Internship
In my junior year, I had the opportunity of doing internship in Metko Medical Engineering Trade Company. I had the privilege to witness the most used and popular medical cables/ products being made, such as, diagnostic EKG cables, pulse oximetry(SPO2) sensors, electrosurgery cables and accessories and much more.
Some of you may think like “Aren’t those just cables and basic products why do you find it so important?” To answer that question, I actually did agree with that statement before I saw the crucial place these products have in people’s healthcare. Of course, more complex biomedical machines seem much more interesting and amazing, but you know what makes the connection between those machines and humans? The medical cables!
When I was there, I learnt that in doing medical devices or products, the regulations are very strict. I mean after all, it’s human life. Every single detail matters and every tiny little part must be perfect, but that must seem obvious because we are talking about patients, hospitals, healthcare. You can’t leave anything to chance in that department!
I saw the processes respectively: production, soldering, assembly, plastic injection, quality control, last assembly , packaging, final check. I absolutely loved how everything was organized and it was clear that everybody’s role is very important to make a healthy working device. I learnt that in every step I talked about, there is always a need to do quality control after to make sure there are no deficits or any problem with any part. I started examining and observing the work that is being done from the beginning of the production process where they were cutting cables.
Later on, I went to the quality check department and saw how the workers were meticulously testing every cable to make sure there is not a slightest problem. To my surprise, I actually had the chance to test a few myself. Which gave me insights about how doctors and nurses were using the medical cables on patients, in real life. In the testing and quality control department I tested some capillary blood glucose meter(glucometer), capillary blood sampling device(earlobe puncture) and Esophageal/rectal temperature probe with water-circulating thermal regulation system. I mean look at the names, it was hard not to be amazed by the opportunity of testing them. Then I went to the soldering part where I spent a lot of time seeing everybody doing their job very meticulously.
Before I came to this internship, I had no idea how these medical cables were being made and actually any cable being made for that matter. I realize that I actually hadn’t thought about the process of cable making before. I really understood all the necessary regulations and paperwork and work being made for just one cable. I learnt really well how all of them were made from scratch. I am really grateful and happy to have learnt how even the single, tiny and basic device or product has a significant place in healthcare. If I hadn’t come to this company I would have always thought that these cables were boring and useless in the big picture, now I know that it is the opposite. In addition, I learnt more about the medical world by listening to people there which made me eager to study hard and research, design and develop for the biomedical world. I learnt how those medical cables and devices work and why they are important. Earlier, I literally had no idea.
To be completely honest, the first time I came to this place I was really disappointed and unhappy that the major I always knew with confidence that it was what I wanted to the rest of my life was just making small adjustments into cables and doing the same work over and over again every single day. Now, I realize that in order to understand and study more complex and cool biomedical devices and machines, I need to know the basic ones and their importance. I need to start from scratch, go step by step and learn the details of the job.
Again to my surprise, I am definitely much more motivated now and this is not because I realized the work I saw was not boring. It is because now I know I need to start from the very beginning and it will be slow and boring, but I know that I won’t stop there. I am going to study and work really hard to get to the last step of the ladder, to achieve my goal, my dream. "The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer."
