Blogs

Introduction
   During ISM, I created my “brand image” over the past couple of weeks. This includes my work on my LinkedIn page, drafting a resume, curating my mission statement a quote I relate to, and beginning to look at articles in my field of interest. In addition, I also participated in an introduction speech.
LinkedIn
   In the past week, we formed a LinkedIn account for contact with professionals we might meet from our aspired career paths. On this page, I included my work experience, my volunteering experience, my mission for ISM, and a general description of myself and my topic for this year. 
Resume
   I also began drafting my resume this past week and developed a professional introduction in which I can showcase who I am to potential mentors. I included a professional image of me, my work experience, recommenders, strengths, accomplishments, and activities I’m involved in. 
Introduction Speech
   In the beginning days of our ISM class, we gave a speech about ourselves. I mentioned things about myself, such as the activities I’m involved in and how they’ve developed me, my topic for ISM, my goals for this year and the future, and some personal interests, such as my family and friends. Participating in this speech continually developed my professional speaking skills in front of my peers and teacher. 

Introduction

  During ISM this week, we submitted our first annotated bibliography, finalized our resume, and submitted a video regarding our professional dress attire. 

Annotated Bibliography

  For my annotated bibliography, I began by researching the numerous problems found in both the emergency medicine field and the trauma medicine field because I am still deciding on my topic between the two. I researched 5 articles mostly focusing on misdiagnosis in the emergency department due to the stress and pressure put on the physicians to get a diagnosis rapidly. I found a common statistic that around 16% of patients who come into the emergency room are misdiagnosed, most with multiple traumas. I also researched the increasing crowding of the emergency room and what the hospital and doctors can do to avoid overcrowding while providing adequate care. I researched problems with removing foreign bodies in an emergency department, which raises numerous problems. Still, I noted that there were multiple different ways to get these foreign bodies out, such as endoscopically, which usually happens. Some were treated medically, and some required surgery. Lastly, I researched the errors in imaging patients in the emergency room, the problems that come with visual interpretation, and identifying specific characteristics found on a scan. 

Finalized Resume

  With the help of peer reviews and visual edits, I finalized my resume by adding my LinkedIn profile and making it overall visually appealing. 

Professional Dress Attire 

  This week, we submitted a video regarding our professional dress attire, including a nice blouse, a blazer, dress pants, and heels that are professional but also able to walk around during interviews.

Introduction
   This past week in ISM, I was focused on narrowing down my topic for our upcoming business symposium, preparing for our business symposium, and starting to understand what to include in my website. 

Topic Proposal
   With the help of my research and my understanding of my desired career, I narrowed down the topic I could use for my business symposium and the rest of the year. I decided to study misdiagnosis in trauma medicine. This decision took some time to land on because I was and am still debating which field I should go into, either emergency medicine or trauma medicine, which are both very similar but very different at the same time. For one, I love the fast-paced environment present in both fields. I decided to go with Trauma Medicine to build a patient bond that isn’t as defined in emergency medicine with rapid treatment. I narrowed my topic to the misdiagnosis in the field, but I am still debating that. I settled on misdiagnosis because that was the field I researched the most in past assignments while also finding it interesting. 

Business Symposium 
   This upcoming Wednesday, we have our business symposium, where we can practice interviewing with professionals and networking with fellow ISM students and professionals. I spent a little time last week and will do more in the next two days preparing for the event. I made sure my resume looked professional and held all important information, and I printed some resumes I could hand to professionals in case of need. I also ensured my LinkedIn account ran without issues in preparation for networking. Lastly, I ensured my professional dress was ready without any issues. 

Website
This past week, we began to discuss what to include in our websites and which sites to use to build them. I decided to use Wix and looked at the templates I could use.  

Business Symposium

Last Wednesday, October the 9th, I attended the Frisco ISD ISM business symposium. I learned tremendous amounts during this period, we participated in interviews, networking between other ISM students, and informational presentations about ISM. To start off, I participated in two interviews with professionals. My first interview I learned a variety of things relating to how I can improve my resume to how I can get involved in my topic choice. The man who interviewed me had numerous different careers in his lifetime and I found that very interesting. He had been a teacher, a data analyst, and currently getting his PhD at UTD which I found very interesting because I have a personal relationship as my dad attended UTD for his doctorate as well. My second interviewer was a criminalist and worked for Frisco PD. I learned a lot from this interview on how to go about seeing if i’m able to work in trauma medicine to begin with but also with how I can improve my resume and showcase my talents. 

Original Work

This past week we also had our original work proposal due which allowed me to use the knowledge I have collected over the past 9 weeks into an idea for a product that could show these discoveries. Specifically, I am researching and showcasing my knowledge of Venous Thromboembolism and the effect Pharmacological Prophylaxis has on curing VTE in different situations. As I described in my proposal, I plan to make a step by step “how to” guide for trauma doctors on how to treat VTE under different circumstances. I also plan to make a model of how VTE effects the body with a sample patient “John Doe”. 

Contact Log

This week we are starting our contact log and beginning to schedule interviews. I plan to research about trauma doctors of any sort in the area or an emergency medicine professional as well since they are similar. I plan to keep a log of every professional I cold call, email, or contact and their response to best evaluate who I can contact for research interviews or a possible mentor. 

Finalizing Website

These past two weeks I was primarily focused on developing my website to showcase my research and about me pages. I created a cover page which covered a professional picture of me, my quote for the year, and a place where professionals can reach out. I also created an about me, an about ISM, a place for my blogs, and a place for research/projects and mentors. I created all of this on a theme with navy and light blue which pertains to my topic of study, medicine. 

Beginning to Reach Out

Starting last week we began to reach out to professionals by cold calling, cold emailing, etc. I began doing this by researching about the trauma/ emergency doctors, surgeons, and nurses in my area and ways I could reach out to them. I began reaching out to around 15 but I have not heard back from them yet. I will continue to reach out to professionals in my field in my surrounding areas and hopefully get a couple interviews scheduled.

Continued Research

Last week I made some discoveries related to my topic of Trauma/Emergency medicine including the effect that venous thromboembolism has in the Emergency setting and how Pharmacological Prophylasis can affect the recovery process with different administration and timing of different drugs. I am continuing to research these discoveries in this upcoming week.

Introduction

Over this past week I have made a couple of advancements in both my research and my contacting of professionals in my field. I have also begun to prepare for my research speech which will be happening next week. 

Research

Since this past week I have made a couple of new discoveries throughout my research in the topic of venous thrombosis and specifically how to prevent it from happening in trauma situations. I learned a couple of regulations that are used throughout the process of identifying VTE. Specifically, I learned about the RAP or Risk Assesment Profile score which is based on a number of factors among visiting the emergency room such as age and injury factors. Another interesting fact I found was that VTE is the leading cause of preventable trauma death. 

Contacting

Throughout this last week I have struggled trying to contact professionals in my field. I am continuing to reach out through this next week and hopefully will get an interview scheduled soon. 

Research Speech

Next week, I will be presenting my speech over what I have learned so far in front of my class. I hope that through this I can convey the information I have learned and how it pertains to my aspired field. I also hope that through this I can continue to develop my professional speaking skills.

Introduction

This upcoming week we are going to give research speeches to our class about what we have learned and we are going to submit a research/ interview assessment.

Research Speeches

This friday I will present my speech about my research so far and my contacting with professionals so far this semester. In my speech I will mention the research I have done already pertaining to venous thrombosis and treatments for this medical disturbance in trauma situations. I hope to convey the impact it has on all trauma situations because it’s the leading cause of preventable trauma death. I will also mention the potential of changing my topic from truama medicine to a Physician's Assistant. Through this speech I will hopefully improve my public speaking as well and get more comfortable talking about my topic in front of people since we have our research showcase coming up soon. 

Assessments

Over the next couple of days I will continue to research more about my topic in venous thrombosis and combine all of my information into a presentation and speech I can give in front of my class. Through this I will also be able to write an assessment about my new findings and how it continues my idea of trauma medicine.

Introduction

This friday we are going to present our research and findings to our peers. Over the past 2 months we have kept developing our research and also continued reaching out to professionals in our fields. 

Research

I have continued to research about Venous Thoromboembolism (VTE) and specifically continued developing my knowledge on my original work so I am prepared for our research showcase coming up. I have also began to work on my final project which is going to be a 3D model of how VTE affects the body, and specifically related to my example case that I talked about in my original work. I have just begun getting used to the software I intend to use to create the model but I hope by the end of the month/ early next month I have begun to develop my model and have a better understanding of what exactly I want to show through modeling. 

Showcase

Last week, I developed my presentation board which includes QR codes to my research, original work, and website along with my quote, mission statement, and a brief overview of my original work. 

Reaching Out

I have reached out to a couple more potential professionals, but I have generally had no responses so I am going to continue reaching out while still developing my research. 

Introduction

This past week, we held our Research Showcase, and I am in the process of getting my mentor's approval. 

Research Showcase

Last Tuesday, we held our Research Showcase, which was a fantastic experience. I got to present the research I have worked on for 6 months to my family and friends. I learned so much from this experience, from explaining my research and findings to strangers to learning from my ISM peers. I learned about the variety of topics and careers that could be chosen through ISM, and I also learned more about how to speak to strangers about what I have learned and teach them the knowledge I’ve gained!

Interviews

Over this past month, I have gotten two excellent and incredibly informative interviews! They were both ER nurses, and I learned a lot about the ER and their typical workday, how they manage a work-life balance, and more. 

Mentor

I am in the process of getting my mentor approved, which is extremely exciting! We are working through a few tweaks, but I should be able to start attending mentor visits soon and learning more about the ER!

Introduction

Over the past week I have begun to develop my research into something that can be used for my final product. I began to talk to my soon to be mentor about my original work and how it can be shifted into my final product. 

Original Work Speech

This past Monday, I presented my original work in front of my class and discussed what I’ve been working on since the beginning of the year. I learned that in as my speeches get longer it’s a good idea to summarize what i’m going to say before and then review what I talked about after i’m done with my speech. I also got some feedback from my peers that I sounded a lot more prepared and comfortable speaking in front of people which I am happy about going into final presentation season. 

Research 

After asking my soon to be mentor about my original work I realized that Venous Thromboembolism is a big problem in the ER but there are already solutions that are present despite the heavy flow of patients with VTE showing up in the ER, there wasn’t much I could extend on by myself from my original work. By talking to Mrs. Hebert I learned that a major problem in the ED was balancing the treatment of psychiatric patients with the nurses safety. 

Final Product

After talking with Mrs. Hebert, I began to research psychiatric patients in the ER and I will be basing my final product off of that research.

Introduction

Over the past week I continued my research on psychiatric patients in the ER, I developed my idea for my final product and drafted it into my product proposal.

Final Product

This week I researched about the steps it takes to diagnose and treat patients that come into the ER with psychiatric concerns. I learned about the numerous problems associated with psych patients such as boarding, which is a conflict between supply and demand, there aren’t enough beds for the large amount of psychiatric patients. I learned about some possible solutions that could be used in these situations such as telemedicine which is treatment given over the phone instead of using space in the ER or inpatient beds. 

Product Proposal

I drafted my product proposal and calendar and I decided that i’m going to construct an informational booklet for the ER staff with important information about how to see, treat, calm down, etc. psychiatric patients. I mentioned what I’ll be including in my booklet, the resources i’ll need, and the participants I want to be involved which is the people that work at Medical City Frisco. 

Mentor

As of today my mentor, Mrs. Hebert, has been approved and I can now go on mentor visits and begin discussing my final product with her!

Introduction

Over this past week I have been focused on finding potential articles I can gain research from to construct my final product. In addition, I will be going on my first mentor visit this week and I can begin to learn more about the ER!

Final Product

This past week and continuing this week I hope to complete another research assessment related to my final product and gain a wider understanding of nurses' safety with psychiatric patients. 

Mentor Visit

I plan on going to visit my mentor for the first time tomorrow! I am extremely excited to be able to talk to some of the ER staff and get their feedback and input on the topic for my final product. I hope that I can also learn more about the general environment that’s present in the ER from being in the area. Although I am unable to actually go into the patient's rooms, I am lucky and grateful to be in the presence of other workers who are in my desired career!

Introduction

This past week I have continued to work on my final product and began to make a solid outline of what I want it to look like and I went on my first mentor visit with Nurse Hebert!

Final Product

Over the past couple of days, I have constructed my booklet based on all of the information I have gained through my research. I decided what I wanted to include to inform the potential nurses who are dealing with and treating the psychiatric patients so that they could gain a better understanding of psych disorders and understand how to effectively treat them without compromising themselves. 

Mentor Visit

This past Tuesday I went on my first mentor visit and I learned so much! I was at the ER for about 2 and a half hours and got a good understanding of what my mentor, Nurse Hebert, does as a charge nurse specifically but also what the floor nurses do as well. I got to meet everyone who was at the ER and working that night which was a great experience! They were all so nice, kind, and willing to help me learn about the ER and how it runs. One thing I found really interesting was when my mentor explained all the machines and equipment that were present in each room but specifically the immediate trauma room which is used for very severe cases such as a gunshot wound. Going on this visit really opened my eyes to the realities of the ER, before going I believed the ER would always be packed and hectic but for Texas Health at least they were organized and even though they still had overflow, my mentor taught me about the system they use to track everyone and see which patients needed to be seen first.

Introduction

This past week I have had two mentor visits and I have worked more towards my final product which I will continue into this week.

Mentor Visits

Over this past week and spring break I have had the opportunity to visit with my mentor twice. I learned a ton from these visits and during one of them we had an encounter with a suicidal psychiatric patient. My final product is on psychiatric patients and the safety of the nurses along with that so this experience was very informative and I learned a lot. The nurses had to use restraints, sedatives, 4 security guards, and more to protect this patient from hurting himself and others. 

Final Product 

This past week while talking with my mentor I realized that there’s not any major advance that I could invent or create that would be helpful in protecting nurses from psychiatric patients since they have already implemented a lot of the changes I was thinking about before. With this I want to shift my focus on my booklet to informing the hospital about the changes that have taken place and make other hospitals aware of these so they could implement them if they hadn’t before.

Introduction

This past week I have continued my work on my final product and will continue that development into this week. I have also begun to work on my invitation and program that will be at my final presentation night and present in the classroom. I will also be attending a Trauma Conference with my mentor in about a week and I have begun to prepare for that as well. 

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Final Product/Presentation Night

I have shifted the focus for my final product so I am beginning to adapt to that but I will also get input from my mentor and the people that I meet at the Trauma Conference on what they think could be improved in the ER or trauma setting. I am developing my resources such as my invitation and program that will be in the room during my final presentation room according to my final product and research that I am continuing right now as well. 

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Trauma Conference

This next week I will go to a Trauma Conference with Texas Health alongside my mentor and I am very excited to get the opportunity. I believe that I will learn a lot from the experience and the people that will be there!

Introduction

This past week I have kept working and deciding what I want to do on my final product through my mentor visits and research. I also attended a trauma conference with my mentor where I listened to multiple speakers talk about current research and problems on and about trauma and emergency medicine. 

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Mentor Visit/ Trauma Conference

This week I attended a trauma conference with my mentor and I learned so much. There were topics such as whole blood implementation in trauma situations, enhancing long term recovery after injury, and more. 

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Final Product

As of now I am still a bit skeptical about what I am going to do for my final product since I have talked with my mentor about psychiatric patients in the ER but there have been multiple renovations in the past that have changed the idea of psych patients from when I conducted my research. I am currently working out the idea of a review of factors implemented for Texas Health Frisco in a booklet form but I am skeptical of the impact that it will have on the ED. As I was listening to the speakers at the trauma conference, I thought of some new ideas that I can research which I will continue to do this week.