My final evaluation for my internship this semester.

1. Final Evaluation of my Internship Experience
1. My internship at the Anderson Free Clinic was a perfect setting to expose me
to working in a health care setting. The site set me up with several people
who showed and taught me not only medical care and triage procedures, but
also how to conduct yourself with patients and in this setting. Elizabeth
Young was a shining example of the best way to run a clinic. She was tough
on me, but in a helpful way. She gave me feedback constantly and taught me
the best way to conduct triage. The most important lesson I learned from Liz
was how important paying attention to detail is. In health care, every little
detail matters and making a mistake is a big deal. Nina Bridges taught me all
about the Care Navigation program and gave me assignments every week.
She has such patience and compassion working with this population of
patients that astounded me all semester. The clinic as a whole exposed me to
over twenty different providers from the area. Many allowed me to shadow
them in the exam rooms and would answer any questions I had. Some of the
more memorable observations were watching acupuncture being performed,
pelvic exams, assisting in draining pus from an infection, and calling 911 for a
diabetic patient. I learned to work in the chaos of a clinic that has little
control in its resources.
2. Overall, I was able to meet most of my goals for my internship at the
Anderson Free Clinic. For my health assessment goal, I wanted to be able to
triage a patient on my own, including initially assess the patient, obtain vital
signs, check medications, and all other triage procedures. I can confidently
say that triage has become second nature to me. Most Fridays, I am the head
of clinic triage, assessing and preparing all patients that day to be seen by the
volunteer provider. It was a huge personal accomplishment that I was put in
charge of triage in the clinic. I am able to measure a patients weight, height,
blood pressure, blood sugar (if necessary), respirations, and pulse without
any problem. Additionally, I am able to educate patients on better health
decisions and behaviors. I feel well prepared to move onto my next job in the
health care industry.
For my health planning goal, I wanted to be able to work with the Care
Message program to send out individualized text messages to all patients in
the Care Navigation program. Out of my four goals, this was the one I spent
the least amount of time with and thus, the one I could have improved upon
the most. My involvement with the Care Navigation program took a different
path than what I was originally expecting. While I am still able to send out
individualized messages to patients in the program, I spent more time
reaching out to patients who had been to the ER and had missed
appointments. My biggest project dealt with the ER records of free clinic
patients over the past 2 years. I also spent a large chunk of my time with the
Care Navigation program updating the Care Message spreadsheet and
conducting a survey with patients over the phone.

2. For my intervention development goal, I wanted to be able to list at least
three health intervention strategies used by the Anderson Free Clinic.
Observing the day-to-day operations in the clinic, I know various health
intervention strategies available to patients. If a patient was in need of
shelter or food, the clinic has a list of available homes and churches that
provide free living or meals in the area. We give out pamphlets on healthy
eating habits, including specialized ones for diabetic patients. These
pamphlets are tailored to foods that are affordable as well. A third
intervention is a list of exercises we have available, targeting many different
parts of the body, not only to lose weight, but also to strengthen problem or
injury areas. The patients can take one or more of these home with them to
work on increasing their healthy behaviors.
For my affective goal, I wanted to be able to explain how the Anderson Free
Clinic evaluates the effectiveness of their Care Navigation program. I actually
got to help them in evaluating this program through the phone surveys and
the ER report analyses I completed. With the phone surveys, I called over one
hundred patients in the Care Navigation program and asked them five simple
questions that could be answered with a number on a scale of 1 to 5. The
questions evaluated their satisfaction with the care coordination, the
pharmacy, the dental services, and the appointment reminder program. This
also gave us the opportunity to educate the patients on our dental services
and/or the appointment reminder program if they were not already using
them. The ER report analysis included data from ER visits by free clinic
patients in 2014 and 2015, and concluding whether the Care Navigation
program was effective in preventing ER visits for unnecessary reasons. It was
concluded that the program was in fact very effective. These two projects
enabled me to see the lasting effects of the Care Navigation program.
3. The biggest project I accomplished at the free clinic was my ER report
analysis. This project took up several weeks of my internship and was very
challenging to complete. At its completion, I was very satisfied with the
outcome of the report. The director, Barbara Baptista, was also satisfied with
the report and was able to use it to evaluate the Care Navigation program
and to encourage donors to support the program. This report required
several skills such as writing, organizing, comparing data, time management,
and Microsoft Excel. The report required me to go through every ER visit by a
free clinic patient in 2014 and 2015, categorize it, and decide whether it was
necessary or not. There were various categories, such as what kind of visit,
whether the patient was admitted or discharged, and acuity levels. The data
was then compared between the two years and graphed. During the project, I
kept in close contact with Barbara to ensure that the end result would be
usable to her. The strengths of this project are the hard work and time I put
into it, along with my knowledge of Microsoft Excel. I gave my best effort to
give the best report I could. The biggest weakness was that I was unclear of
what Barbara wanted in the beginning and I wasted time in not asking
questions sooner. Next time, I would definitely go to Barbara at the beginning

3. and clarify exactly what she was expecting from me in the report. This would
avoid any wasted time.
4. My hope is that I was a huge asset to the clinic this semester. I tried my best
to help out wherever was needed and to stay busy. I came early and stayed
until the last patient left. The clinic staff ran into some problems when
Elizabeth Young retired in October and a replacement could not be found
immediately. I worked extra hours when I could to ensure that triage was
covered appropriately and headed triage on Fridays. One of the front office
ladies, Lara Wrenn, and I shared Liz’s responsibilities to try to make the clinic
run as smoothly as possible. Sometimes, this required improvising and
thinking quickly on your feet because neither one of us had the experience
that Liz had. The clinic really does work as a team and everyone is supportive
of one another. It really was a pleasure to be a part of this team this semester
and work alongside this staff.
5. My experience at the free clinic has definitely reinforced my desire to be a
physician assistant. I love the interaction I’ve had with the patients and have
learned an abundant amount of medical knowledge. Although I have not
worked with any PAs at the clinic, I have worked with nurse practitioners,
who have a very similar role in the medical field. The most helpful experience
I’ve had was my time with the family medicine residents from AnMed. These
doctors were just a few years older than me and took an interest in showing
me noteworthy cases and answering my questions about different
professions and areas within the health care field. They gave me the greatest
insight into the different areas that I could one day work in. It also reinforced
my decision to go to PA school versus medical school. I can definitely see
myself as a professional in this field and I hope that I can give time to a free
clinic in the future.
6. Majoring in health science prepared for this internship experience,
especially in the way of educating patients on healthier lifestyles and
behaviors. Courses that helped prepare me were: Anatomy and Physiology,
Determinants of Health Behavior, Women’s Health Issues, Human Health and
Disease, Health Promotion of the Aged, and Lifespan Developmental
Psychology. Anatomy and Physiology taught me most of what I know about
how the human body works. Women’s Health Issues and Health Promotion of
the Aged taught me about specific areas in more details. Women’s health
knowledge was especially helpful when assisting with the Best Chance
Network that did mammograms, pelvic exams, and pap smears for our
patients. The other three courses taught me how to best interact with my
patients and the best way to intervene to educate and help change their
lifestyles.
7. In the population that the free clinic aims to help, there are many patients
who cannot speak English, cannot read or write, and/or cannot understand
medical terminology. For example, I have had to triage patients who cannot
speak English and have brought a family member to translate for them. I had
to use the skills I had learned in class, such as speaking directly to the
patient, to be able to best communicate with these patients. I also encourage

4. the patients to ask as many questions as they have to the providers,
especially about their medications, to ensure that they fully understand what
the doctor is telling them. It was very useful to have health literacy skills in
this setting.