Pediatric Surgery

 This is my second time working very closely with pediatric patients in the hospital. Before I started medical school I worked at Nationwide Children's Hospital as a patient care assistant. I remember this being extremely challenging because of seeing children in such bad conditions and in such bad health and also seeing their parents have to watch them and feel so helpless. This field and this specialty is extremely challenging, but what is so important is the difference it can make. My role is only as an international student here, but I am able to spend time playing with the children in the wards helping them to make friends with the other children and to help keep them feeling like children even when they are sick in the hospital. For anyone interested in this specialty or interested in this rotation, I think it is important to know that it does take an emotional toll and many people you talk to can tell you how it has affected them and how they try to cope, but the most common thing I hear is that they cope by not losing sight of what they are able to do for these wonderful children.