Hitting rock bottom and finding myself

Hello everyone! How are those internships going? 

My internship at Mill Street Medical Practice and Travel Medicine Centre Perth under the direction of my mentor, Dr. Stanley Khoo has definitely taught me a lot. But mostly about myself.

My afternoons at the clinic consist of mostly talking to Dr Stanley. He’d offer me a cup of coffee and ask me about my weekend, then we’d get back to work. Mostly brainstorming, throwing out communication ideas, and updating him on my progress. As I work from home, we’ve developed a simple and efficient schedule over the past 4 weeks during my time interning. We meet once a week, sometimes twice to discuss on activities for me to do, I get it done and report back to him later. 

It’s a process. I communicate between the nurses and the receptionist since there isn’t a Public Relations team to handle the communications at the clinic. Actually, most of its online presence is managed by Dr. Stanley himself. Which is a lot of work if you think about it, having to see patients all day and reply emails and comments on the side.

What I have taken home from this experience is that Public Relations isn’t just about databases and media clippings. It is also about good verbal and communication skills, the ability to multi task and an interest and flexibility for all forms of media. During our individual and group meetings with the clinic staff, I had to motivate and influence others to encourage participation on the social networking sites that I have created for the clinic. I was under a lot of pressure, I had to organise my workload before strict deadlines, whilst having to vibe out positively on how much interest I have around me in the Medical world so I get their attention. 

I must say, I’ve been drained.

Suddenly, multiple tasks and projects have been labelled “important”. Recognizing tasks based on their priorities has never been one of my majors. And this is when everything went backwards for me for quite a bit. I was demotivated, and even going for our weekly group meetings made me feel so small. Like my presence was a waste of time and people didn't take me seriously. But I knew that at the end of the day, I just couldn't let the pressure affect my work. I had to pull through and produce my best. Come on guys, our boss’ newly attained free time means more time for them to lean back and observe our hard work. 

The whole experience so far really snapped me back to reality and made me realize I’m in my third year, and this is soon the end of my university life. Might as well make the best of it. Its crazy and it worked. So far I’ve created flyers, websites, databases, managed the social networking sites, and the list goes on. I’m impressed of how much I’ve done. 

I will definitely encourage my friends to think about doing an internship. I see no good reason not doing an internship, you get the job done and do good at it, and then it’s over and you get to take home actual on-the-job experience, new contacts, and of course references. Easy. 

Till next time intern buds

Fay Ulrica