My Internship Project

The idea of creating a project during my internship has been very difficult. There are many amazing questions and topics that I am researching, but it is difficult to try and group that into a meaningful project. Also, my mentor has proposed that I do a project on the specimens we recieve in the tissue room, but I cannot help anyone at Scripps by doing a project there. Also, I cannot release any information about the c ases we recieve.The morgue needs a table, but building a table doesn't help me learn anything .However, I have come up with something based on an experience I had talking to a very knowledgeable microbiologist. This is the person in the lab that everyone always goes to when they have questions. I very commonly hear, "Go ask Mike." I was curious about the blood culture bottles, of which there are two different kinds: ones that grow aerobic and ones that grow anaerobic bacteria from bood samples. There is extra resin in the aerobic bottles that aren't in the anaerobic bottles, and even Mike didn't know why. Also, I was talking to the pathology assistants and realized that there is a lot they do not know about the procedures they do.

I decided that I'm going to help fill in the gaps in the common knowledge of the lab. I will do this by creating a quick reference guide to common lab procedures and materials. I will start by finding out what people wish they knew, and what they don't know. I will then find the best locations around the facility for these reference guides to be placed. There will be at least two editions, one for the lab, and one for pathology's tissue room. I am already doing a ot of research on topics assigned by Dr. Mathews, so I can input a lot o the information I am researching into my guide. I think this project will be refined after I learn what people do and don't know, but I will be learning and helping the people I am interning with at the same time.