The senior-only Medical Assistant class started their daily internship last November at the Sacramento VA Medical Center, a small hospital located in Rancho Cordova that specializes in the care of former veterans.

The students of the class leave school after third period every day except for Tuesdays and intern for at least 12 hours a week to fulfill the program requirements on 360 hours in different departments of the hospital.

For example, senior Zainab Abbas is currently interning in the emergency room.

“Usually I work with the charge nurse, who supervises me for that day, because it changes every day” said Abbas. “Because we started the internship late, I usually work four or five hours a day.”

Abbas is a nurse’s assistant, who initially checks the patients in and sometimes perform medical procedures like EKGs.

“I bring patients in from the waiting room and their vitals on the heart monitor and put the pressure cuff and gown on,” said Abbas. “I make sure everything is ready for the nurse and doctor to go in after.”

If there no new patients to help, Abbas helps the department is ready to help more people.

“I transport patients to other departments, mainly radiology for x-rays or CAT scans,” said Abbas. “I restock items in the department itself and sometimes go to the warehouse and get stuff that the nurses need.”

Before their internship, the medical class set up the fundamentals of the position so that the students got the necessary training and certifications before they were able to participate.

“We learned about the procedures of medical assisting and how to do it properly, so we get the right results of it and the nurses and doctors can obtain the correct information about the patient,” said senior Veronica Vyvoda. “We learn about the law and how that pertains to being a good medical assistant.”

Vyvoda believes that this class helped her out with career choices and gave her great opportunities to explore this line of work.

She recommends this class to those wanting to explore their opportunities in the field most interesting to them.

“I recommend the class to someone who is thinking about pursuing a career in the medical field, so they can see if they like the job and can continue their education if they choose so.”