Shashidhara (Sowmya) sowmya

• Worked with patients and families to design care plans.
• Evaluated and assessed patients by reviewing medical history.
• Ordered and interpreted results of laboratory tests and radiographs.
• Provided emotional support for residents struggling with mental health issues.
• Established and maintained relationships with specialists to provide patient referrals and holistic care.
• Managed ongoing care of patients with chronic issues of varying severity and treatment requirements.

As, , my primary role was outpatient and inpatient treatment of children aged 0-18

• Clinical experience in the follow-up of simple healthy children, growth monitoring, immunization, and preventive pediatrics
• Also managed children with medical emergencies in the ER, chronic disorders, and those requiring rehabilitation, complex multi-system diseases
• NICU experience in Neonatal resuscitation, critical care in neonates, common neonatal problems, neonatal ventilation, and phototherapy in neonates
• Handled Pediatric Emergencies and AED in the ER and NICU
• Advanced cardiac life support and Pediatric advanced life support, BLS/ CPR certified
• Served as an expert consultant in patient care for subspecialty pediatric divisions like Pediatric Surgery, genetics, cardiology, and oncology
• My responsibilities as a researcher and educator in pediatrics have been significantly higher during this period

• My primary responsibilities were examining children, prescribing and administering treatments, therapies, medications, vaccinations, and other specialized medical care, explaining and supervising medical procedures, discussing test results or prescribed therapy in a timely fashion, investigating, ensuring compliance, preparedness, and accountability with patients and family members
• I also taught MBBS and MD pediatric clerkship courses
• I was involved in planning, administration, and implementation of curriculum, bedside teaching, classroom learning, and simulation of common pediatric cases and epidemiology along with relevant physiology and pharmacology
• I learned to work collaboratively in a team environment and utilized strong interpersonal and communications skills to serve patients and teach medical students
• This was a significant phase for me I could contribute to my organization with my clinical practice, research, and teaching skills., I have trained medical students and residents in Pediatrics
• My primary role was to take theory lectures, bedside teaching, and tutorials, conduct OSCEs, and assess their performance in my organization and other universities across the state
• I learned leadership, teaching, public speaking, and mentoring skills through this line of work
• As an educator, we need to relearn the content before we teach
• Hence teaching helped me be a better clinician
• I contributed to my organization with this experience by helping the institute bring out medical students who became excellent future clinicians
• I learned to be patient with my students and answer their questions on the subject until they understood the concepts.

I worked with Dr Patra in the NICU division and this was very educating because it helped me understand the differences between working in a setting where evidence-based medicine was given higher priority than guidelines-based practice

• I had the opportunity to see neonates with opioid withdrawal syndrome, its management, and preterm and extreme preterm babies, weighing 750g with excellent outcomes
• What was new to me was the circadian rhythm lightings that mimicked light cycles, the infant nutrition room
• I interacted with Dr Nirmal Desai, who was the NICU patron and learned insights onmanagement of transport of sick neonates
• This rotation also helped me understand hospital information systems, workflows and the resident work structure
• I spent additional time with Dr Vlad Radulescu in the Oncology division and vascular disorders clinic which was very interesting as i got an opportunity to see rare cases like blueberry muffin syndrome.

I worked with Dr Raj Warrier and I could observe outpatient chemotherapy administration, chemotherapy port insertion, and patients on and off chemo of various ages recovering from various malignancies

• I attended the Grand rounds and conferences to learn about their academic schedules
• I had an excellent opportunity to contribute to their program with a talk on "Diagnostic dilemmas from the east," where I discussed a few challenging but exciting cases from my experience
• I improved my knowledge of the EPIC software, the HIPPAA act, and the workings of the insurance system
• I also had the opportunity to round with residents in the PICU, cardiac ICU, and pediatric neurology
• As a clinician from the developing world, where patient outcomes are not uniform because of limited resources, these rotations taught me how to do my best to achieve the same in my practice
• I also saw that decision-making was a joint effort between patients and doctors.

• I was an observer at CHOP as a part of their Global Pediatrics Program
• I spent four weeks with General Pediatrics and Infectious diseases under Dr Paul Offit
• This was my first exposure to the American medical system
• When I rotated with the residents, I learned their work routines, rounds, the intern year and its challenges, work culture, the electronic medical records system, duty hours, and workflows
• I interacted with the residents during rounds, case presentations, and diagnostic dilemmas in pediatrics
• Even though I was an observer, I was welcome to give my opinion on a few cases like suspected rheumatic chorea, a child of Indian origin having persistent ear discharge because of my background experience
• I learned the American lifestyle, the humility of living in a different city alone, and being open-minded and accepting
• Overall this experience helped me learn how the system works, and the impact of evidence-based medicine on patient outcomes.

• As a senior resident, I appropriately diagnosed and treated various diseases and injuries in a general practice setting
• I administered and prescribed appropriate courses of treatment, including pharmaceutical medications, and advised patients on diet, hygiene, and effective disease prevention methods
• Supervised Junior residents in their work and independently handled Pediatric Emergencies, contributed to and collaborated with colleagues on diagnosing and managing pediatric illnesses
• I coordinated multidisciplinary teamwork on children with complex disorders with different subspecialties
• This phase was challenging because the learning curve was very steep; having finished my residency in a program with lesser facilities, I moved to MAHE, a well-established, reputed tertiary center with a huge array of children visiting the facility
• It helped me improve my knowledge and precision
• I contributed to the program by working on the floor for extended shifts and working with junior residents and nurses.

As a resident, I volunteered to be an assessor for the screening of babies for the "healthy baby Surat, Sumul" competition every year for three years

• My primary responsibilities were to screen children up to 5 years of age, take a brief history and a detailed development assessment, review their immunization records and score them
• Volunteer Experience allowed me to improve my precision in assessing the growth and development of children
• I learned from this experience that the range for "healthy and normal" in children was very wide, and it is hard to choose one healthy child
• I also learned to collaborate with other seniors in the field networking among those in the profession
• While in an outpatient setting, it is a formal consultation, this provided an informal and lighter way of connecting with children and their families
• It helped me learn to establish a good rapport with them.

As a part of my duties at the hospital, I gathered patients' history, conducted an examination, formed an impression for diagnosis, and offered recommendations for follow-up & treatment

• I assisted in data entry and maintenance of highly sensitive patient information into a computer database, rotated among different departments, and assisted in diagnosing and treating patients
• I interviewed new patients to obtain history and examination to form a diagnosis and, carried out medical and surgical procedures, counseled patients on disease conditions
• I demonstrated the ability to work in a high patient volume
• I also performed minor surgical procedures for patients in Emergency and hospitalization areas under specialists
• During my role as an intern, I learned to deal with long working hours, have communication skills, and supervised decision-making
• It served as a stepping stone to my pediatric residency, as I watched my mentors give their best for their patients and advocate for their wellbeing