Internship: Week 11 Reflections

Week 11 marked my move to the Pulmonology Department.  It was a quiet first week among the "wheezers and sneezers."  Most of the kids on my new floor are either cystic fibrosis patients, or asthma patients.  We're just coming out of flu and RSV season here, so only had a handful of kids with those conditions.  Saw some familiar faces, as many kids head to Pulmonary after leaving the PICU.  (Which makes sense, since our floor helps kids who are having issues with breathing, and many of the kids in intensive care are there cuz they stopped breathing.)

My first impressions of the floor are entirely positive.  It's a much more mellow environment than Hem/Onc and PICU were, so it's interesting to see the contrast.  With only 5 weeks in the unit till the end of my internship, my new teacher has put me on an "accelerated" plan.  Generally speaking, I'll be seeing her demonstrate a skill only once or twice before I'm trying it myself.  It was a fairly quiet week, so I'm only checked off on normalization (aka:  playing with kids) so far, but I did get to see a Picc line prep with a teenage patient.  So next Picc line prep that comes up will likely come to me.

Speaking of my new teacher, I really enjoy working with her.  I like her style as a CLS, and her style as a teacher (which can be two very different things!)  One of the first things I noticed about her, as a teacher, is that she has a very different style teaching a child life student, than she does a child (patient).  One of the most useful tools in teaching young children is repetition.  The means that CLS spend their days working with patients who need to be told the same thing 5 times, in five slightly different ways, to help support their learning.  Naturally, many CLS pick up this habit, and subconsciously apply it to all teaching.  In some ways, it's kind of hilarious to listen to a group of CLS (or any childhood educators, I imagine) sit around and explain something to each other.  They frequently repeat the same information 4 or 5 times in a row!  My new mentor doesn't seem to fall into this habit at all.  She explains something once, then asked if I understand.  If I say "yes," that's it, and we move onto the next thing.  I love that!!!

I feel like the end of the internship is suddenly rushing towards me, much faster than I expected.  I have so much still to learn!  Our Friday afternoon workshop this week was on resume, cover letter and interviewing.  I'll start sending out resumes in the next couple weeks, and could conceivably start a job as a Child Life Specialist as early as the end of April!!  Can you imagine?  No wonder I feel like time is rushing by in the blink of an eye!

I know a few of my readers have asked, and more are wondering  . . . . where will this job be?  Who knows?!  There are no openings here in Atlanta that I know of, so finding a job in Child Life means moving.  We knew that before I started the internship, and aren't terribly fond of Atlanta anyway.  We decided a while ago that we'd never be staying here long term, unless something drastically changed our minds.  Matthew's job is a "post doc" and that means it's pretty informal, including how long it will last.  Matthew told me the night before my internship started that when I finished, he'd pack up our family, and moved where ever I wanted for my job.  He's reiterated that offer again this week, as I've been looking at job listings in child life.

So far, I've found 6 openings in San Diego, which would put us significantly closer to my parents (and Aunt & Uncle, and cousins depending on the time of year).  Two openings in NYC, which would be close to my brother, and reasonable driving distance to Matthew's parents and extended family, and Malcolm's birth family (plus all our friends in Rochester!).  I've seen other positions in Florida, Arizona, Texas, Washington, Connecticut, D.C., Massachusetts, and Ohio.  I ruled a few others out on the basis that they get more snow and cold than upstate NY.  Ugh.

Given the economy, our primary goal is a job.  Any job.  And I'll be grateful to have it.  Provided Matthew can find another post-doc in town where said job would be.  After that, something close to family would be nice.  Given that we have family in Buffalo (Matt's immediate and extended family), Rochester (Malcolm's birth family), and NYC (my brother), something within reasonable driving distance (read 8 hours or less) from there would be nice.  That would leave us only having to fly to see my family in California.  Not bad.  In the 8-hour drive radius, we're aiming for something more southernly, to try to escape the cold and snow as much as possible.  Maybe West Virginia?  But an opening in Maine might be worth the cold and snow, as it would put us close to family (my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins).  I don't know.  The whole process is so complicated, with so many factors!

What do you think?  (Please, I really am asking your opinion, so respond!)  You can respond in the website by clicking the little link below, labeled "Comment," or you can send me an e-mail.  Looking forward to hearing from you!