Sample Undergraduate Medical Essay

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Megavoltage Machine Management

Critical Reflection and Evaluation

During the leading session on the megavoltage machine, I was provided with an in-depth understanding of good clinical practices and how they are directly or indirectly related to leadership and management theories. For instance, the session provided me with an understanding that maintaining a daily schedule could reduce inpatient treatment delays based on the fact that individuals are aware of megavoltage machines’ availability along with the non-clinically available ones.

More importantly, I understood the importance of effective communication between the departments while working in the radiotherapy department. Effective communication in the clinical setting helps the practitioner inform the defects in the megavoltage machine and helps inform other staff members about the patient’s situation and their treatment time.

Since working in the radiotherapy department, effective communication was critical, especially for category one. They were rapidly growing cancer cells, and any minor delay in the treatment could have compromised the standards of quality of care and satisfactory treatment outcome.

While leading a session on megavoltage machines, I demonstrated effective decision-making in prioritizing category one patients’ treatment appointments. In this regard, I was not just responsible for swapping the patients to different machines in case of a defect in CBCT. It also makes decisions concerning the administration of the chemotherapy of the patients, which implies that I was in complete control to change the treatment time for the patients based on their treatment level.

I also understood the importance of independently making decisions concerning oral administration. For instance, I decided to change the appointment time to change the drugs before the treatment, which was following the fitness to the radiotherapy treatment time to ensure that the patient is offered optimal treatment and quality care.

Lastly, the ability to help the staff members value work-life balance also played an influential role in the clinical setting. During the management session, I understood that staff members frequently worked late shifts considering the frequency of patients in the institution, thus reducing their ability to maintain an effective work-life balance.

In this regard, I reduced the stress and pressure on the available workforce by dividing the shift hours amongst the staff members while ensuring that the staff members were safely delivering radiotherapy while avoiding any treatment time interruptions.

Considering that I was leading a session on the megavoltage machine, I understood that clinical practices help individuals develop leadership skills like decision-making, effective communication, time management, and the ability to listen to the queries concerns of others. It helps in the individual’s personal growth, but it also holds significant importance in the individual’s progress and growth in a professional career.

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