Today I got to learn all about what it’s like to work at a medical clinic but before you read on, I created a video of my experience at the clinic, go check it out below!

 

 

I participated in the national grade nine take your kid to work day. Its where all of Canada’s grade nine students get the opportunity to go to work with someone you know and see what it’s like. 

I visited the Kensington medical clinic with Dr. Jansen, a family practician. I shadowed him for the day and got to see what it’s like to work in a medical clinic. 

 

 

When I first arrived I walked in the front door and I talked to the front desk. They showed me to his desk where I sat while he was finishing up with a patient. Dr. Jansen then took me on a tour of the clinic asa well as next door when where life labs is. He showed me everything that was in the rooms and introduced me to people. He talked about vaccinations and showed me where they keep them in this little fridge at the front of the clinic. 

 

I researched about vaccinations and learned that statistics say if 9.9 million Canadians got the flu vaccine we would say goodbye to 433,000 flu cases. We would also reduce flu related doctors visits by 10,000, keep 2,800 flu cases out of our emergency rooms and prevent 197 flu related deaths. Of course there are always exceptions like if your over the age of six months old or you have other illnesses. However the flue vaccine is an important thing to keep you healthy. 

 

Another thing I found very interesting that Dr. Jansen taught me about was how to understand and read an EKG chart. From personal interest I’ve already learned all the parts and cavities of the heart. This made it easer for me to understand when he was talking about each part of the heart and what all the lines on the chart meant. 

If you were going to follow the blood flow of the heart this first thing would be the inferior vena cava (meaning coming from the lower body) and the superior vena cava (coming from the upper body). This is where the veins from the upper and lower body carrying un-oxygenated blood meet, to come into the first section of the heart, the right atrium. After this the blood gets pushed through the tricuspid valve it’s in the right ventricle where it travels up thought the pulmonary valve through the pulmonary artery and out into the lungs. In the lungs the blood gets oxygenated and travels out into the pulmonary veins and back into the heart where it is now in the left atrium. From there the blood gets pushed through the mitral valve into the left ventricle where it then travels through the aortic valve and up into the aorta. Travels into the connecting artery’s that go to the upper body to distribute oxygenated blood as well as traveling down the ascending aorta and branch off to the artery’s distributing blood to the lower body. That is the cycle of the heart and the blood vessels are constantly repeating this over and over again. 

 

 

All of the parts of the heart that I just explained are part of what shows up on an EKG chart. All the little lines you see on the chart represent a part or section of the heart that contracts or pumps. If a chart showed signs of an off rhythm it may suggest things like myocardial infarction (heart attack) or an arrhythmia.

Another cool part of the day was when I followed a guy named Jordyn around. He worked at the front desk and helped out around the clinic with various things and procedures. He showed my how things ran and every else at the front desk who helped to keeps things organized and running smoothly. He was very nice and I even got to help with a small medical task where I copied numbers and colours down to mach them with each corresponding row. 

 

 

The autoclave was another thing I got to learn about. An autoclave is used for sterilizing instruments by doctors worldwide. In a completely controlled and sterilized environment doctors use the autoclave which uses pressurized and saturated steam at 121 °C (249 °F) for around 15–20 minutes to sterilize their instruments.

I had lots of fun with Dr. Jansen at the Kensington medical clinic! I learned so much from him and all the amazing people who work there. I’m not sure exactly what I want to do for a career when I’m older but I know that I want to do something in the medical field. 

 

Sea 🌊 ya later 👋