February Blog

 Volunteer Hours: 9.5 hours 

This month has covered two different modules. We first started with the endocrine unit, which was interesting to deepen my understanding of this topic. We have briefly discussed topics that are covered in the endocrine module, so I felt like we got a nice introduction to this module. I also really enjoyed learning about the mechanisms of diabetes, especially since there are people that I am close with who have diabetes. This was actually one of my top three topics that I enjoyed the most to learn about. The second module that we covered was the neuropharmacology. I also found this module interesting, especially learning about strokes, addiction, and Alzheimer's. My grandmother passed away from Alzheimer's when I was in middle school. So I particularly found it intriguing to learn about. Overall this was a great month for academic content.

This month was also the beginning of my program, Tulane Birthing Companion. I had training earlier this month, which was very fun and educational to learn the different stages of labor, what can help to alleviate pressure during labor (massages), and also what distracting and breathing techniques to use to help make a smoother labor. I also had my first hospital on-call shift, which was fun because I got the opportunity to talk with the residents and medical students. Unfortunately, I didn't have an opportunity to participate in a birth, it was a pretty slow shift. All-in-all I look forward to learning more about the program and being able to recruit and participate with my own patients.