Blog 24: Last Presentation Reflection

(1) Positive Statement






What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?






I am most proud of the fact that I was able to get through it. I was super nervous the past couple of days and I thought I was going to faint. Once I got up there, I just did what I planned to do.






(2) Questions to Consider






a. What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.






I would give myself at least a P +.






b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.






I would give myself a P for that because I tried hard to make my topic interesting even though it was really bland. I wanted people to enjoy my presentation.






(3) What worked for you in your senior project?






My humor and my exploration of other medical fields in order to further study mine definitely did work in my favor when it came to my senior project.






(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?






What didn't work was the fact that I was not able to always listen in to conversations in the examination room because it violated the law.






(5) Finding Value






How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.


The senior project has allowed me to overcome my fear of public speaking. It has provided me with new insight as to what hard work really contains. I feel I'm more prepared for what the world will through at me in the future than I was before.

Blog 23: Exit Interview Prep

Please be advised. The senior team will not conduct any exit interview in which the student has not turned in a passing notebook count and completed this blog. In addition, you are expected to dress as you would for a job interview.

Content:


(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers? What is your best answer and why?

My EQ is: 

How can an optometrist best reduce patient non-compliance in their field? 

My answers are:

1.  Educating a patient in the risks of neglecting their eye care can reduce patient non-compliance.
2. Improving communication, not just between the doctor and patient, but also the doctor and his employees can improve the rate of patient compliance. 
3. Recreating the way the integrated eye care system works and functions can reduce patient non-compliance. 

My best answer would have to be communication.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

My year of constantly having to defend my research as best as I could allowed me to fully realize to the extent of how important communication was in playing the role of reducing patient non-compliance. H.P Lovecraft once stated that, "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." This is true according to the results of my research. Doctors sometimes fear giving patients bad news, patients fear trusting a doctor. Though education  plays a big role in this as well, it is vital to first allow a patient to get comfortable with you as the optometrist. You can't just poke and prod at their eyes without asking how their day went or having a normal conversation with them. 

(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?

I faced many problems such as, how was I to apply this answer specifically to my field of study.? Well I resolved this by asking more questions, studying more people, and by actually exploring other fields along side mine. What made my field special? Well, we work with eyes. Patients fear surgery all the time, especially if there is a chance of losing their eyesight not only to the surgery if a mistake is made, but as well as coming clean about any problems they have with their eyes. To a patient, especially in eye care, ignorance is absolutely bliss. 

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

Be prepared with evidence and specific examples to support any response. It is also significant to cite sources as you explain.

The two most significant sources I used were medical journals from ResearchGate.net which came in very useful. One such medical journal being written by an optometrist named Mark Swanson. He discussed what the role of a primary care optometrist was in the lives of their patients, especially with a disease like macular degeneration of the eye caused by age. Including this one, they had many medical journals for me to study most written by other optometrists not only all over the country, but the world as well. The second source I found helpful were a few Ted Talks about fear and what constituted fear itself in the minds of the human being. It was important for me to understand how it fear connected to patient non-compliance.  A Ted-Talk given by Karen Thompson, discussed what "fear can teach us." She gave examples through stories of sailors trying to survive the brutal storms on the sea. Thompson explained how we prefer to take the road more traveled in most survival situations and it doesn't always go as planned. How does this apply to eye care? Patients may not always choose to come to an optometrist when they feel something minor is off with their sight, they most likely blow it off and leave it alone. This can be especially dangerous if it is something as macular degeneration. If you don't catch a disease in its early stages, you risk losing your eyesight. 

Independent Component 2

Content:

LITERAL
“I,  Daren Lugo, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”

(b) I used all my interviews in order to get an idea of what I would be focusing on in my videos.

(c) Component 2 hours have been logged.

(d) I have story-boarded, scripted, filmed, edited, and re-edited multiple commercials in order to convey my answers through the use of the camera.

(e) With the amount of time and effort I put into these videos, I think it is proof that I have definitely done my 30 hours. It allowed me to show examples of my first two primary answers which are communication and education in optometry. I added a bit of humor to my videos in order to make it relatable to the audience I have aimed for. My friend, Brianna Moreno, can vouch for me as she did help me film my commercials over the last two months.

(f)How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped.

This project allowed me to get a better idea of what educating and communicating with a patient looked like from the outside in. It also allowed me to travel into the mind of a patient while scripting it. Of course it didn't come out as I hoped it would, at least not all of the videos, but I still did my best and had fun learning while making it. 

This is the mess I made after all the work that was done. Scripts, storyboard, film schedule, and notes. You can ask me for the folder full all these things if you need to. 

Here are just some of the videos I put together for my independent component. Enjoy. 

Grading Criteria

Log on a digital spreadsheet under Senior Project Hours
Evidence of 30 hours of work
Blog explaining and defending significance of component

Blog 21 - Interview 4 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?

The most important thing I learned from interview is that above all it is very important that people understand each other. Whether it be patient to doctor or doctor to staff, all of it has meaning and is so very important for a practice to function correctly. Working with kids is very similar to working with adults. I learned that fear of the unknown is something that can be helped. 

  2. How will what I learned affect my final lesson?

This interview has given quite a bit of food for thought. I believe this interview was very important because it allowed me to see things from an outside perspective. Yes, therapy and psychology is another field or area of expertise, but you wouldn't believe how important these things are when it comes to working with patients and people in general. 

Blog 20: Fourth Interview Prep

1. Who do you plan to interview? What is this person's area of expertise?

I plan to interview a principal from my old elementary who also happens to have a doctorates in psychology or an ophthalmologist right across from my mentorship. The principal will allow me to understand how children work as she also used to be a teacher and the ophthalmologist will help me understand his area better and how it ties in to integrated eye care. 

2. Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. Your focus should be finding answers to your EQ.

1.  What's one thing you've learned about working with patients (students) in your field of work?
2.  How do your interactions differ with children than adults? 
3. Do you find yourself adjusting to the others' mindsets at all in order to better understand any worries? 
4. How do you keep your patients (students) calm in times of on-set panic or confusion?
5. Do you think there are changes to be made in the way people are taught to communicate with others? 
6. What are some things you learned about working with your staff in this field? 
7. How did you get into this field of work? 
8. What is the best thing about working in this field?
9. How important is the financial aspect of this field? 
10. How do you go about handling that? 
11. Is there anything you wish you could change to improve patients or students well-being? 
12. Have you yourself ever suffered from eye problems? (For Second Option)
13. As this field of work continues to evolve and more technology is created, do you think you will come to rely on it more? 
14. Do you think new technology in the medical area will reduce patient-doctor relationships?
15. Do you find yourself micromanaging a patients life in order to prevent any further problems? 
16. Are some patients or students difficult to work with?
17. Do you find yourself educating the patient a lot?
18. What are the risks of not having a good doctor-patient relationship?
19. How often do you connect with your patients on an empathetic standpoint? 
20. Is there anyone else I should talk to in this field?

Blog 19: Third Answer

EQ: How can an Optometrist best reduce patient non-compliance in the field? 

Answer #3: 

Recreating the way the system of Integrated Eye Care works will improve the way patients understand and see optometry.

• Getting rid of online eye apparel websites will not only improve the interaction between all parties but also will reduce the issues patients have with their lenses as they will actually be covered if they buy them from the actual office. (This one needs to be rephrased later.)
• Adding a family-friendly feel to the office will improve the way families view and work with optometrists and their staff. 
• Optometrists should always be aware of their finances so that they have some space to potentially improve anything that needs to be improved in the workplace, especially if it involves staff. 

The research source(s) to support your details and answer

• Interview 3 with Optician Betty A. Lugo
• "SightNation." Buying Prescription Glasses Online. WNY Optical Group, 26 July 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. .
• Cunningham, Derek N. "What Is ‘Integrated Eye Care?’." Review of Optometry® What Is 'Integrated Eye Care?' Review of Optometry, 15 Mar. 2012. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. .

Concluding Sentence:

Using these details I will form a solid explanation of why this answer is so crucial to my project and how I intend to present it as so.

Blog 18: Answer 2

1. What is your EQ?

How can an optometrist best reduce patient non-compliance in the field? 

2. What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

Educating patients on the dangers of neglecting their eye health with greatly reduce patient non-compliance in the field.

3. What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

Improving communication skills between the Optometrist and his Opticians will therefore also improve communication with the patients reducing patient non-compliance in the field. 

4. List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

A) The patient feels more comfortable when the office staff works like a family.

B) The patient will feel motivated to involve the doctor in their lives. 

C) The Optometrist and Opticians will be able to work together improving the experience of eye care.

5. What printed source best supports your answer?

• Cunningham, Derek N. "What Is ‘Integrated Eye Care?’." Review of Optometry® What Is 'Integrated Eye Care?' Review of Optometry, 15 Mar. 2012. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. .

6. What other source supports your answer?

• "Getting Kids Ready for Their Eye Doctor Visit." How to Prepare Young Kids for Their Eye Doctor Visit. VSP Direct. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
• Liu, Lei and Mark Swanson. “Improving patient outcomes: role of the primary care optometrist in the early diagnosis and management of age-related macular degeneration.” Dovepress. ResearchGate, 18 February 2013. Web. 10 December 2015.

7. Tie this together with a concluding thought.

I plan to get more research supporting my second answer to make it as solid as my first answer that way I'm not a stuttering idiot in front of all of you.



On Friday, 2/26 for Advisory, you will be presenting what you have from this blog. The presentation is more like a share-out and should not last longer than 2 minutes. You don't need a visual, and you should not read what you have written.