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Student Comment:
- “I started this program in November of my Senior year and went halfway through my gap year. I wanted to do something "different" from Care Extenders. It was a demanding training course -- I woke up at 6:00 AM for 2 consecutive weekends to take the bus downtown for training. You learned how to ambulate, move, feed, greet patients etc and had to pass a practical exam in front of other students. This was more terrifying than actual med school interviews lol but the whole experience was my first real exposure to hospital work. You rotate through Med/Surg and other departments of your choice, including the ICU and Couplet Care (Postpartum Care). Also I rotated through the Women's Health department, which mainly used me to answer phones but let me observe a breast biopsy. Typically you are the "workhorse" of the floor in which you run errands here and there, like taking labs to a different floor or serving patients food. It is recommended to be as proactive as you can with shadowing; simply ask the nurses what they need done and they'll give you a task, or ask the doctors (very quickly, not wasting their time) if "you'd be open to me observing" their next interaction. My best memories were connecting with the patients, because you were called frequently to take patients on walks // discharge them. The shifts were demanding (16 hours per month, so 4 hours/weekend) and I quit after several rotations (~6 months) because I felt like I got what I wanted from the program. I think I was influenced by an older COPE scholar who complained to me about being used as unpaid labor. The program was relatively new in 2017-2018, so I expect growth to have occurred. It would be best to talk to someone more recently involved.”