Independent Component 1

LITERAL
(a) Write: “I, ___Daren Lugo___, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents __30__ hours of work.”
(b) I worked with my mentor Betty A. Lugo who is an optician at Dr. Donald H. Spaulding's office in Upland, CA. She has worked in that office for over 13 years and has also worked at other offices before this one.
(c) I have updated my hours with all the stuff I have done.
(d) For the last two months  I have been doing extra hours at the office as well as learning new things about how to correctly work with patients.

INTERPRETIVE 

Since I've been working my extra thirty hours I have been able to shadow, study, and observe the opticians and the Optometrist himself. The opticians have a better understanding of how to engage the patients in such a way that is effective and efficient. I sometimes was able to assist the patients myself and most of them were elders and very kind. 

This is me on 1/26/2016

On 1/26/2016, this recent week, I was able to take photos because there weren't many people there. I am usually not able to take photos because it makes the patients a bit uneasy. I was able to take photos before this but it was way back in December and there weren't many. 

Photo taken by mentor

Here in this picture are the walls of frames that I have to clean off every time I am in there. I usually start off with these first, On this day I was a bit hindered by the fact that I actually fell off a stole while dusting behind the top row of frames. It hurt but I was okay. 

This is me on 12/30/2015

This is one of the pictures I was able to take a month before the ones above. On this day I did my usual filing, cleaning of glasses, and was able to assist a couple of patients. This was the day that the doctor spent more than 45 minutes with a patient on. Usually examinations are supposed to be 15-20 minutes max. One of the patients left angry this day. What a shame. 

Here is another picture of the office. 

Here is me in front of the office. It's a pleasant little area. 

Here are some of the files that I have to organize and put into alphabetical order. If patients have an appointment within the next week or so, I pull the files and put them in order based on the time they come in. 

APPLIED
Allowing me to work more hours helped me to observe and study the patient-doctor relationship a bit better. It allowed me to grasp more information as to how much non-compliance affects the field. People put a lot of trust into the doctor and they expect him to be the best he can at his job. He has chosen his opticians wisely and all of them together have great chemistry.

Grading Criteria


Updated log in Senior Project Hours Link (Check)
Evidence of 30 hours of work (Check)
LIA submitted to blog (Check?)

Here is the official video for the place I do my hours at. The Optometrist shown in the video is my old mentor. I have now switched over to one of his opticians also shown below.

My current mentor: Betty A. Lugo

Blog Update - Mentor Change

I have changed mentors from Dr. Donald H. Spaulding to his optician Betty A. Lugo my aunt because I feel that it would best to work with the opticians as they have a better understanding and perspective of how things work between the Doctor himself and the patient. On top of that Opticians not only work with Optometrists but also Ophthalmologists. Working with them will help me learn new things in the Eye Medical Field.
-DCL


(My decision has been approved by my house teacher.)

Blog 14: Third Interview Preparation

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

For this interview, you will prepare 10 open-ended questions that focus on your newly approved EQ (in fact, your first question can be your EQ). Remember, all interviews must be done in person unless they are specifically approved by your house teacher. Additionally, one person may be interviewed a maximum of two times.

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

I plan to interview either another optician because I think they have the best perspective of the patients or an ophthalmologist that I currently know of for a new point of view. 

2. Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview. What is the date and time of the interview?

I have not yet scheduled an interview but I will by the end of next week most likely and it will get done. 

3. Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.

Can you tell me what certain things I should be looking out for when studying and observing the patient and doctor relationship? 

4. Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).

What are some interesting things that you've learned in your experience working in this field? 

5. Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ.

What's it like for you when you converse with your patients?

Are there ever times where you need to be careful with how you talk with your patients? 

Blog 13: 10 Hour Mentoship Check-In

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?

I am doing my mentorship at the office of  Dr. Donald H. Spaulding, OD in Upland, California. It is a small office in the city surrounded by other offices of multiple practices. 

2. Who is your contact? What makes this person an expert?

My contact is Dr. Donald H. Spaulding who has been an optometrist for many years. Even before I was born. He studied in Michigan and came to California to open his office. If my mentor cannot call himself, one of his opticians will call on his behalf. He tends to extend the time of his check-ups so he is busy on most days. His opticians have worked with him for many years.

3. How many hours have you done during the school year? (Summer Mentorship Hours and Mentorship Hours should be reflected separately in your Senior Project Hours log located on the right hand side of your blog).

Throughout the school year, I have done a total of 52 hours, plus a total of 31 for the independent component. Things can get very repetitive in the office and I am also trying not to get in the way of my mentor.

4. Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours.

During my time in the office, I was treated just as the opticians were and I'll also got to observe the patients and the doctor while working behind the scene. The main focus of my mentorship is to observe and study the way the doctor himself interacts with the patients but lately I've been thinking of changing my essential question.

Blog 12: Holiday Project Update

1. It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school. What did you do over the break with your senior project?

Over the break, I actually did work in the office at which my mentor works. All I really did was observe the patients, listen into conversations, organize files, and keep the office clean. I'm in a very difficult situation where I can't really disturb the motion of things in the office so I do my best to observe all that I can.


2. What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why? What was the source of what you learned?

The most important thing that I learned was that patients enjoy talking. They enjoy communication. I believe one of the reasons for this is that older people don't really communicate with people as much as they used when they were younger. This might seem a little depressing, but that's just the way things went for them. The source of this information was just observing all the patients themselves talking to the opticians and with the Doctor.

3. Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?

I still have not planned this part out yet, but I have a few ideas. I may actually talk to an ophthalmologist across the parking lot from my current mentorship. The reason I would talk to an ophthalmologist is because they deal with the patients who fear surgery. He is a surgeon.