Interview Project- Part 2
Joshua Wakefield
Interview Project: Part 2
Communication 1010-42
2/24/2014
Interview Analysis Memo
DATE: February 24, 2014
TO: Professor
FROM: Joshua Wakefield
SUBJECT: Interview Analysis Memo, COMM 1010-42
I got the opportunity to interview a psychiatrist with 25 years of experience. He works for Wasatch Mental Health, and after I called and left a message for him, he responded after 2 days.
I’ve wanted to be a psychiatrist for 4 years now so I knew when I got this assignment that this was my chance to learn more about what I’m getting myself into and what I have to look forward to.
Summary of Lessons Learned
Education
When I started the interview, one of the first questions I asked Dr. McGaughy was where he attended college for his undergraduate and he actually attended the same college as my dad and they both graduated the same year. We both were taken back a bit of how much of a coincidence this was and it helped put us both at ease. It was a great way to start the interview!
After earning a bachelors degree in science at William and Mary, Dr. Tim McGaughy went to Yale for year but had to leave because he was told that he was going to be drafted for the military. When that fell through, he returned to college except this time he went to Tufts University in Boston. There he studied Chemistry, which was a very competitive program to be in at Tufts. He received his PHD, and wrote a thesis on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, which was used in the research for creating MRI’s.
He did his post-doctoral research in Chemistry for a few years at the University of Oklahoma. He also taught chemistry in high school and in colleges while he lived in Oklahoma. This is also where he did his residency at a central state hospital for four years. He explained to me that the purpose of a residency is learning about your field of interest under supervision.
Chemistry was always his passion and psychiatry never appealed to him until he went to medical school. He became intrigued with neurology and how the brain works. He found as a psychiatrist he could have a lot more control of his time, and that it is less costly than going into family practice or internal medicine because you do not have to pay for medical equipment. He actually did not pay anything out of pocket or rack up any debt for his practice.
Career
Tim has 25 years experience as a psychiatrist. He got his start at Gould Farm in Massachusetts, which is a residential treatment center for the mentally ill. From there, he moved to Florida and worked in a similar type of center. He worked with a lot of schizophrenics. He has a special interest in schizophrenia. He wants to open up a treatment center in the near future. He is currently looking for investors and funding for the project.
Today he works at Wasatch Mental Health Center, which is an outpatient mental health center. He works 45 hours a week, 10 hours a day. He see’s patients from 8:30 to 5 and he works on paperwork until 7. He usually gets home around 7:30 everyday.
Advice
Tim expressed that the most rewarding part of his career is seeing people get better. Being a psychiatrist, you have to be able to relate to people, and be empathetic towards them. He made a very good distinction between being empathetic and sympathetic. Being empathetic means to understand what they are feeling but being sympathetic means that you are feeling for them and trying to get attached. This distinction is important he says and it gave me a lot to think about. In addition, he says it’s important to be aware of what you are doing. You have to know how the body reacts to medication, and some people will have allergies to certain medications so you need to be aware of that.
Tim’s final information for me was to find out as much information as I can. I need to find people along the way and learn from people in both the psychiatry and psychology field that way I can learn what I’m interested in.
Interview analysis
Analysis of psychiatry as my career choice
I got a lot of information out of this interview, and it helped me get better at conducting interviews. From this interview, I realize that I have at least 10 more years before I am done with schooling and training. I am really glad I that Dr. McGaughy called me back because his story so compelling and unique and he was really kind and helpful too. I actually hope that he achieves his goal of opening a treatment facility for schizophrenia. Maybe during medical school I will become interested in a mental disease such as schizophrenia and do the same.
Analysis of my interviewing process
This was the first legitimate interview I have ever done, and it went well. At first, I was a little frazzled and I didn’t like to keep him waiting while I wrote his answers down. After about 5 minutes, I started to get my footing, and he helped put me at ease by being respectful towards me and the questions I asked. As a student, I made sure I went over the answers I wrote to ask a few times because I did not want to sound like a uniformed interviewer. I think I did a good job with coming up with relevant, reasonable questions. At no time did he refuse to answer any of my questions because they were too personal or unethical.
In the future, I need to refrain from using the following: the word “um”, words that are informal such as awesome or cool. I am sure in his evaluation; Dr. McGaughy will write that he noticed I said these words too much. It wasn’t until I was about half way done with the interview that I realized I was saying these words. Maybe it’s not a big deal, but the fact that I realized that it was too informal probably mean that I should make my interviews more formal in the future.
My original plan was to download a recorder on my phone but that did not workout. The interview would have been more formal if I could have just pressed record and ask my questions without writing things down. This way I would not have had to break eye contact, I could have paid more attention to his facial cues, and vice versa. The pauses where I wrote his answers down just seemed to be too much.
In the end, the interview was a success and he gave me enough information to work with to do this assignment. That is the most important thing. I gave him a sincere thanks to him before I left and I brought the evaluation to his office the next day and left it with his receptionist.
Letter of Thanks
390 E 400 N
American Fork, Utah 84003
February 24, 2014
Dr. Tim McGaughy
750 North 200 West
Provo, Utah 84601
Dear Dr. McGaughy,
Thank you so much for letting me interview! I am really glad that of all the psychiatrists I called to interview that you called me back but your story was really unique and interesting to me. I think that my paper on your interview will be a good one!
You taught me if I want to be successful in this field there are something I got to know. For one, it’s better to be empathetic towards people than sympathetic. This lesson will stick with me through my life, I am sure of it!
I wish you luck in your future, and hope that your dream of opening up a treatment center comes true.
Sincerely,
Joshua Wakefield
Joshua Wakefield
Interview Project: Part 2
Communication 1010-42
2/24/2014
Interview Analysis Memo
DATE: February 24, 2014
TO: Professor
FROM: Joshua Wakefield
SUBJECT: Interview Analysis Memo, COMM 1010-42
I got the opportunity to interview a psychiatrist with 25 years of experience. He works for Wasatch Mental Health, and after I called and left a message for him, he responded after 2 days.
I’ve wanted to be a psychiatrist for 4 years now so I knew when I got this assignment that this was my chance to learn more about what I’m getting myself into and what I have to look forward to.
Summary of Lessons Learned
Education
When I started the interview, one of the first questions I asked Dr. McGaughy was where he attended college for his undergraduate and he actually attended the same college as my dad and they both graduated the same year. We both were taken back a bit of how much of a coincidence this was and it helped put us both at ease. It was a great way to start the interview!
After earning a bachelors degree in science at William and Mary, Dr. Tim McGaughy went to Yale for year but had to leave because he was told that he was going to be drafted for the military. When that fell through, he returned to college except this time he went to Tufts University in Boston. There he studied Chemistry, which was a very competitive program to be in at Tufts. He received his PHD, and wrote a thesis on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, which was used in the research for creating MRI’s.
He did his post-doctoral research in Chemistry for a few years at the University of Oklahoma. He also taught chemistry in high school and in colleges while he lived in Oklahoma. This is also where he did his residency at a central state hospital for four years. He explained to me that the purpose of a residency is learning about your field of interest under supervision.
Chemistry was always his passion and psychiatry never appealed to him until he went to medical school. He became intrigued with neurology and how the brain works. He found as a psychiatrist he could have a lot more control of his time, and that it is less costly than going into family practice or internal medicine because you do not have to pay for medical equipment. He actually did not pay anything out of pocket or rack up any debt for his practice.
Career
Tim has 25 years experience as a psychiatrist. He got his start at Gould Farm in Massachusetts, which is a residential treatment center for the mentally ill. From there, he moved to Florida and worked in a similar type of center. He worked with a lot of schizophrenics. He has a special interest in schizophrenia. He wants to open up a treatment center in the near future. He is currently looking for investors and funding for the project.
Today he works at Wasatch Mental Health Center, which is an outpatient mental health center. He works 45 hours a week, 10 hours a day. He see’s patients from 8:30 to 5 and he works on paperwork until 7. He usually gets home around 7:30 everyday.
Advice
Tim expressed that the most rewarding part of his career is seeing people get better. Being a psychiatrist, you have to be able to relate to people, and be empathetic towards them. He made a very good distinction between being empathetic and sympathetic. Being empathetic means to understand what they are feeling but being sympathetic means that you are feeling for them and trying to get attached. This distinction is important he says and it gave me a lot to think about. In addition, he says it’s important to be aware of what you are doing. You have to know how the body reacts to medication, and some people will have allergies to certain medications so you need to be aware of that.
Tim’s final information for me was to find out as much information as I can. I need to find people along the way and learn from people in both the psychiatry and psychology field that way I can learn what I’m interested in.
Interview analysis
Analysis of psychiatry as my career choice
I got a lot of information out of this interview, and it helped me get better at conducting interviews. From this interview, I realize that I have at least 10 more years before I am done with schooling and training. I am really glad I that Dr. McGaughy called me back because his story so compelling and unique and he was really kind and helpful too. I actually hope that he achieves his goal of opening a treatment facility for schizophrenia. Maybe during medical school I will become interested in a mental disease such as schizophrenia and do the same.
Analysis of my interviewing process
This was the first legitimate interview I have ever done, and it went well. At first, I was a little frazzled and I didn’t like to keep him waiting while I wrote his answers down. After about 5 minutes, I started to get my footing, and he helped put me at ease by being respectful towards me and the questions I asked. As a student, I made sure I went over the answers I wrote to ask a few times because I did not want to sound like a uniformed interviewer. I think I did a good job with coming up with relevant, reasonable questions. At no time did he refuse to answer any of my questions because they were too personal or unethical.
In the future, I need to refrain from using the following: the word “um”, words that are informal such as awesome or cool. I am sure in his evaluation; Dr. McGaughy will write that he noticed I said these words too much. It wasn’t until I was about half way done with the interview that I realized I was saying these words. Maybe it’s not a big deal, but the fact that I realized that it was too informal probably mean that I should make my interviews more formal in the future.
My original plan was to download a recorder on my phone but that did not workout. The interview would have been more formal if I could have just pressed record and ask my questions without writing things down. This way I would not have had to break eye contact, I could have paid more attention to his facial cues, and vice versa. The pauses where I wrote his answers down just seemed to be too much.
In the end, the interview was a success and he gave me enough information to work with to do this assignment. That is the most important thing. I gave him a sincere thanks to him before I left and I brought the evaluation to his office the next day and left it with his receptionist.
Letter of Thanks
390 E 400 N
American Fork, Utah 84003
February 24, 2014
Dr. Tim McGaughy
750 North 200 West
Provo, Utah 84601
Dear Dr. McGaughy,
Thank you so much for letting me interview! I am really glad that of all the psychiatrists I called to interview that you called me back but your story was really unique and interesting to me. I think that my paper on your interview will be a good one!
You taught me if I want to be successful in this field there are something I got to know. For one, it’s better to be empathetic towards people than sympathetic. This lesson will stick with me through my life, I am sure of it!
I wish you luck in your future, and hope that your dream of opening up a treatment center comes true.
Sincerely,
Joshua Wakefield