Zina Ahn, COL ’24, Gainesville, FL
This summer, I continued working with Dr. Tamara Cadet in the Penn School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2). Her work lies directly at the intersection between social justice and healthcare, mostly centered around evidence-based health promotion interventions, facilitators, and barriers to reducing disparities in preventive health care behaviors and service utilization among particularly vulnerable populations. For the past year, I have been involved in Dr. Cadet’s ongoing multifaceted project that aims to develop an effective decision aid that older individuals with limited health literacy can use to appropriately understand and assess the benefits and risks associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) screenings. The goal of the project is to equip hard-to-reach patients of low health literacy with adequate knowledge to prompt more conversation and promote shared decision-making between the physician and patient when deciding whether or not the individual should continue getting screened for CRC.
Instead of seeking out a new project or internship elsewhere, I made the deliberate choice to remain engaged in this project for the second summer. This choice was made considerably more viable thanks to the assistance provided by the Career Summer Funding. This support enabled me to dedicate myself fully to this project during working hours and take the rest of the time to invest in preparations for the medical college admissions test, unencumbered by the necessity of seeking employment to cover my financial requirements during this period. And in turn, this decision has significantly enriched my comprehension of the crossroads between social work and healthcare practice, as the study has unfolded. Contrasting with my experience last summer, which introduced me to the realm of health policy and social work (during which I primarily received training in participant recruitment, grasped the basics of screening potential participants, securing informed consent when necessary, conducting interviews, and collecting study data), my involvement in the study over the past year has expanded considerably. I’ve not only increased my contributions to the research, including writing, training colleagues, and refining protocols, but I’ve also had the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions with the participating patients, which was able to continue through this past summer. This has provided me with genuine insight into how our study aligns with the efforts of physicians. As the study advanced, we interacted with a diverse range of patients, each with their unique perspectives and viewpoints. This enabled us to enhance our initial questionnaires and delve deeper into patients’ cognitive processes through extended interviews.
As a prospective physician, I consider these conversations to be of immeasurable worth, given that they have granted me an in-depth comprehension of the variables, reservations, and misunderstandings influencing a patient’s outlook on their engagements with the healthcare system. This encompasses their trust levels in their primary care providers. These insights have been truly enlightening in shaping my understanding of the intricacies involved in patient experiences. The dearth of integration between social work and healthcare practice underscores a critical issue. Properly executed, social work can serve as a cornerstone in empowering patients to navigate healthcare decisions with confidence. By addressing not only medical concerns but also the socio-economic, psychological, and cultural aspects that influence a patient’s well-being, social work can enhance the holistic nature of healthcare. This integrated approach would enable patients to make informed choices about their health, ensuring a more comprehensive and effective healthcare journey. In essence, the synergy between social work and healthcare practice has the potential to bring about a transformative shift in patient care, fostering both physical and emotional well-being, and I am very grateful that I have had the opportunity to engage in such integral work as I work towards becoming a well-equipped advocate for patients as a physician.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2023 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they spent their summer. You can read the entire series here
