS Global Health. She was involved in Warren College Student Affairs, Warren College Residential life, and IFC. She enjoyed all her experiences at UCSD and walked the stage with close friends this recent June. Currently, she is working as a full-time medical assistant at Dermatology Specialists at Solana Beach and hope to reach her dream to be a PA in Dermatology or Gynecology.

Scripps Health Volunteer program has given her the experience to work in the maternity health department. Volunteers at scripps are able to assist nurses and have direct patient care experiences.

She worked at the Maternity Health department at Scripps Memorial hospital and mainly worked with or assisted nurses or PCA/s. When she would clock in she would start with doing rounds for patients asking if they need anything and then do her rounds for setting up rooms for incoming patients. She would consistently flip rooms when they are done being sanitized by staff. After rounds, she would work front desk and prepare paperwork for incoming patients. Sometimes she accompanies patients to the NICU or their car when their stay is over. Overall, she assists nurses with their work in hopes of making their shift go smooth.

"Sometimes there are rushes of patients needing assistance, flipping rooms, and calls. It was sometimes overwhelming, however, I was able to overcome being overwhelmed by taking notes of what needs to be done by priority. This helped me to stay organized and focused. This can always happen in any working setting, which really strengthened my ability to multi-task and perform well under pressure."

Her FE brought her many things back like friendships with nurses and PCA, who are like mentors for her in life and for her career. She had many valuable converstations with many of the hospital staff and made her realize how much she loves being in healthcare. Additionally, she was able to be there for many patients special day and congratulate them for their child. She thought it was really rewarding to be in a place of so much joy and happiness in the room with staff and patients. During her free time at her FE she would mainly talk to the staff. She was able to build many relationships and gotten a lot of advice on how to step her foot into the real world of healthcare. They were always open to questions and motivated her a lot to work hard. She was always excited to see some of the nurses, because she appreciated their advice so much.

At UCSD, she was pursuing a BS in global health, hoping to work as a PA in the future. This FE requirement has given her a lot of stability and reassurance in that she does want to be in healthcare. Additonally, she was an RA at UCSD Warren College and both of those positions are somewhat similar in assisting students/patients to make their experience as valuable as possible. Thus, she definitely encourages others to volunteer at Scripps for their field experience as she did!