09/04/23 Questions & Answers

This past week my classmates and I caught a glimpse at what some might say is the most exciting yet challenging part of the ISM course: contacting people. I understand reaching out to people in my chosen field is essential to proceed with my research in ISM, but that fact does not alleviate the nerves surrounding cold calls and first interviews. To ease myself into this process, however, I prepared a list of interview questions for potential interviewees. These questions ranged from general topics to more career or content-focused questions. I enjoyed writing up these questions as they really put into perspective how curious about my topic I really am. I had little trouble curating my list, in fact, I truly only struggled with condensing said list. Once I start scheduling interviews, I plan to research and modify the questions to better fit the person I’m interviewing. Later in the week, I worked on my first research assessment. I explored a pediatric anesthesiologist’s career outlook, which included subjects like education and duties. I happened to find a great guidebook about anesthesiology from the American Society of Anesthesiologists, and I am excited to further explore various chapters. In future assessments, I also hope to learn more about the science behind anesthesia. Going into this next week, I plan to begin gaining contacts through the children’s hospital where I recently volunteered.