Introduction
Over the summer between junior and senior year, I interned at Island Acupuncture in Alameda. Tracy Zollinger, the owner and founder of the business had me shadowing her on a day to day basis. Tracy specializes in women's health, specifically fertility and pregnancy, as well as pediatrics and pain relief.
Reflection
While I was interning with her, I got to witness clients of all kinds- young, old, male, female as well as patients with several different needs. The majority of the patients came in for muscle or joint pains but I witnessed quite a few pregnancies and other rarer cases. My day started at 7:30 AM where I would go through her business replenishing clean water, emptying out the trash, changing the bed sheets, placing more granola bars on the counter and washing any unwashed dishes (Tracy has a little tea table where clients can make themselves some tea and have a snack, they were not her own dishes). Once those tasks were completed, I would bring in the mail which normally consisted of a few papers and some large packages filled with supplements. My task was to put all of the supplements into the herb cabinet in the proper location. The tough thing about this task was that all of the herb names were in Chinese so it got a little tricky putting them in the proper place. A couple times Tracy had me measure out a few bottles of supplements for patients with wet and dry ingredients. Using a small scale and a little pipet I weighted and measure the correct amounts and packaged them up for her. Those were just a few typical tasks I did around the office when there were no clients or while Tracey was having private conversation with her patients. When it came to her actual services, things got a lot more exciting. When her patients first came in Tracy made sure to introduce me and ask if the client was comfortable having an intern observing their appointment. Once they confirmed, we would sit down in her treatment room and she would talk with them and ask lots of questions. After she felt she could properly diagnose their progress, she would leave the room and tell them to get comfortable. In the time gap where she was waiting for patients to get comfortable, or while they were laying with the needles in them, Tracy would pull out a book or computer and teach me exactly what she was doing. That was my favorite part because I learned so much about the human body. After the patients got comfortable, we would return and she’d have me feel their pulses and the part of the body they were having pain. I felt necks, backs, legs, arms and even an old dude’s butt. Through the whole process she’d be talking to me explaining what she was doing. Aside from her literally treatments, i also learned about what it takes to run your own business. She gave me tips like “hire a business advisor” and “charge what is standard for your occupation (don undercharge just because you are new)” because there are tons of hidden charges for small businesses. And during a day where business was light she even gave me acupuncture and cupping! It was really exciting to actually get the acupuncture done because I had only been explained what it felt like.
Another obstacle I faced was trying to stay calm while i watched tracy stick 5 inch needles into people. There was no blood, thankfully, but it's a little unsettling watching a pointy object go so deep into someone's body. Aside from that, I would be standing for long periods at a time, watching. My body would feel very fatigued and after a day of interning I would be exhausted.
I honestly didn't know what I expected- mostly just to watch Tracy do her thing since I knew I wouldn't be allowed to stab people myself. On the other hand, I didn't expect to get such an in depth lesson on everyone's case and have private sessions with Tracy where she would talk to me about anything I found interesting. I found women's fertility fascinating and she made sure to give me a great understanding on how it all works.
Hours Log:
August 3rd: 4 hrs
August 4th: 4 hrs
August 5th: 4 hrs
August 9th: 5 hrs
August 19th: 5 hrs
Over the summer between junior and senior year, I interned at Island Acupuncture in Alameda. Tracy Zollinger, the owner and founder of the business had me shadowing her on a day to day basis. Tracy specializes in women's health, specifically fertility and pregnancy, as well as pediatrics and pain relief.
Reflection
While I was interning with her, I got to witness clients of all kinds- young, old, male, female as well as patients with several different needs. The majority of the patients came in for muscle or joint pains but I witnessed quite a few pregnancies and other rarer cases. My day started at 7:30 AM where I would go through her business replenishing clean water, emptying out the trash, changing the bed sheets, placing more granola bars on the counter and washing any unwashed dishes (Tracy has a little tea table where clients can make themselves some tea and have a snack, they were not her own dishes). Once those tasks were completed, I would bring in the mail which normally consisted of a few papers and some large packages filled with supplements. My task was to put all of the supplements into the herb cabinet in the proper location. The tough thing about this task was that all of the herb names were in Chinese so it got a little tricky putting them in the proper place. A couple times Tracy had me measure out a few bottles of supplements for patients with wet and dry ingredients. Using a small scale and a little pipet I weighted and measure the correct amounts and packaged them up for her. Those were just a few typical tasks I did around the office when there were no clients or while Tracey was having private conversation with her patients. When it came to her actual services, things got a lot more exciting. When her patients first came in Tracy made sure to introduce me and ask if the client was comfortable having an intern observing their appointment. Once they confirmed, we would sit down in her treatment room and she would talk with them and ask lots of questions. After she felt she could properly diagnose their progress, she would leave the room and tell them to get comfortable. In the time gap where she was waiting for patients to get comfortable, or while they were laying with the needles in them, Tracy would pull out a book or computer and teach me exactly what she was doing. That was my favorite part because I learned so much about the human body. After the patients got comfortable, we would return and she’d have me feel their pulses and the part of the body they were having pain. I felt necks, backs, legs, arms and even an old dude’s butt. Through the whole process she’d be talking to me explaining what she was doing. Aside from her literally treatments, i also learned about what it takes to run your own business. She gave me tips like “hire a business advisor” and “charge what is standard for your occupation (don undercharge just because you are new)” because there are tons of hidden charges for small businesses. And during a day where business was light she even gave me acupuncture and cupping! It was really exciting to actually get the acupuncture done because I had only been explained what it felt like.
Another obstacle I faced was trying to stay calm while i watched tracy stick 5 inch needles into people. There was no blood, thankfully, but it's a little unsettling watching a pointy object go so deep into someone's body. Aside from that, I would be standing for long periods at a time, watching. My body would feel very fatigued and after a day of interning I would be exhausted.
I honestly didn't know what I expected- mostly just to watch Tracy do her thing since I knew I wouldn't be allowed to stab people myself. On the other hand, I didn't expect to get such an in depth lesson on everyone's case and have private sessions with Tracy where she would talk to me about anything I found interesting. I found women's fertility fascinating and she made sure to give me a great understanding on how it all works.
Hours Log:
August 3rd: 4 hrs
August 4th: 4 hrs
August 5th: 4 hrs
August 9th: 5 hrs
August 19th: 5 hrs