I Chose Salus
Audiology
Hey girl, hey! My name is Maya Johnson, and I’m from the Boogie-Down Bronx, New York. I studied Psychology at Morgan State University. After working in that field for two years, I decided to switch career paths and pursue Speech-Language Pathology (SLP). I was introduced to Audiology during that journey, which birthed a stronger and deeper passion for communication science and disorders. I believe Salus at Drexel has been the perfect place for me to grow my knowledge and enthusiasm for the profession.
As a third-year student, my schedule isn't as hectic as it was during my first and second years—thank God! I now have only three classes, usually held on Mondays and Tuesdays, and I spend the rest of the week in the clinic. I've been assigned to a children's hospital for my off-site clinical rotation, and it has been a great experience thus far!
Here’s what a typical clinical day looks like:
6:00 a.m.: I start my morning with tea and devotion, which some might call meditation. It’s essential for me to pray and express gratitude, embrace a mindset of abundance, and set my intentions for the day.
6:45 - 7:45 a.m.: I take this time to prepare my bag and get ready for clinic (especially if I have not done it the night before). I usually bring school work or study materials to review during my downtime in the clinic.
8:30 a.m.: I arrive at the Speech and Hearing Suite in the hospital and discuss the patients scheduled for the day with my preceptors. Typically, in the morning, we cover patients from the otolaryngologists (ENT specialists), which makes the pace quite busy right from the start.
9:00 a.m.: This is the time I usually see my first patient. Before each encounter, my preceptor(s) provide me with a breakdown of the patient's medical history and the reason for their follow-up, if they were an established patient. If the patient is new, we discuss what vital information we need to gather. My preceptors have been great at effectively communicating their expectations, outlining my responsibilities, and encouraging my independence for each appointment.
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: We continue to see patients, but in between appointments, I like to jot down notes in the “clinical notes” section on Typhon whenever I encounter an interesting case. I also note things my preceptors have done during appointments that I wish to imitate and any constructive feedback they provide to improve patient interactions.
1:00 - 4:30 p.m.: After lunch, we mainly focus on seeing our outpatients, with occasional visits from ENT patients. Our appointments typically consist of a similar set of procedures, but the order of the tests we perform varies depending on each patient's presenting symptoms. We conduct objective testing, which includes immittance testing (tympanometry and acoustic reflexes), otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), and newborn auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing. We even go to the NICU to screen babies. Additionally, we perform subjective testing, such as visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA), conditioned play audiometry (CPA), and conventional audiometry. On Fridays, we conduct most of our programming and aided testing of our patients with hearing aids, bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHAs), and cochlear implant (CI) devices.
5:00 p.m.: Once I arrive home, I've already worked up quite an appetite and I'm ready for dinner. After spending an hour or two unwinding, I go back to completing my Typhon encounters for the day. I usually take a short cat nap before I begin studying for the night.
I hope this has been insightful for everyone considering Audiology at Salus! It is a rewarding experience, and I am glad I took the time to invest in my career. I couldn't imagine doing it anywhere else! Best of luck to you!
