Seniur L+anklin Welborn recalled sLa11ding- in a bli~htly lit room, ol>~enring donors pcrlimning a quadruple bnJaSS SUTgery. He was nne or Lht> select few students who had the opportunity to shadow doctors in the Searcy area as a part of the Harding pre-professional program. "In the past few weeks, I've shadowed a radiologist, a pediatrician and a family practice or general practice doctor," senior Bradley Shields said. "You begin to realize when you shadow that the different fields of medicine are quite different. Initially, you think you go to medical school to become a doctor, but through the shadowing program, you realize even the way you interact with your patients is a lot different." Shadowing various types of doctors helped students narrow down their specific fields of interest, a task that could be daunting and stressful otherwise. "Watching Dr. Barden or Dr. Citty, both in family practice, work and then thinking to myself, 'I could do that and would want to do that' was definitely a good feeling," junior Cody Rogers said. ''Also, shadowing has answered some questions I've had about the practice of medicine and how different doctors work. It has been informing and affirming. Also, meeting those who are already in the field provides a possible base of contacts, Examining a model of an eye, juniors Asia Park and Hailey Park study the replica for their Anatomy and Physiology I class instructed by Biology Lecturer Claire Mowrer. "I liked seeing how diseases start and which regions they start in," Hailey said. "I also liked figuring out treatments for them." Ashe I Parsons fSQ Health Sciences which is necessary in any career." Along with new insight into the daily routines of doctors, students also gained a new appreciation for the doctors who had served them when they themselves were ill. "I think the most valuable thing I've learned from the pre-professional program is what the lifestyle will be like," Welborn said. "It requires significantly more work than I originally expected. Some of these doctors start at 6 a.m. and don't get home until 6 p.m. That's just the lifestyle they choose." The main thing students took away from the program was the fact that the field of medicine was never quite what they expected. "When I was shadowing a radiologist, I learned more about how radiology has really changed a lot, even recently," Shields said. "I'm beginning to see that medicine is very rapidly changing on all fields. It's an interesting thing; your classes from year to year don't really change that much, like your organic chemistry and physics. You learn pretty much the same things, but once you actually get out into the profession, you see that the pnlfession changes a lot. So, you have to learn to be very adaptable." Ashley RosenbauTn Teaching the class, senior exercise science and pre- physician assistant major Rina Min gives a presentation on the ADHD drug Ritalin in Brian Phillips' Exercise Pharmacology class on Dec. l. Each student had to choose a drug and explain how it worked in the body as a project for the class. Kristi Soto
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