PCIS Final Presentation

Slide 1:

Hello everyone! My name is Sahaab Awan and I’m a senior here at Walnut Grove. Throughout this school year, I’ve been working on a project called the Hidden Side of Medicine. I wanted to welcome you all and thank everyone for joining me today; your support means everything to me.

Slide 2:

So first I would like to dive into what PCIS is. For those of you who don’t know, PCIS stands for Prosper Career Independent Study and it is what it sounds like. Students can choose this course their junior or senior year in order to further their knowledge in a career they’ve chosen. They research about this career throughout the year and conduct interviews with professionals in that career in order to learn more. Then, they work on identifying a problem in the chosen career field along with proposing a solution to that problem.

Slide 3:

Now, let’s move on with why I personally chose to include P.C.I.S. in my schedule. From a young age, I always knew I wanted to become a physician. Throughout my years in high school, I took as many health science classes as I could in order to further my learning on the healthcare field. I also participated in a couple of health science clubs such as HOSA- health occupations students of america. I decided to take PCIS because of the opportunities I would get to have like more hands-on learning from people who have worked in the healthcare field. I took all those health science classes in school but PCIS was my first real chance in order to step into and get a feel of what the medical field is like. Something I’ve always struggled with is speaking in front of others, so I thought that PCIS was a great way to better my skills along with hopefully deepening my knowledge of medicine. I chose PCIS because of the growth and opportunities that came along with it. So what speciality did I decide to pursue?

Slide 4:

Pediatrics mainly. I picked pediatrics because I’v always loved working with kids- I knew I wanted to pursue it when I started to tutor. As you can see from the picture over here, this is Josh, the kid I tutor. I started tutoring him my sophomore year up until now. At first he didn’t know his ABCs or how to speak- he is on the spectrum. Throughout working with him, we worked on learning the ABCs and now he’s been expanding his vocabulary to learn new words everyday! My time with Josh really inspired me to pursue pediatrics and dip into neurology. The reason why cardiology is on here is because I’ve been training to be an electrocardiography technician. This is a healthcare professional that conducts EKGs on patients to measure the electrical activity of the heart, so the heart has always fascinated me.

Slide 5:

Let’s move on to what the first semester of PCIS is all about. So first, we have written research papers called EOLs or evidences of learning. The evidence of learning allows students to research what they have learned about their chosen career field on a personal level and write about it. 

Slide 6:

So one of my EOLs was taking multiple speciality quizzes to see what specialty is best suited to my personality. If you can recall, the specialities I was interested in was Pediatrics, Cardiology, and Neurology. As you can see, the results show something a lot different. Through three quizzes, I consistently got general physician, practitioner, or rehabilitation. This affected me on a personal level because for a little bit, I felt as though these quizzes show that I’m not smart enough to specialize further or excel in these difficult fields. These quizzes showed me that my strengths are better suited to working closely with patients and helped broaden my perspective on career options, which guided my final project.

Slide 7:

Another one of my evidences of learning was researching an article about the value of confidence in medicine. - by Jonathan Kerr. This was important to me because it taught me that confidence in medicine affects not just patient care, but also teamwork and leadership. It reminded me how important it is to build confidence early so I can advocate for my patients in the future.

Slide 8:

Along with that, PCIS students were taught about soft skills and how to act in different situations. We even had luncheons in order to learn proper dinner manner. The pictures on the left and right here were taken at the Toyota Symposium. The Toyota Symposium is an event that PCIS students get to attend at Toyota’s headquarters in dallas. This is where students get to meet with various professionals and ask questions about their chosen field. This personally gave me practice in my communication skills along with learning more about how the healthcare field works. Throughout the first semester in PCIS, we also conducted interviews. We obtained these interviews by networking with professionals or through family/friends.

Slide 9:

First off, I have Dr. Bridgett Anderson-Wright, a Nurse Practitioner, who taught me how vital it is to look at the whole patient — not just their symptoms, but their mental, emotional, and physical health altogether. It changed how I view good patient care. Then, I have Dr. Jason Busigo, a Radiologist, who opened my eyes to how medicine isn’t always hands-on with patients; some specialties work behind the scenes but are just as crucial. He also emphasized how important it is to protect your personal time and avoid overcommitting. Furthermore, I have Dr. Mohammed, a Hospitalist, who taught me how empathy and communication are just as important as medical knowledge. I also have Mrs. Lopez-Rivera, a Healthcare Administrator, and she showed me how healthcare isn’t only about doctors and nurses — administrators play a huge part in making everything run smoothly. She also reminded me of the importance of leaving work problems at work to protect your peace at home.

Slide 10:

Finally, one of my most notable interviews was with Dr. Ruiz-Colon who ended up becoming my mentor. He has been a psychiatrist for over twenty years, earned an MBA, and has had experience as a medical director. I appreciate all the insight he has provided me with but one of the most notable pieces of advice he gave me was about college. I wasn’t exactly sure whether prestige truly mattered that much to medical schools. He gave me advice to keep in mind that I do not want to go into medical school with a lot of debt from undergrad because medical school leads to a lot of debt. It was reassuring to me when I made my final decision for college.  

Slide 11:

With, Dr. Ruiz-Colon being my mentor, the rest of the second semester was all about identifying a problem in our chosen career field. After that we would propose a solution and present on it. I decided to stick a problem in general medicine instead of one tied to a specific speciality because I wasn’t sure exactly what speciality I wanted to go into yet.

Slide 12:

Dr. Ruiz-colon brought up a problem of how traditionally, medical schools do not teach medical students about the business, management, and leadership side of medicine. These are all skills that are necessary in order to succeed as a physician. Through my meeting with Dr. Ruiz-Colon, he provided a lot of insight on skills needed for a physician such as knowledge of business, emotional intelligence, leadership, teamwork, and negotiating contracts.

Slide 13:

With the problem of future medical students lacking knowledge about the “hidden sides” of medicine, with Dr. Ruiz-Colon’s guidance, I created an educational website that has addressed these five main topics. It gives an overview of each category and what premed students should know about it. In business, it covers basics like private practice ownership, insurance billing, and why these skills matter since most med schools don’t teach them. In emotional intelligence, it highlights the importance of empathy, self-awareness, and understanding the emotions of both patients and team members to improve patient care and team dynamics. In leadership, it covers how healthcare leaders must build trust, manage emotions within a team, and lead with compassion while balancing decision-making and people management. In teamwork, it explains how trust, accountability, open communication, and resolving conflicts are essential for strong healthcare teams and safe patient care, while avoiding common dysfunctions like fear of conflict or lack of commitment. Lastly, in negotiating contracts, it discusses how physicians should carefully review employment contracts, 

understand different pay structures, and advocate for fair terms to protect their career and well-being. And that’s a basic overview of the website, but there are a couple of more subtopics. I also plan to add topics on throughout in the future. I wanted to thank Dr Ruiz-Colon especially because I couldn’t have created this website or learn as much as I did without his guidance.

Slide 14:

Furthermore, in the future after high school, I plan to go to the University of North Texas and major in Biology; I will also be working as an EKG technician. After that, I hope to go to medical school. For now, I still think I want to pursue pediatrics but this may change in the future with my experience through college and medical school.

Slide 15:

Now I’d like to play a little game! It’s going to be over the few points I addressed on my website. First: Most medical schools teach future doctors how to run a private practice, including billing, insurance, and overhead costs. You’ll have 15 seconds to answer and then we’ll go over it. Myth! Most focus on clinical skills, not business management. 

Slide 16:

Good communication from healthcare leaders helps patients and staff feel safer, more informed and valued. Fact!- clear, empathetic communication improves care and team trust. 

Slide 17:

This next one may be a bit more difficult: Strong healthcare teams should avoid conflict completely to keep peace. Myth- healthy conflict is important for addressing safety concerns and improving teamwork! That’s all for the game.

Slide 18:

So I wanted to thank you for everyone coming here today and listening to my presentation; I truly appreciate everyone! Again my name is Sahaab Awan and this is my linkedin on the left and digital portfolio on the right if you’d like to connect! If you have any questions feel free to come up and as me, if not that’s all I have for you all today. I definitely suggest to stay in this room and watch my colleague, Sara Ruiz-Lopez, for the second rotation present on mental health in dermatology!