I feel that I have gained much from my internship, in terms of experience in a formal workplace, diligence, and determination, among many other gains. I also feel that I have gained a much better understanding of pulmonology and pulmonary diseases from my work as an intern of Honors Mentorship Program. I spent a lot of time working hard at the tasks assigned to me and building strong positive relationships with my supervisors and other GPG staff. I also sought out opportunities to shadow physicians so that I could learn more about how the medical staff interact with their patients. I also worked as many hours as I could when I had breaks from school and more time to work during the school week.
This mentorship provided me the ability to work well with others and cooperate with colleagues/peers. It also gave me the determination and dependability that I will need to work in a group or in a formal business environment. I also believe that this mentorship gave me a better understanding of a professional job setting in the medical field, both in the day to day work of the pharmaceutical dispensary area or in the interactions between doctors and their patients. This mentorship gave me greater knowledge of the importance of pulmonology and taught me a lot about how different lung diseases are treated, whether it be with medications, breathing therapies, or even with surgeries. I feel like I also learned a lot about how hospital dispensaries and pharmacology play a major role in patients' treatment for health conditions. For any future HMP students, I suggest that you pay close attention to deadlines for assignments and the research project. If you don't pay attention, it can hurt your grade and make the experience feel more like another class in school than an opportunity to learn about your chosen or prospective career field. Also, I suggest that you think of what you want to learn from this mentorship, in terms of a specific topic related to your chosen place of work. If you know what you want to learn about ahead of time, it will make the research project easier. I also suggest that you get as involved in your place of work as possible. The more involved you are, the more opportunities you'll have to work with more complex and interesting topics and the better relationship you'll have with colleagues and your supervisor. Also, having a greater role in your place of work can make the internship more meaningful and give you more content to include in your project. Basically, make the most of your internship so you can say that you have gained substantial knowledge, experience, and skills from your internship for when you include this in college and/or job applications.
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Hello, all. My name is Sruthi Medicherla. I am an intern at Gwinnett Pulmonary Group and my mentor is Dr. Prasad S. Garimella M.D. This is an abstract regarding my research project that I conducted as a student of Forsyth County's Honors Mentorship Program.
As part of my Honors Mentorship Program experience, I recently completed a month-long research project regarding the effects of type of occupation on the development of IPF and COPD. My essential question was "Which professions are most likely to cause IPF and COPD in healthy adults?" I was not able to conduct any surveys or large-scale studies into how certain professions can lead to these two diseases, but I was able to utilize multiple websites and articles to understand the pathology, causes, and symptoms of IPF and COPD. I later used several websites by reputable organizations that conduct research on these two diseases so that I could understand the types of jobs that can lead to IPF and COPD. I wanted to research this topic because I had noticed while shadowing at my place of internship that there were many individuals of various professions that came in for treatment for these diseases, but they appeared completely healthy. I wanted to understand the effect of different types of professions on whether or not a patient develops IPF or COPD. I primarily read articles and used many types of reputable websites like that of Mayo Clinic and other healthcare-focused organizations so that I could understand the diseases and which professions are more likely to cause them. I also used articles and websites that spoke about the specific kinds of particles, chemicals, and fumes that can cause IPF and COPD in healthy adults so I could use that information to connect the professions to the diseases. After my research was complete, I discovered that professions in construction, manufacturing, mining, and similar industries can cause IPF and COPD. The harmful chemicals and harsh fumes produced during work in those industries are able to irritate the lungs and damage lung tissue and airways and lead to IPF and COPD. I also learned that the diseases can be better prevented by the supplying of more effective protective masks to employees working in those industries and providing people with the education to understand how their workplace conditions can affect their health and how to stay healthy. In conclusion, my search for the answer to my question about which professions are more likely to cause COPD and IPF was answered by my research, which confirmed that professions in construction, manufacturing, and mining can cause IPF and COPD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tShavGuo0_E
Above is the link to a video about how to effectively present a speech to a crowd. I learned a lot about what I can do to hold the attention of the audience and ensure that the information presented is shown in an entertaining, but understandable way. I do have some anxiety about public speaking because I get jittery from impatience, but I can see that I can use different tactics like using humor or interaction with my audience to keep myself from getting too nervous. I also know that preparing sufficiently for the presentation can also reduce my anxiety. It can also better my ability to speak to my audience and present the information I intend to convey. I believe that this constant preparation can make my presentation much more likable because a good presentation is full of life and energy and it is very concise and clear about the points the speaker is trying to make about what they want to say. The following is the third of the annotated bibliographies I have to complete as part of my research for my Capstone project. The title of the article is:
Pulmonary Function in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and Referral for Lung Transplantation Source 3: Mogulkoc, Nesrin, et al. "Pulmonary function in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and referral for lung transplantation." American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 164.1 (2001): 103-108. The article basically described a study conducted by scientists/physicians to understand the effects of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) on lung function and to estimate when a patient should be suggested a lung transplant as part of their treatment. The transplant was only performed for patients that withstood all the criteria for a lung transplant and received one. The article discusses in depth the ways to predict and understand survival rates for the transplant and when the transplant should be suggested to the patient. In the beginning, the article discusses what IPF is and the various factors that can influence a patient's eligibility for lung transplantation and the various waiting times for lung transplants. Later on, the article discusses an observational study that was conducted to determine the timing of suggestions or referrals for a lung transplant. It also discusses why a patient is not eligible or why they were excluded from the study. It talks about the importance of "[p]ulmonary function test[s], as a noninvasive, quantitative measurement, [being] the cornerstone of current practice in the assessment of the disease severity and progression." (Mogulkoc 1). Possible quotes from this passage that can be used include the following: "A limited window of opportunity exists to refer IPF patients for lung transplantation. The short transplant window is reflected in the high mortality rate in IPF patients awaiting lung transplantation (4)," "The timing of referral for transplantation is therefore dependent on predicting survival. In previous studies, poor survival was associated with male sex (7), older age (7, 8), non-response to steroids (9), and reduced pulmonary function at presentation (10–12). However, current estimates of survival are based upon studies in which patients are of a wide age range, whereas lung transplantation is limited to patients younger than 65 yr of age," and "Our patients receive treatment in the form of corticosteroids, azathioprine and cyclophosphamide, in a manner comparable to other centers. Given the current understanding of treatment and outcome, it is unlikely that these treatment regimes actually influenced survival. Patients who underwent lung transplantation were excluded from the study. Death rates among patients awaiting lung transplantation are the highest in the IPF group. Therefore, to include patients who underwent transplantation, with their enhanced post-transplant survival, would skew the data inappropriately. This week, I have been mainly conducting research and looking for articles that can help supplement my understanding of lung diseases and illnesses so that I can more effectively answer my essential question in my Capstone Project for the end of the academic year. I also have been reading information about diseases that were mentioned by the person that I interviewed to learn more about pulmonary conditions. Most of this reading is on reputable research and health websites like the Mayo Clinic website and websites of organizations that are dedicated to helping people understand diseases like COPD and IPF better. I admit I have not been able to yet create any brochures or displays as of yet due to being busy with other aspects of my senior year (college applications and such), but I am hopeful that my research will be strong and even more extensive if I can interview a few more staff members at the location of my internship, such as doctors and other nurses and PFT Technicians (Pulmonary Function Test Technicians). Soon, I will have most of my research put together in a PowerPoint or Prezi, which will basically explain my essential question and why I chose it, as well as the information answering the essential question and the reason that information correctly answers the question.
I interviewed a nurse at the clinic where I work as part of this assignment and I asked her questions regarding my essential question, which is within my field of internship. These are the answers she provided to me, and I have included my reflections on those answers under the answers.
1. Which disease do you think has the greatest effect on lung function in otherwise healthy adults? Answer: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) My Reflection: I was under the impression that conditions like COPD or chronic bronchitis or even lung cancer would have the greatest effect on lung function in healthy adults because those seem like such devastating diseases, where they completely hurt the lung tissue and the ability of the lung to take in air and therefore, function properly. However, it makes sense that IPF has the greatest effect on lung function because it is the scarring of lung tissue, which means that the tissue cannot be saved or treated like in lung cancer or COPD. Therefore, it has the greatest effect on lung function. 2. What are the effects that disease has on daily activities of life? Answer: Severe shortness of breath interferes with almost every aspect of living. The ability to walk even short distances, shower, change your clothes. My Reflection: These effects seem likely in any kind of lung disease because any alteration in breathing and respiration can affect daily activities. However, because IPF is a complete scarring of the lungs and makes the tissue unusable, it makes these activities far worse because it causes a loss of usable lung tissue and makes all of these actions very difficult. 3. Which treatments are best for curing or treating symptoms of this disease? Answer: Currently there are on a few medications available that will slow down the progression of IPF. There is no cure. A lung transplant is usually gives the best chance for survival. My Reflection: It is unfortunate that the only way to permanently help patients with IPF is to perform surgery on them and replace the diseased lung. If they are very elderly or very young patients, this can easily become a major and very deadly complication, if they need to have surgery to fix their lungs. 4. How common is this disease, and is awareness of this disease important to its treatment in patients who suffer from it? Answer: Worldwide, IPF affects 13 to 20 out of every 100,000 people. It is very important to get a diagnosis and get treatment started as quickly as possible to slow down the profession of the disease. My Reflection: That actually is a quite high prevalence rate, considering that the world population is in billions. I understand now that this condition may also be very high in frequency due to the condition of living in many nations, where patients may not have the ability to pay for the costs of treating a disease like IPF that has only surgery as the most effective treatment. 5. Are there any other diseases that you believe are more influential or less influential on lung function? Answer: There are many diseases that affect the lungs. COPD, asthma, pulmonary hypertension. COPD is probably one of the most common diseases that can vary in severity from chronic cough to debilitation and oxygen dependency. My Reflection: It is curious that COPD is one of the most common lung diseases because it isn't as widely known as asthma, which is quite prevalent in younger children and adults of any age. I wonder why COPD is so common in a place like the US, where the quality of healthcare is higher and the effectiveness of said healthcare is higher. 6. Are there other pre-existing conditions that can worsen symptoms of this disease? Answer: Having any other chronic condition will worsen the symptoms of IPF, such as heart disease, obesity, asthma or COPD. My Reflection: All of these conditions obviously can lead to worsened symptoms of IPF, which makes sense. Heart disease and obesity make the heart and lungs work harder to provide oxygen to the body, and asthma and COPD affect the physical condition of the lungs and make it harder for them to perform gas exchange. 7. Are there any treatments or treatment plans that can completely eradicate the disease from a patient's body? Answer: A lung transplant is the best option. My Reflection: I hope new treatments can be discovered and used to improve the health of patients suffering from IPF, after there are more opportunities for people to learn about the severity of IPF and how it should be dealt with by family and friends and peers of patients, and how important it is to have more research done on the disease. 8. What kinds of people does this disease affect more often? Answer: IPF doesn’t affect a certain group of people, but people can have risk factors that can increase the risk such as a genetic predisposition, exposure to certain chemicals, history of smoking, chemotherapy or radiation treatments. My Reflection: It's very unfortunate that treatments like chemotherapy or radiation, which are used to treat cancer, can lead to a condition like IPF and make the patient's life even more difficult, for they have to manage both cancer and IPF in order to maintain healthy bodies. 9. Does the severity or onset of the disease affect its treatment? How? Answer: Yes. If detected early medication can slow the progression. If too late, the disease is fatal. My Reflection: I believe this is similar to the recent influenza outbreak in that, if the diagnosis can be made earlier on instead of much later, after experiencing many of the symptoms, than the treatment can be a lot more effective and a lot faster. It's even similar to cancer in that if the cancer can be detected prior to metastasis, then it can be more easily expelled from the patient's body. 10. If there is a group that is affected by this disease more often, why do you think that this disease is so common in that specific group? Answer: Most of the time there is not a known cause, it’s “idiopathic “. Otherwise the factors would be as discussed above. My Reflection: It seems that most of the time, the source or main cause of the disease isn't known, but it is quite common in those who are obese and have all the symptoms of that condition, including heart disease, asthma, diabetes, just to name a few. The following is the annotated bibliography for my second source of research. I will also be including the word document of the same so that the formatting will be more accurate than it is in this post. Annotated Bibliography Summary of Source 2 Suhaj, A., et al. "Effectiveness of Clinical Pharmacist Intervention on Health-Related Quality of Life in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder Patients - a Randomized Controlled Study." Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, no. 1, 2016, p. 78. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/jcpt.12353. The article includes information about a study conducted by researches regarding smokers suffering from COPD in India and Ireland. It explains the importance of pharmacist intervention on the improvement of health for the patients included in this observational study. It states that patient adherence to medication use is a big issue with people suffering from COPD and that doctor counseling is important to making sure that patients’ health improves. The article also claims that patients’ use of the actual apparatuses for medication is also a problem with managing COPD symptoms. Some people who suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder patients also face problems with emotional and mental problems due to the stresses of handling symptoms and taking their medications. The study showed that pharmacist involvement in the healing and health improvement process did, in fact, improve the condition of COPD sufferers in India. The study, however, requires expansion and further study in other areas of India because this study includes only patients from Manipal in Karnataka. Some quotes that can be used to support my main claims in my research include the following:
The source is credible because this study was conducted by doctors from a reputable University and a Medical Hospital and it was uploaded to a website that can provide students with many academic and educational research pages and science journals, GALILEO. I will use this information to support any facts I state about the treatment of COPD patients during my presentation. I will use it to prove the importance of periodic patient-physician coordination during the treatment process and during the management of symptoms for people suffering from COPD. It can also help me to better understand the role of pharmacists in the process of treating a condition like COPD, which can be caused by many different factors in a patient’s life and can affect many more factors in a patient’s life after diagnosis or during the progression of the disorder.
This is the second graphic organizer I have filled in and it includes information about my next annotated bibliography source. It contains information about the source, its contents, and any possible uses of the information in my project.
My desire to expand my knowledge in the field of pulmonology, and my desire to better understand the various lung conditions and diseases so I can be pre-exposed to the information prior to my secondary education in pre-medicine, are what drive my research. My essential question is: Which pulmonary disease creates the greatest negative impact on lung function and how? To best display my project, I hope to create a physical or virtual model of the lungs to explain the effects of the diseases on the lungs, publish a brochure to detail the effects and importance of treating the diseases included in my project, and organize and participate in a debate related to my specific topic. In my real inquiry, I will likely conduct a few interviews with professionals of different levels of work (medical assistant, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, physician, etc.) at the clinic of my internship to receive the most accurate information about my topic and to understand the various opinions that medical professionals may have regarding the specific diseases included in my research and the effects of those diseases on the lungs.
Hello, dear readers! I hope you all are having a fabulous year thus far. Next week, the week of Sunday December 17 to Saturday December 23, I have my midterm exams. My midterm exam for HMP (just a reminder that this internship is part of my school classes) is a research project about my prospective career in the future. As I have detailed earlier, I hope to become an OB/GYN (or obstetrician and gynecologist) in the future. I have attached the research project PowerPoint above. It contains information that I've learned about this career during my research.
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AuthorHello, and welcome. I'm Sruthi M. I'm a senior at Lambert High School and this is my blog detailing my activities working with Honors Mentorship Program. Please feel free to ask me any questions about my activities with the Program or about the institution at which I will be working. Archives
May 2018
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