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Saffa Naeem
Ms. Chowdhury
Internship
4. August. 2016
Looking Back

Within a week of this internship I realized how much I didnt know regarding medicine. I
interned at a cardiovascular clinic in Lanham MD, under the care of Dr. Muhammad Ashraf. His
staff consisted of two clinical assistants (Gloria and Lauren), an accountant (Saira), and himself.
Beside his clinic, Dr. Ashraf also works as a surgeon at Southern Maryland Hospital and owns
another clinic where his staff also manages. Being a cardiologist isnt easy.

My first two weeks at work were the most eventful of all my weeks working here. I
learned how to take blood pressure, check weight, do a cholesterol prick, read medical logs, take
patient history etc Patient history was my regular day-to-day task. I would come in every
morning, talk to the patients, and jot down important points to discuss with Dr. Ashraf later. If
the clinical assistants had anything to show me or Dr. Ashraf was going to take me to his
hospital, Id excitedly participate; everything was so new to me then, so foreign and interesting
my first day I had learned about the heart and had to draw a picture of it with its blood
circulation. Even that was exciting and I did my best to digest all the information that was
thrown at me. Within those two weeks I had also witnessed my first surgery performed by Dr.
Ashraf. The operations you see in movies are always messy and stressful blood everywhere,
yelling, running, materials flying etcSo imagine my surprise when I see everything clean and
quiet and covered; the only visible blood being the patients blood in the tube. The procedure was

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also very short at most half an hour. From that experience I also learned the purpose of a
catheter and the control room. I looked forward to my next four weeks.

At the beginning of the third and fourth week, I came so full of hope ready for more
surgeries. Besides there being no surgeries these two weeks, I also hadnt spoken to many
patients and done anything. Sure I learned a lot but there wasnt muchaction. It couldve also
been because of Eid and Fourth of July so I hadnt had as many days for work. The highlights of
those two weeks was when I got to see ultrasound of the heart and when an expert came in to
show us samples of stents. Frankly, I was getting bored but I kept a positive attitude because I
still loved learning about biology and he taught me with such patience and detail. My knowledge
of the human body was like a grain of rice compared to his and as the weeks went by that grain
began to multiply.

My last two weeks were very slow. I hadnt spoken to many patients at all compared to
my first two weeks and there was this bitter-sweet feeling that my internship is ending; bitter
because it was such a great opportunity and I was benefiting so much, sweet because I was
getting tired of my same-old routine and wanted a change. I did, however, get some interesting
patients this week. I briefly became acquainted with a 13-year loyal patient of Dr. Ashraf; they
were a very nice couple and I loved speaking with them. They were the kind of people that were
very easy to talk to and get along with. Besides them another patient was engraved in my mind.
A 67-year old man suffering major depression due to a failed operation. After the operation he
also went through some financial issues and that, combined with the surgery made him almost
commit suicide. I didnt know how to help him. But I really wanted to, all I could do was listen

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to him and try and relieve him of those thoughts. That moment was one of the moments that
made me sure I wanted to be a doctor.

All in all, I was very grateful for this internship. It made me thankful of what I have and
how healthy my body is and I think I grew as a person; have become even more health
conscious. The only thing I regret doing is not asking Dr. Ashraf with some help studying for the
ACT, but I think Ill manage. I might not want to be a cardiologist, but Im sure I definitely want
to be a doctor and I now have less worries on the track to reach my goal.