Doctor
For this project, I have interviewed Dr. Rebeca Pinca, a dermatologist. She works at Vancouver Costal Health as medical resident. http://www.vch.ca
https://2a8ve14cpswq2agxiz3md8dk-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/logos/VancouverCoastalHealth_profile-320×325.jpg
Interview Questions:
- Why are you passionate about your job?
I am passionate about medicine because it combines many things I was looking for in a career: having a meaningful, positive impact in people’s lives, pursuing knowledge, and being a life-long learner. The most rewarding part of my job is helping my patients by improving their health and quality of life. For instance, patients are very grateful when I can diagnose their skin cancers at an early stage, when they are more easily treatable. I find it very rewarding to make a difference in someone’s life, whether by taking a moment to listen to them and offer a word of encouragement, or by prescribing a treatment for their illness.
2. What obstacles have you faced to get you where you are today?
Medicine is a career that requires significant sacrifice. You spend many days studying and many nights on call. It is important to be disciplined if you embark on this path, because there are times when you would rather go out with friends instead of studying, but you cannot always do that. Time-management is also very important. Moreover, it is important to overcome the obstacle of self-doubt. It can be overwhelming to write so many exams and to be in stressful situations in the hospital, but you have to realize that everyone feels overwhelmed, and you just take it one step at a time! Practice makes perfect.
3. What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you are doing?
A career in medicine is a great choice for individuals who want to work directly with people in a service capacity, who are genuinely interested in lifelong acquisition of knowledge, and who are independent learners and critical thinkers. I would recommend this job to those who are highly motivated to invest significant time and energy towards their education and career. It takes at least 12 years of training to become a specialist, which is a long commitment, so you definitely need to be passionate about your chosen career path.
4. Would you be open to further contact from Riverside students and if so, how can someone contact you?
No.
5. How do you manage to work under pressure? Like with handling emergencies?
Once you gain the necessary skills and learn the protocols to use in emergency situations, it becomes less intimidating. You become very focused on the problem at hand, and you do your best to solve it. You are usually working in a team in emergency situations, and everyone on the team contributes in crucial ways.
I think it is very important to know yourself. Some people live for the adrenaline rush (they tend to become surgeons and emergency physicians); others find it tiring to constantly work under pressure (they find other areas of medicine that suit them better). Medicine is a broad field, with many options!
6. What skills have you learned or enhanced in the past couple of years that you’ve had this job?
I have gained significant scientific and clinical knowledge, upon which I base my daily patient care. I 
have also honed my procedural and surgical skills. My communication skills, leadership skills, and teaching ability have also improved.
What I learned from this experience:
For this assignment, I interviewed dermatologist Dr. Rebeca Pinca. Even though I don’t want to be a dermatologist when I grow up, she’s the closes that I can get to a doctor. Her responsibilities are to treat people with skin conditions such as acne, psoriasis, and skin cancer. She is also responsible of doing skin grafts and laser treatments on people when they need it. I learned that to be a doctor, it takes a lot of determination and skills that you will build throughout your life and your career. You need to be patient and know that to become a doctor, or whatever you want to be, will take a lot of time and it’ll require you to be fully committed and sometimes you have to study and do work instead of hanging out with your friends or family. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice some things for your own benefit in the future even though it might not seem like it’s going to help you right away.
Pictures (these aren’t of her but of other dermatologists):
First Photo: https://www.gebauer.com/hubfs/dermatologist-patient-loyalty.jpg
Thank you for submitting your Community Connection assignment for COL. We have reviewed your Edublogs post, and have the following observations regarding your work:
– Great job interviewing someone and seeking out information regarding their expertise
– Way to incorporate your answers on your Edublogs portfolio
– Thanks for going the extra mile on this assignment. This is a great example of a connection!
Thank you,
Mr. Robinson and Mr. Barazzuol
COL Teachers