Journal Entry #4

Long-Term Goals

Cardiology is the field I am most interested in regarding medicine. Having done an internship directly influences my decision-making for my long-term education and career goals because it educates me about what cardiology would be like as a career.

If I decide to pursue cardiology, my current internship will benefit me immensely. I would understand many medical components before entering a college class after high school, such as the anatomy of the heart, how to read a patient's EKG, what to look out for when listening to a heartbeat, how to read an ECHO, etc. Practicing these skills will allow me to knowingly decide whether cardiology is a field I want to enter long term.

If I decide not to pursue medicine as my career, I would still appreciate having completed an internship in cardiology because I believe medical knowledge is valuable. I want to have children in the future. Knowing preventative steps for heart diseases for myself and my children would immensely help me guarantee my family is headed in a healthy direction.

Although a lot depends on how my cardiology internship plays out, there are not many steps I would change. I have been asking questions, being involved, and exploring as much as possible during my internship meeting. My next step is to focus on consistently going down the path I have curated in my internship.