Direct Care Prepared Me for Med School

Cory applied to be a direct care professional at ACR as part of his preparation for medical school. After a year on the job, his residential supervisor had the honor of writing a letter of recommendation to go with his medical school applications.  About his direct care work she wrote, “Cory’s quick-thinking and his advocacy stand out the most. Both are traits I appreciated as his supervisor. They are also traits that I’m confident will serve him well as he pursues his medical career. Cory has proven himself to be among the very best in terms of his knowledge and ability to work well under pressure, and his ability to effectively communicate with residents who are non-verbal or who have language difficulties.” She was sad to see him leave but thrilled that he was accepted at his first choice medical school. 

Cory shared these insights about how his direct care experience at ACR helped prepare him for medical school:

Lessons learned as a Direct Care Professional

Having each day be completely different really kept the job enjoyable. I never knew what to expect walking through the door each day, but I knew the day was going to be an interesting one. All of the residents I cared for were so much fun to be around and work with. I learned so many lessons from them and it was amazing to see their progress from day to day. I still get updates about them through Facebook and a lovely Christmas card which always makes me smile. Additionally, the staff that I worked with were amazing. They were supportive of not only the residents but of each other and that was one of the things I loved about the house. I also had a very supportive boss, who would listen to our ideas and involve everyone in the decision making in the care of each resident. The one thing that was hard to deal with at ACR was when a resident was having a hard day. Even though you were doing your best to make the day go smoothly, sometimes it just didn’t work that way. Those days could be very frustrating mentally but even though there are those days, I would not have traded my time at ACR for anything.

My experience at ACR set me apart from other applicants

The skills that I learned at ACR also really gave me an advantage over many classmates in medical school. One of the big skills that really helped me was learning how to communicate better, with not just the residents but also my co-workers. This has translated well into medical school because communication is key as a physician. You need to be able to communicate with your patients to get the right diagnosis and get compliance from your patients in their medical treatment. You also need to be able to present cases to your attendings and dictate orders to the ancillary staff you are working with.While working at ACR I also gained skills in teamwork, creative problem solving, dealing with stress, and resilience. ACR taught me that every person’s life has meaning and value and as a physician you need to have that mindset with every patient so that you can help them with whatever problem they may be having that day.

Cory M., second year medical student at The George Washington University, Washington, DC