Interview with Hannah Owens, Medical Student

Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital

Tuesday, March 29th via telephone

​

1. What made you want to go to school to medical school?

   1. Growing up, I knew that I wanted to find a way I could take care of people and find ways to improve their lives. I loved the science background of it all throughout my undergraduate career. As I grew, I found that is way more than just that and you have to really focus on your patients and be able to help them in many ways, other than just physically.

2. What training or further education is required for this field?

   1. For you, you will first need to get your undergraduate degree, then apply to an accredited program. Once you complete that, you must become licensed in your state and then pass a certification exam.

3. What do you do in a typical day in your schooling for this career?

   1. My typical day is to go to my hospital rotation and follow along/treat patients all day or night—depending on the schedule they gave me that week. I just passed by surgery exam and now I am in my OBGYM rotation. 

4. If you were starting out this process again, would you do anything differently?

   1. I would not. I have found absolutely every experience that I have done has helped me to become the almost doctor that I am today, and I am truly grateful for that. All my good steps and bad steps have leveled out and led me to where I need to be. 

5. What part of these real-life patient experiences have you found the most challenging?

   1. The hardest part would be how physically demanding these healthcare fields are. It is a lot of physical work that your body has to be well-rested and ready to go through each and every day. On top of the physical part, it can be emotionally draining too, as it is hard to see the conditions of some patients.

6. Is there a demand for people in the healthcare field?

   1. There is a big demand for healthcare workers currently due to advances in medicine or simply the aging, retiring population. There is always a demand here, but ever since COVID-19 happened, there has been a really big increase in need. 

7. How do you think the future of occupational therapy specifically is going to go? Do you see these jobs changing?

   1. I see occupational therapy becoming more popular and to grow a good bit over the next 10 or so years. I say this because of the aging population we’ve seen in the hospitals—the older people get, the more injuries, and the higher need for OTs,

8. What strategies would you suggest for someone to get started into this career path?

   1. I would suggest for this field to always have a smile on your phase and stay positive, even if you are feeling down. Many patients are not feeling their best and when they come to therapy, they are excited, and you should be a cause for that to increase even more. It is so important to be understanding towards your patients to make their treatment plans go smoothly.

9. What special advice would you give to someone who was thinking about going to medical school?          

   1. I would say to start research now and be prepared to continue with it throughout your schooling years. If you do this, when you go to apply to your careers, they will love that you already have research done and should be very interested in you for the position.

10. What, if anything, do you wish you had known before you joined this field?

    1. I had a lot of good advice given to me, but I think the best thing that I had heard was to study a little bit after every class and every lab, and then when it comes to big exams, you won’t be ass stressed at once because you drew it out and didn’t wait until last minute. It is also key to get sleep whenever you can because you will need it.

11. Do you have any recommendations for journals I should read?

    1. For occupational therapy, I would recommend the AOTA Occupational Therapy Journal. I have not personally read this, but it has a lot of the basics that you should know and AOTA is reliable.

12. What is your favorite part about this entire process?

    1. I love meeting all the new patients. I got to train through different parts of the hospital and take shifts, so I could see which suites me best, and the amount of amazing patients I met was awesome. They really give you a new perspective on life.

13. What are some of the possible rewards of you going through this process?

    1. Some future rewards of going through this process would definitely be the positive influence that you have on yourself and others, the simple fact that you are improving people’s health, and job security because the healthcare field will always be here.

14. After medical school, do you plan to continue to work at this hospital?

    1. I have not decided yet. I want to look at all of my options; however, this hospital is a lovely place with wonderful workers. I am glad I was placed here.

15. Can you suggest anyone else who I should contact for additional information?

    1. I would recommend contacting different occupational therapy offices in your area and seeing if you can do shadow hours/days with each one. I would most definitely recommend that you go to a variety of offices; however, so that you can see where you think you might eventually want to work at. Experiencing these places first hand can make a big difference compared to what you may just think in your head currently.