Interning at the Greenville Children’s Hospital Pediatric Research Dept.

My Summer Internship• I have spent the summer of 2016 interning at the Department

of Pediatric Research at the Greenville Children’s Hospital at 200 Patewood Dr.

• Working 3 to 5 days a week, I was able to acquire a strong understanding of how clinical medicine exists in our US healthcare system and how clinical research is incorporated in various clinics.

• From working with clinical trials spanning multiple practices, shadowing physicians and nurse practitioners, and creating resources for patients, I gained a great hands-on experience on how clinical research and patient care is handled in the clinical environment.

My Internship Site• My internship was

with the Department of Pediatric Research of the Greenville Children’s Hospital, located on the second floor (Suite 200A) of Building A on the Patewood Campus.

Goals for the Department• The goals of the Pediatric

Research department revolve around overseeing the execution of clinical research, namely through:• Applying for grants and/or

compensated clinical trials• Identifying patients for

research trials• Overseeing the execution

of the various research trials

My General Duties • Throughout the course of my internship, I worked with four

specialty pediatric clinics (Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Developmental-Behavioral, and Sleep Medicine) and the various clinical research trials running in the clinics.

• These trials followed a somewhat universal formula: taking a drug approved by the FDA for use in adults for a certain pathology and seeing if the drug could be found to be safe and effective for use in children

• In addition, I spent a large portion of time working with Pediatric Endocrinology research and treatment, from creating a booklet to be given to newly diagnosed IBD patients to working with Dr. Ransome Eke to determine the effects of various factors, such as smoke exposure or age, on Eosinophilic Esophagitis, which is inflammation of the esophagus due to some type of allergic reaction

New Patients to Research• Every research trial has been found

by an IRB board to be as safe and ethical as possible; however, the first step of each trial is to “consent” the patient to the trial by giving them study trial information

• One duty of mine as an intern was to make sure that this information was present when the nurse or doctor was with a patient. To the right you can see my simulation of how a patient would review trial information (HIPAA prevents any pictures of actual patients)

Randomization• Randomization is an

important part of clinical research and is vital to ensuring that the results of a study can be applied• A portion of my duties as

an intern involved compiling and uploading patient information to patient databases or to GHS researchers

Study Visits• Most clinical research trials

that I was involved with took place over many months or even years and involved many clinic visits and lab work to be performed

• I was able to shadow multiple research nurses and doctors to see how patients go through different phases of their trials• In the left, I am simulating the

blood work that would be drawn for a patient in the later portion of the treatment stage for a drug used to treat ulcerative colitis

Labeling Labs• A part of my internship involved

working very closely with the research nurses dedicated to diabetes research

• I spent time in the research lab labeling containers to indicate the bloodwork needed to be performed (usually through referencing sheets like the TrialNet protocol pictured on the right)

• I was able to learn a lot through my experiences both in helping perform these labworks as well as learning the need for the work done through my interactions with the research nurses

Shadowing• In addition to shadowing care

providers during work with research trials, I was also able to shadow physicians and nurse practitioners in all 4 specialty clinics

• Seeing how these providers (such as Andrew Smith, NP pictured to the right) were able to perform diligent research while still providing excellent care to their other patients was a great experience for me and something I hope to draw on in my future as a medical professional

Working with Record Databases

• Another large component of my internship was working to update and expand record databases for patients with certain chronic diseases, such as diabetes or Crohn’s Disease.

• Some databases were GHS-specific (like REDCap records for Eosinophilic Esophagitis records) while others were region-specific or even nationwide, such as T1D diabetes registry or SEARCH diabetes registry

Adding Records to Studies• For work with these databases, I

worked at my assigned desk for the summer taking existing patient medical records and adding them into the registries

• The records were also de-identified in this process, meaning that I assigned a unique identifier to this data so that a researcher viewing the record later would not be able to personally identify a patient based off of the information present (which would be a HIPAA violation)• Naturally, ensuring that no HIPAA

violations were present was an important component of my work with these records

Following Up with Patients• Sometimes, it was necessary to call or

email parents of patients in research trials to • Make sure their medications had not

changed• Determining certain information (such as

medical history) that had previously been left out of their medical record

• Seeing if any symptoms had arisen since their last visit to the clinic

• Being able to interact with patients and their parents was a facet of my internship that I enjoyed quite a bit• Being that a strong pull of working in

medicine to me is the ability to form relationships with patients, being able to remember and become familiar with patients that I encountered during my summer internship was greatly rewarding to me

Additional Projects• In addition to my work in creating and

updating a REDCap medical record database, I also worked with the Pediatric GI department to create an informational booklet for patients newly diagnosed with IBD (aka Crohn’s Disease)

• This booklet is designed to help these patients better understand their diagnosis, and to help them manage their disease more easily• This was yet another rewarding

experience for me; knowing that a booklet I helped create as an undergraduate student is going to be used in the GI clinic was extremely gratifying

My Overall Internship Experience

• Overall, I do not think that I could have had a better internship experience than the one that I had at the Greenville Children’s Hospital this summer.

• Working with such knowledgeable researchers and providers (who were always willing to answer my extensive questions about the research being performed) was truly an amazing experience and has motivated me to incorporate the actions and behaviors I witnessed this summer into my future as a healthcare professional.

• Getting to work for a summer also allowed me to see patients and research trials over a long period of time, and allowed me to actually see patients lives improve even in the short time I was present, which was a very fulfilling experience.

• I hope to use all of the knowledge and experiences that I have gleaned from my summer internship to better myself in my future goals of being a health professional.