On Wednesday November 2 it was ‘Take Our Kids To Work’ day.  I went with my dad. He works for Vancouver Coastal Health.  He is the Manager, Home and Community Care, Palliative Care and Hospice for  the North Shore. I love think that it was a cool experience to have when you need to start to think about what you want to do for a career.

I liked that you get to meet all kinds of interesting people that you get to work with. I was surprised by how much my dad manages and the number of people in his areas like nurses and supervisors and physiotherapists.   I didn’t like all the e-mails he has to answer.  I wouldn’t want to do that all the time.

We went to his three offices. One of them was at the hospital where I got to meet a lot of cool doctors and I got to go into the ICU ( Intensive Care Unit ).  I interviewed people in three different jobs.  One was a Program Leader, one was an Environmental Health Officer and one was a Physician.  I would love to work as a doctor and help people get better so I’ll tell you more about that interview.

I think that the job shadow did impact my career choice because I used to think that I would be ok with being a manager. But now I do not want to. Before I didn’t want to be a doctor but now I do.   I talked to Dr.Shaw and she said something very interesting.  “You don’t have to be the person with the highest IQ but you have to be that person who will work very hard and study a lot.” I asked Dr Shaw some of the questions from the sheet and she gave some interesting things to think about if I want to become a doctor.

Question 1: What are the essential skills necessary to perform your job?

“You have to be prepared to work hard and  have a lot commitment and application.”

Questions 2: What are some of the duties performed in during a typical day?

“You will have to see assigned patients. Constantly adjust and plan for your day.”

Question 3: What are the academic qualifications for your position?

“You will need a Undergraduate degree’ medical degree than a specialty degree and than you will have to pass university exam.”

Question 4: What are employement prospects in your field?

” Employment prospects are good with doctors wanting to work less hours.”

Overall I think that this is a good experience to have when you are in grade 9. It shows you what a day would be like in a certain job and it could change your mind on your career goal.