3rd essay

1. Kaitlyn Greiner
Public Health Determinants Project
3. Preprofessional Concentration
An individual who exemplified professionalism during my time at MUSC was my
internship preceptor, Stefanie. She is a physician assistant at MUSC in the GI surgery
department. She usually works for two physicians alongside a team of healthcare
professionals in the clinic during the week. Stefanie demonstrated professionalism by
being a patient advocate. Throughout the internship, she taught me that I needed to find a
strong voice in order to be a patient advocate when I enter the healthcare field.
Stefanie knew that her main job and responsibility was to advocate for her
patients. She cares about her patients more than anything else in her career. She showed
that she would stand up for any process in the clinic to make the patient’s lives easier if
necessary. For example, she has a strong voice that she used with the nurses to get the
patients out of the waiting room more efficiently. Stefanie would tell the nurses what
needed to happen and was not afraid to stand up for the patients when dealing with her
co-workers. If a problem occurred, Stefanie would firmly address it with whoever was
responsible in order to get the job done and make her patients’ appointments optimal. She
was always on top of keeping the appointment process running as efficiently as possible.
Stefanie also made sure that the nurses obtained any labs that were needed. Another
situation during which Stefanie demonstrated her professional voice was when she
needed to get a brochure for a patient but several of the rooms were not stocked with
them. She immediately addressed this with the nurse manager and got what she needed
for her patient. When on the phone, she tries to obtain the information that she needs in

2. the most efficient and resourceful manner possible. She always appreciates efficiency in
others and makes this known. Residents were frequently in the clinic helping out as well.
Stefanie would steadfastly let them know if they had made a mistake in the clinic at the
cost of patient satisfaction or efficiency. Her respect for the patients came before
anything else. She strives to be a patient advocate daily because she feels that this is her
main responsibility.
From this internship, I learned that I need to develop my own voice to stand up
for my patients if necessary. Stefanie felt that criticism was very good for students and
always told me that my main problem will be developing this voice even if this means
standing up to my own team. At the beginning, she was concerned about my soft-spoken
voice and quiet demeanor. She told me that this was an area that I need to work on if I’m
going to be successful in healthcare. Stefanie taught me that being nice and polite can
come across as weak and incompetent during first impressions. After getting to know me,
Stefanie realized that my soft-spoken demeanor was not incompetence, but a quiet
confidence. She said that this is actually a great quality to have, but can be difficult with
first impressions. Stefanie advised me to explain this quality during my interviews in the
future so that my interviewers do not get the impression that I am nervous or timid. When
it is necessary to advocate for a patient, a strong voice will get this done most efficiently.
By working on the flaw of my soft-spoken voice, I can improve my professionalism.
Patients and other healthcare professionals will have more confidence in me if I develop
this voice and use it. I can also improve my professionalism by putting my patients first
and deeply caring about them. When healthcare professionals put patients first, they
advocate for them in every way possible. This means making their health and satisfaction

3. your priority. I learned a great deal about professionalism from Stefanie during this
internship. In the future, I hope that I will have the opportunity to serve as a patient
advocate in my healthcare career.
The one piece of homework that Stefanie gave me on the last day of my
internship was to find a strong voice inside of me that can command when necessary.
This voice will demonstrate that I am a resilient, trustworthy professional to my patients
and co-workers. The voice will make me a better patient advocate and will give me the
ability to work for them. My preceptor was never afraid to use this voice and the clinic
always ran more efficiently when she did use it. I was able to observe and learn from this
professional voice throughout my internship. This is a voice that I will use in my
professional career in order to be a patient advocate.