Payton Goldstein: Shadowing a Doctor at a Bilingual Facility
Payton Goldstein has known for a long time that she had a desire to pursue a career in the medical field. Growing up with doctors in her family, she has seen the impact that individuals in this field are able to make and the fulfillment that this career can provide. For this year’s January Short Term, Payton called on a family member, her aunt Samantha Goldstein Kamras, to help provide her with real-world experiences she would not be able to get as a high schooler otherwise. Samantha currently serves as a primary care pediatrician for a Federally Qualified Health Center in San Francisco, California. “This past fall, I reached out to my aunt to ask if I could come to San Francisco for a couple weeks and shadow her, and then plans were made.” Payton recalled.
While it is not uncommon for medical students to work with Samantha in the clinic, it is rare for a high schooler to shadow. “It is such a treat to have someone like Payton who is young and making decisions about their next steps in their academic and career pursuits,” Kamras stated.
Going into this experience, it was a hope for Payton to see if she would be able to narrow down her interest in medicine to a particular area and to see if anything stood out regarding primary care. Her day to day shadow work included seeing patients ranging from 3 days old to 18 years old, often doing routine yearly check-ups. Payton was also able to see patients who made specific appointments for acne, anemia, weight checks, and other ailments. A particularly challenging obstacle that Payton faced for her JST project was that this was a bilingual facility, with most of the patients communicating in Spanish. While Payton is not fluent in Spanish, she did not back down from the challenge. Payton was able to learn to pick up key words and use context clues to understand what was happening during these appointments.
A particularly rewarding element to this experience for Payton was the opportunity to work with newborns. “For me I learned that I love and definitely want to work with younger children, specifically newborns,” Payton recalled. Getting the real world experience of being in their appointments both reinforced her desire to pursue medicine, but also gave a clearer direction that no matter what area she pursues, Payton would like newborns to be a part of it.
January Short Term often provides students with the opportunity to seek out challenges and gain some independence and ownership over their education. Payton left this year’s JST proud of the independence she gained on this trip and inspired by the direction she now has in her career path.
