BLOG N˚10 | Interview Reflection

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

I have just recently switched mentorships but both have been incredibly helpful and insightful towards my senior topic. My first mentorship was at a general practice clinic where I shadowed nurses at a clinic setting. Clinics are small and cover, for the most part, basically anything as far as health care goes whereas in the hospital, I only work in one department specified for a certain part of healthcare. In the clinic, I helped give blood pressure, give out blood tests, help call in patients, file in medical records, and more. In my new mentorship, I am volunteering at the Queen Of The Valley hospital where I help out at the Labor & Delivery department. In a hospital, everything is much bigger and definitely a lot more fast-paced and overwhelming. I usually provide the patients with things they want such as ice or pillows, deliver blood and urine tests to the lab, put tags on the newborn babies, and many more. This has done many things as far as gaining experience in my senior topic and in many ways, has done much more. Being surrounded by the environment that I am very interested in has given me a lot more depth into knowing how the health care team works as far as a profession and a field.

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you? 

My father was a registered nurse at Queen Of The Valley hospital (he has since transferred to a different hospital). However, through him, I have met Tiffany Ramirez who helps organize hospital volunteers. It wasn't very difficult at all to convince her to help me as she has worked with my father before and has worked with many teenagers in my position.

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person?

As she is very experienced with working with young teenagers (some who haven't even had volunteer experience prior to coming to he hospital), she was extremely kind and helpful and makes me feel at ease in an environment where it can get extremely stressful. Moreover, my position as a volunteer at Queen Of The Valley seems very secure and something I would be able to keep for a long while. I haven't spent much time so far working with my new department but they have had many junior volunteers before and know exactly how to handle volunteers who have not have had the experience and who may not understand medical language. The doctors and nurses I work with are extremely kind and in no way make me feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed as they try to be as helpful as they can.

 
4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?

As Tiffany is a very kind person, she didn't intimidate me at all in the interview and I a;ways find it so easy to talk to her. I felt the interview was very natural and didn't really feel like an interview at all. However, I wish I could've asked a lot more follow-up questions to help me get the most information I could possibly have gotten. This is something I will keep in my mind for my next interview to come and to really take advantage of possibly one of the best resources one could have in wanting to work in the medical field - the source of a person in the field themselves. 

INTERVIEW N˚2 | An Interview With Tiffany Ramirez

What is your name and what is your job?

Tiffany Ramirez and I am the corporate director of volunteer service for Citrus Health Valley Partners. So I oversee all the volunteer programs for the organization.

What would be your favorite thing about your job?

Favorite part of my job is being able to interact with the volunteers who are so passionate about giving back to their community hospitals.

If you were to give yourself when you first started, what would give yourself?

Wow, well that's a good question. What advice would I give myself when I first started? Maybe to take time to really enjoy the volunteers and not get so wrapped up in the office aspect or the clerical aspect but to really get to enjoy the friendships and the personalities they would have and get to know them as people because them as individuals is just a huge part of it and they are great people. I wish I would've, nine years ago, taken more time to really get to build those relationships instead of being so caught up in the paper part of it.

You work very closely with patient care related jobs.

Yes that is correct.

What are some tips you can give to a new hospital volunteer?

Definitely be assertive. Try to make yourself as useful as you can and really try and ask who you're working with "how can I help?" or "what can I do?" This would let the health care team know that you really want to make the effort to help out and that you really want to be there. Also, I believe you mentioned the main reason you wanted to volunteer is because you wanted experience in the field prior to studying it in college?

Yes, that is the main reason why, yes.

You know, and you want to really maximize the opportunity you have. If you have the advantage to be around the environment what could possibly be your future profession, try to really ask a lot of questions and really try to make the most out of the tasks you have been given as a student volunteer.

Is there anybody you would recommend for future interviews about patient care?

I would definitely say the nurses and doctors you have in your department. A lot of them have had been in this field for a few decades so they definitely would have a lot to say about your senior topic.

BLOG N˚9 | Advisory Prep N˚3

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).

At this very moment, I am in the middle of switching mentors. I used to intern at Dahiya General Practice Clinic in Carson, CA whereas now, I will be volunteering at Queen Of The Valley Hospital in West Covina, CA (working in the maternity department). I haven't scheduled an interview as I am not sure who I will be interviewing for my second interview as I am in the middle of switching mentors. However, I will most likely be interviewing with my first mentor who is a registered nurse at the Carson clinic.

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.  

Specific studies in my research is going towards nursing and becoming a registered nurse. Whenever I am at my mentorship, I am always following the registered nurses instead of the doctors for a number of reasons. For one, doctors simply do not have the time to stop and explain to an intern what exactly they are doing. Since there are usually several nurses to one doctor, I would be able to help out with the nurses with a number of different tasks. Furthermore, my very first mentor (and my first interviewee) is a registered nurse working in the emergency room department at Queen Of The Valley hospital. Being able to interview an RN and work closely beside many registered nurses has given me an extensive idea of what role nurses take part in to delivering patient care. Although doctors may be the leaders of the healthcare team in a hospital or clinic, nurses tend to spend a lot more time with patients than the doctors do themselves. This would be because the nurses would have to prepare the patients before they see the doctor, communicating with the patients by asking questions about their condition, taking their blood pressure, etc. With a topic as general as patient care, from what I've observed, no health care provider works closer with individual patients than the nurses.

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?

There are many medical journals by registered nurses and podcasts that I could definitely look into. Podcasts are usually found online (a podcast by the name of MediCast is found in iTunes for free and is hosted by different paramedics each week discussing recent innovations in effective patient care) and different online medical journals (such as The American Journal Of Nursing - the oldest and longest-running nursing journal in the world - and Medscape, which provides an archive of medical journals from different sources, decades, and a variety of topics). With technology today, extensive research can be completely done from the internet as long as sources are reliable.

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

With my extensive research on patient care, many possible EQ's have come up to my mind. However, one I am most interested in and will be working towards to answer through extensive research is:

What is the most vital component towards delivering effective patient care?

Now this questions brings up many things with specific words. "Most vital component" is is crucial the question specifically asks for what is the single most important element. "Delivering effective patient care" implies that healthcare teams should be not only patient-centric, but most importantly an emphasis on the word "effective." 

BLOG N˚8 | Independent Component N˚1 Proposal

1) Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours?

For my independent component, I decided to take on some classes at a company called First Class CPR (you can visit their website here). At First Class CPR, it is a full on course on teaching people how to perform CPR on many different types of people of a variety ages. Before doing hands-on training, I would have to take online courses through their website and this is self-paced depending on how comfortable I am with getting the gist on CPR performance before I actually perform it.

After taking this online course, I would have to go to their building down at Upland where I will work with an instructor on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays to train me physically how to perform CPR within 30 days of the completion of my online course. Each class takes 2 1/2 hours to complete. I will be working with other groups of people as well in this class as we all learn how to perform adult CPR and AED use, infant CPR, child CPR and AED use, and much more!

After completing my training with the instructor and class, my skills will then be evaluated by an authorized AHA Heartsaver Instructor. If I do perform what I've learned correctly and effectively, I will then be given a certificate from the American Heart Association.

2) Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence?

Although showing evidence of the online course can be quite tricky, I will take many screenshots of my online course and my certification of completion of my online classes. Once I have my course already completed, I will have to physically be with an instructor and a group of people who will also be learning how to perform CPR. Each class with an instructor takes 2 1/2 hours long and the classes are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. I will take many photos for evidence and provide the contact information of my CPR instructor so you can check-in if I have been coming to their class regularly. Once completely my training with the instructor, I will be tested and hopefully receive my certificate.

3) Discuss how or what will be doing will help you explore your topic more in depth.

As my topic is patient care, CPR is one of the basics one can learn to dip their feet in the water of healthcare. From taking the online courses, I will definitely have a more in-depth understanding on how our hearts work and a more in-depth understanding on how to save a person's life in certain situations. As I have never performed CPR before, this will definitely a very unique experience for me and a very useful one (even if I wasn't planning to work in the field of patient care!). I am anticipating that working with the instructor and training with other people who want to learn about the subject as well will not only give me a different perspective on how to perform CPR in a way online courses couldn't, but would hopefully motivate me and excite me to learn more about saving a person's life. Not only will I officially be titled "CPR Certified" completing this course, but I hope to get a better understanding on how to care for a patient.

BLOG N˚7 | Second Interview Preparation

1) Who is your mentor and where do they work? 

My mentor is Amelia and she is a registered nurse working at a general practice clinic in both Lakewood and Carson with Sihyam Dahiya MD. Not only do they do general practice clinical work, but also perform general surgeries.

2) What five questions will you ask your mentor?

a. Did you always want to be a registered nurse?

b. What made you want to go into the field of patient care?

c. What is your favorite part about your job and working with patients?

d. When working with difficult patients, what methods do you apply to try and deliver the care they need the best you can?

e. What advice would you tell yourself when you started working in this field?

BLOG N˚6 | Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?

What has worked exceptionally well for me is that I got to learn a lot more about a topic that I am genuinely interested, and we're only two months into the school year! Reading checks, at first, seem incredibly dull and pointless but they actually have helped me learn quite a bit from what my topic is. Reading material that were published by magnificent people with different achievements and occupations at some of the world's most recognized facilities gave me a more in-depth perspective on medical knowledge. However, working in the field itself has been a much more interesting and without a doubt, awarding privilege. From gaining these experiences, I've learned so many things that can not be learned by simply reading some articles.What has made it a positive experience with the senior project is going out of my comfort zone and getting experiences out in the world. It's also the most interesting thing to hear other classmates' stories of them in their own mentorship and how exciting it is to be a part of something we're passionate about.

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

The most difficult part concerning senior project is how far I have to travel to do my senior project. It is extremely hard to acquire mentorships in the field I am in as many medical students are also in competition for the internship spots that involve patient care in many clinics and hospitals. However, I am truly blessed to even have found a spot in a city that is an hour drive and another hour going back. As time goes by, I will have to get to eventually get used to driving such a distance. 

Blog N˚5 | Interview N˚1 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?

The most important thing I've learned from the interview is that both communication and patience plays a vital role when it comes to effective patient care. Reginald talked about his experiences with working with difficult patients and the methods he would apply to still deliver the care that they need. From listening to Reginald's experiences, he would emphasized how over time, he realized patience is especially a huge factor in doing his job as the patients all come from different backgrounds and have different needs and at times, some patients are just more demanding than others. 

Next time, I plan to have a more personalized interview asking about specific stories and examples. Although Reginald talked about his experiences in patient care, he never went into detail in storytelling. This would give the interview a more personalized feel.

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?

The additional contacts I obtained from this interview were some of the doctors that also work with Reginald in the emergency department. What makes it interesting is that a lot of the doctors Reginald works with varies with ages and backgrounds, which would give different perspectives and viewpoints in future interviews.

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 

Reginald Doctor has been a registered nurse in the emergency room department for about 25 years now and still working up to today. He was also my summer mentor.

Interview N˚1 | Reginald Doctor (RN)

You can listen to the interview here

Reginald Doctor has been a registered nurse in the emergency room department for about 25 years now and still working up to today. He was also my summer mentor.

1) I'm interested in studying patient care. What can you tell me about it?

Patient care involves someone taking care of another that is ill, it involves you helping them get better physically and also mentally and emotionally. Just give them your support in any way you can.

2) From your perspective, what could I study that would be significant to other people?

Well if you want a direct patient care, you can study medicine and become a doctor. That is one of the fields you can study in. You can also get into nursing which also involves direct patient care. But there are other fields also where you can deal with patients depending on their needs such as physical therapy, speech therapy, or pharmacists. Pharmacology, you can study that.

3) Who else would you recommend I talk to?

Well, you can talk to one of the doctors I work with. Such as Dr. Kusmara or Dr. Schuck over in the emergency room in the department. Or any of my peers (or registered nurses) I work with in my department.

4) What kinds of places or activities do you recommend I do for the mentorship component?

You can definitely do volunteer work in a hospital. You can work in different departments there such as the emergency room or the surgical floor. You can also take certain classes such as CPR, first aid classes, you know, classes that would give you a background on the medical field and some have certifications.

5) What materials should I read in this field? Who else can I interview?

THere is actually a lot of materials you can read that pertain to medicine. There are a few medical journals you can read and also lots of nursing journals that are monthly or sometimes even weekly publications you can actually subscribe and read.

6) What is the most important component to effective patient-care learning from your experience?

Well, communication is very important not only the medical field, but any field you get into. But certainly it's a vital component in patient care. Obviously, having the knowledge with what you need to do are very very important and skills to learn as well.

7) What are some important things/lessons you've learned from working in this field?

Just in general, working in patient care, I've learned that it's not a very easy thing. It's definitely something you can't learn overnight. It's something that you develop within you when it comes to caring for people. Although, one lesson and one very rewarding thing I learned is that very its a very very rewarding feeling to help people get better from their sicknesses.

8) When working with a difficult patient, what are some methods do you apply to help deliver effective patient care?

Again, the key thing would be good communication and understanding where the other person is coming from. Trying to understand why in certain situations they are being difficult. Trying to understand those reasons and being able to communicate with them would be a key factor and a basic place to start with.

9) What do you like most about working to care for patients?

The best thing for me, again I would say, it's just the reward that it gives you. It gives me personally, not in a material sense, just a gratification, satisfaction, the reward inside of seeing someone get better and get well.

10) Any advice you would've given yourself when you first got started in this field?

I would say from the very beginning, and I would give myself this advice over and over again, is to learn and to have a lot of patience. And have a lot of understanding for people, and people are not the same. People come from different backgrounds and understand that and caring for them.

BLOG N˚4 | House Advisory Prep N˚1

Through this senior project, there are numerous things I hope to learn and experience. However, I hope to accomplish what I initially intended to and many more.

The more time I spend researching and help working in the field of patient care, the more I become immersed in wanting to take part in the area for the future years to come. For this year, I hope to gain experience and proper training that would help me become more skilled and informed as I continue to work with patients in future volunteer opportunities in college and hopefully a career as well. I aspire to gain better communication skills and a preparation for competency through this line of work. Another goal I hope to achieve is a better understanding with the foundation of basic medical knowledge and a bit more familiarity with human anatomy and medical terminology. Most of all, I hope to understand what aspects are important to creating a patient-centered health system and how it could positively affect a strong patient-doctor relationship.

BLOG N˚3 | First Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview and why?

As my senior topic is on patient care, I needed somebody with a whole lot of experience from this field. My summer mentor (who is also my father), Reginald Doctor, has been a Registered Nurse working in the Emergency Room ever since he graduated college in his early twenties. With decades of working to care for patients and spending the last almost thirty years saving people's lives in one of the most stressful departments in the hospital, he definitely would have lots of input to say about patient care.

2.  Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask? 

1) I'm interested in studying patient care. What can you tell me about it?
2) From your perspective, what could I study that would be significant to other people?
3) Who else would you recommend I talk to?
4) What kinds of places or activities do you recommend I do for the mentorship component?
5) What materials should I read in this field? Who else can I interview?

6) What is the most important component to effective patient-care learning from your experience?
7) What are some important things/lessons you've learned from working in this field?
8) When working with a difficult patient, what are some methods do you apply to help deliver effective patient care?
9) What do you like most about working to care for patients?
10) Any advice you would've given yourself when you first got started in this field?

BLOG N˚2 | Summer Mentorship

1) Reginald Doctor / Phone: (626) 217-7715 / Citrus Valley Health Partners

2) Reginald Doctor works as a registered nurse at Queen Of The Valley Hospital. Registered nurses are essentially the right hand man of the doctors, and they work to care for patients in need. And that is my senior topic. Patient care.

3) a. How was the experience overall working with patients?
It was definitely quite an interesting way to help people in need, which is something I figured out I love. Hospital employees treated me with lots of respect and working with patients definitely has altered my perspective of the crazy environment of patient care.

b. What sorts of things did I do?
I did a variety of tasks that included making beds, leading people to lobbies, helping make phone calls, pass trays, and tried to assist the doctor and nurses care for their patients. I try not to get in the way but at the same time, try to be as assertive as I can be. Really tried to put in effort to be the most effective helper I can. However, I wasn't allowed to work with all of the scary stuff involving hospital works having to do with bodily fluids and such. Instead, I would pull out wheelchairs and help pass out meals. Although it doesn't seem much, every bit of help is appreciated in such a stressful environment.

c. What are some advice you can give to people who are starting off with volunteering at hospitals?
Volunteering at a hospital takes a lot more physical endurance than I thought. That goes for walking quickly around, standing for long periods of times, lifting things, and going back and forward to do your tasks. I also noticed that you have to always be assertive, as you don't want to be in the way of the officials who are trying to help a patient out.

4) The most thing I've learned about volunteering at a hospital is that even though I'm not the wonderful heroes who save the lives of those in need, doing little things such as cleaning the beds or passing out meals on just simply doing little things is one thing closer to just making a difference and helping out those in need. I do the things that the professionals don't have the time to do. There is a feeling of self-worth and pride after improving the lives of others. Yes, as I mentioned before, all the things I did weren't very significant. But the little things do make a difference.

5) My senior project is going to be patient care. After helping out in the hospital and finally seeing and experiencing the extremely important field of patient care, it is something I would want to keep being a part of for a good part of my life.

BLOG N˚1 | Senior Final Lesson/Interview Reflection

1. What three lessons were most helpful for you to see and why?

Elijah Garcia's editorial publishing was a great presentation first off.  What was really emphasized was the activity that was given to the audience, and this helped immensely when it came to engaging an audience and helping them learn more about the topic they are presenting. Another presentation that really emphasized the importance of the group activity is Iliana Solorzano's theater presentation. She passed around scripts and made people act them out in front of the class to help them get into the feel of theater acting in this hands on activity. Ian Kam's physical therapy presentation not only emphasized on the class activity (which was jeopardy trivia about his presentation), but he also presented a good wealth of knowledge about his topic, referencing to sources and his mentors constantly.

2. List one thing that you learned about the senior project in interviews that will help you get off to a good start?

When asking multiple seniors about the senior project, I have come across lots of useful information that I was perplexed about whilst was viewing some presentations. However, the one thing I have chosen to list right now actually a piece of advice all of the seniors I have interviewed emphasized. That piece of advice would be "make sure the topic you choose is something you are honestly passionate about." They have all explained that doing work would be very painful if the topic I choose isn't something I want to put my heart into.

3. What topic(s) are you considering, and why?

Emergency Room - My father is a nurse in the ER. It is, in my opinion, the most interesting part of the hospital and, no doubt, one of the most stressful. Working in the medical field is something I plan to pursue when I am older and the whole notion of saving people's lives is a beautiful thought. (However, I am aware it is quite difficult for a high school student to get ANY type of volunteer work in the ER due to the amount of experience and knowledge needed for the positions).

Pharmacy - Going with the whole medical field theme, pharmacy is a topic I am also interested in as well. It is a job I would very possibly would like to pursue in the future.

Dentistry - Teeth is a very vital part of human health. Working with the very people that make sure your teeth is at a healthy state is

Pediatrics - Working with children is pretty much a dream. However, being there for children who are in need of medical attention would be a definite eye opener for me. As I would love to work in the medical field and I love children, the whole idea of helping children in need is a dream job.

4. What EQ do you think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this?

Emergency Room - What is the most necessary trait to providing patient care?

Pharmacy - What is the most effective way to filling prescriptions?

Dentistry - What is the most effective way to help somebody's dental health?

Pediatrics - What is the most effective way of treating a child under the age of 12?

5. What are some ideas you have about finding summer mentorship?

I am hoping to volunteer at my father's work which is at Queen Of The Valley Hospital in West Covina. From there, I would be able to hopefully volunteer in the Emergency Room section. Another idea I have is to volunteer at my local dentist where I will intern with my dentist.