There isn't really anything i'd do differently, maybe just have Dr. Ho give me a behind the scenes tour of the research laboratories. .
During the interview I was so relieved that Dr. Ho did most of the talking. He answered questions I didn't even think to ask. He was so helpful in the sense that he knew what I was going to ask, and what my response was going to be before I even said anything. He also played out a couple of scenarios to help me better understand the relationship between the parent, doctor, and child during treatment and their stay at Vanderbilt. He cleared up a lot of things for me in a way that was understandable, he put my mind at ease. I enjoyed interviewing someone, it was something i'm not completely used to. However, it was nice to ask questions that I knew he was going to know the answer to.
During my experience at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital I learned a lot more than I assumed I would. I was a patient there, so I thought I knew it all. What I didn't know about was the relationship between a doctor and his staff. Dr. Ho explained to me the qualities that a staff member of his has to have to be worth keeping around. He said that trustworthiness is the most important because you have to be able to trust your staff to give the same care to your patients that you would. Dr. Ho also added that you have to be a huge people person when it comes to being a pediatric doctor of any kind. "When you are handling irate parents on a daily basis you have to have impeccable people skills," he said. He then clarified, "the only reason that parents may act up is because they are incredibly worried about their child's wellbeing, they might think you are not doing everything in your power, but you just have to keep reassuring them that you are." .
When I first tell people that I want to be a pediatric oncologist the first thing they say is "how in the world are you going to deal with all of the death and sick kids?" I reply with "if I don't do it who is going to?" That is exactly what Dr.
