The Experience of a Lifetime!

Where I work

The past few months I have been interning at Vissum Ophthalmology Clinic and it has been an experience of a lifetime.  Having been interested in pursuing medicine all my life, this seemed like the perfect opportunity for me.  Each day I shadow different kinds of doctors or sit in on different surgeries and I have been able to gain so much experience through working here.  The doctors that I shadow are world class in their field and are so knowledgeable and helpful in teaching me through my days with them

What I do 

Working in Spain is such a different experience than the US and we are allowed so many more priveledges than we are in the US.  The fact that I am able to sit 2 inches away from a lasik surgery done by one of the best doctors in the world is still incredible to me.  Or when we are seeing patients and the doctor takes extra time to give me a chance to examine them- these are things that we would never have the opportunity to be able to do in the US so I am so grateful that I am given the chance to see all these new things here.

What I have Learned

Although I am not necessarily interested in pursuing a career in Ophthamology, the exposure that I have gained through my internship has definitely given me some guidance as to what I am interested in.  I have discovered that I am a lot more excited about the days when I get to observe surgeries than the days when we're seeing patients.  I have also learned that when I do see patients, I like the cases where there's a general problem and we have to diagnose it more than seeing the same cases of one specific problem over and over.  I'm really grateful for everything I've learned while I've been here.