Happy Thanksgiving

Man, it's been too long since I last did mentorship. I kept meaning to go during this month, but I kept putting it off because I was feeling pretty bogged down with school and other things. When Thanksgiving break rolled around I thought about hitting up my mentor, but I decided not to since it was a holiday and everything. I didn't want to bug her if she was taking time off for the week. I've been feeling kinda guilty since I've been slacking on senior project a little bit. This November my priorities shifted to college related stuff. I wanted to really concentrate on filling out my college apps and writing the various personal statement papers. I'm proud to say that most of them are already submitted, and the rest aren't due until mid-January. With that weight off my shoulders, I feel ready to hop back on the senior project grind. I definitely want to do a good amount of hours in the next two weeks. I've got a lot of catching up to do for my independent component.

One cool thing I learned regarding my topic was that UC's do not offer kinesiology majors, so in California, if you want to be a physical therapist, you're better off doing your undergraduate studies at a CSU. And the money you save by going to a CSU rather than a UC can go towards paying for grad school later on. I'm not planning on being a physical therapist, but money saving tips like these get me pretty stoked for some reason. I guess it's because I'm Chinese. #asianstereotypes

So yeah, that's about it. And I swear I'll start logging hours again. Double pinky-promise.

Blog 10: EQ

1. I reviewed the rule of three for writing an EQ.

2a. No; provides framework of study, can be argued, but wording doesn't make sense. 
2b. Yes; provides framework for study, can be argued, wording makes sense
2c. Yes; provides framework for study, can be argued, wording makes sense
2d. Yes; provides framework for study, can be argued, wording makes sense

3. EQ Revision: How can a physical therapist best ensure a patient is efficiently cared for in an outpatient physical therapy setting?

Blog 9: Lesson 1 Reflection

1. Positive statement - I'm kinda proud of how I didn't figure out how I was going to present my information until like 3 minutes before I presented. I think I did a real good job captivating the audience and keeping them interested throughout the entire 10 minutes.

2a. I would give myself an AP. I think my presentation itself was good and interesting but I think I may have skipped some of the key points in the rubric, just because I got too caught up in the speaking aspect of the presentation.

2b. I don't think I cited enough sources, I also didn't really utilize my prop because I ran out of time.

3. I think the conversational tone I took up worked pretty well. A lot of times it's easy to lose your audience because the content is dense or not that interesting, like my topic, physical therapy. So I think talking to the audience more casually made my presentation more interesting.

4. I'd go back and probably time myself before I presented to gauge how quickly I needed to say my info. I almost ran out of time, and it was pretty scary because I barely had time to cover my points.

My mentor's been AFK...

I actually haven't done any mentorship hours since I scheduled interview #2. I'm not being lazy I swear, my mentor was in Belize for 2 weeks. So I haven't really been doing much in the way of senior project besides prepping for the lesson presentation. HOWEVER, I did happen to come across this pretty rad video about physical therapy for PTs and PTAs. It's nothing I haven't heard before, but it's interesting to see different physical therapists and their perspectives on what they do. I really like how it's just a bare-bones, no frills video on the basics of physical therapy, but it's still really informative. I actually found it pretty captivating. Wish I had more to say for this blog post, but like I said, my mentor has been gone. Next month's extra blog post will be way better, pinky promise.  Till then, here's that rad video I was talking about. Cheers.

http://www.apta.org/YouCanBeMe/

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1. Working EQ: What is the best way to ensure a patient is efficiently cared for in an outpatient physical therapy setting.

2. Possible answers

• effectively utilize physical therapy modalities and plans of care
• individualize treatment based on patient's medical history and initial evaluation

3. The most important source I've come across that helped me come up with an answer has been the book "Introduction to Physical Therapy for Physical Therapy Assistants." It goes into gratuitous detail about what it covers and it's been really eye opening reading it the past couple of weeks.

4. My mentor is Andrea Haston, and I'm doing my mentorship at Casa Colina. Part of my EQ answer was taken from my experiences at my mentorship i.e what I've done around the office, what I've seen, and how my mentor deals with patients.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

1. For my independent component I plan to do more hours with my mentor at Casa Colina.

2. My 30 hours of extra research will be done in the form of spending 30 extra hours at Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation

3. Just being at my mentorship and observing what goes on in a hospital setting has taught me a lot about physical therapy, and I feel my knowledge on the topic grows each time I go in for hours. Slowly but surely my mentor is letting me do more to help out which I believe will teach me even more about my topic.

4. Updated Senior project hours

More PT stuff.

Things at Casa Colina have been picking up a little since I first started my mentorship there. I'm slowly learning to do more around the office and I'm starting to understand more of the terms thrown around. I still have no intention of going into PT as a career, but I have found that I really dig learning about anatomy. Normally theres not much I can do to help out, so a lot of my mentorship is just observing what goes on in a physical therapy center. But I get really stoked when my mentor tells me to come watch her do evaluations or soft tissue massage stuff, because she always explains the anatomy concepts behind it. 

The PT staff at Casa Colina are super cool to talk to. They're always really supportive of the senior project, and they've given some great advice regarding what I want to do with my future. When I tell someone I want to pursue anesthesiology, they're always like "woah, that's a good job. You gotta really like science." That just motivates me even more to go after this job, because I'm pretty good at science (chem, physics) and I really like learning about it, too. 

I gotta say Casa Colina has grown on me a bit. I wasn't super into my mentorship at the beginning, but I'm starting to feel more comfortable every time I go in to get hours. This experience will undoubtedly benefit me if I do go into the medical field.

 Well that's about it for this month. I don't know how I can get pictures on this blog. It's kinda bumming me out. Oh well. 

Till next time, yo. 

Blog #6: Second Interview Preparation

1. My mentor is Andrea Haston, PhD. She works at Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation in Pomona.

2. Background questions I'll ask:

• What did you major in? Why?
• How did you end up working at Casa Colina?
• How long have you been in PT?
• Did you do a residency? How did that go?
• What's Casa Colina's reputation?

Blog #5: Mentorship and Research Reflection

1.  Getting my current mentorship was pretty easy, since it was my fall-back plan. My mentor Annie is my mom's friend's daughter, who I've actually met before at parties and such. I already knew she was a physical therapist, so I told my self if I wasn't able to get an anesthesiologist to mentor me, I'd hit her up. I thought I had an anesthesiologist who was down to help me out, but he bailed at the last minute, so at that point I had to get my back-up plan going. All it took was a quick phone call and I was all set. So yeah. It was pretty lucky I had this back-up. Otherwise I'd probably still be looking for a mentor.

2.  By far, the most important source I've come across is the APTA's Book of Body Maintenance and Repair. Mrs. Ortega was nice enough to loan it to me, and after quickly skimming it I knew there was going to be a lot of great information inside. The book is divided into two parts. The first half is all about specific body parts, what they do, how they can be maintained and injured, and how they affect one another. It's got more of an encyclopedia feel to it, as it's very dense with facts. The second half contains in depth explanations of physical therapy methods for different parts of the body and can be read straight through like an article. I plan to refer to this book frequently throughout my research so I can get the most out of it.  

Small world...

Alright, in all honesty, I haven't done any mentorship hours since August 19th. It's been pretty hard to schedule meetings because I've been so busy with work, and I haven't yet scheduled any after-school sessions since I'm still getting used to the flow of my new carpool. :/ So it goes. 

Something kind of neat happened the other day, though. I work as a lifeguard for the city of Fontana, and I was telling my manager about Senior Project and what I was doing for my mentorship. I told him I was at Casa Colina, and he was like "No way! One of our old managers recently started working there as a PTA (Physical therapy assistant)."
He told me her name, and I was like "Duude, I totally met her the last time I did hours!"
Then we were both like "Woaaahh!" 

Then he told me to go clean the restrooms.

It's a small world, man. If I started working as a lifeguard last year instead of this year, I would've already known one of the PTAs I interact with at Casa Colina. Here's the interesting thing, though. My manager mentioned that this PTA chick doesn't like her job very much. He had talked to her recently, and she said it's not what she expected it to be. That you don't help people in the way you think you'd help them. This made me think about my future. I mean, wouldn't it suck if I went through 8+ years of schooling just to figure out my "dream" career wasn't for me? I don't have any intention to be a PT, but still, that kind of thing makes you think. 

Well, that's all I have to share. Sorry I don't have any pictures. I don't own a smartphone. :P

Till next time.

Peace. 

 

Blog #4: Interview Preparation

1. I plan to interview my current mentor,  Dr. Andrea Haston, DPT. I figure that since we need four interviews and I can only interview the same person twice, I'll interview my best source for interview #1 and interview #4. By doing this, I'm hoping I'll be able to start strong and finish strong as well.

2. Additional questions I plan to ask are:

• What's it like working in a hospital?
• What are you doing when you're not working one-on-one with a patient?
• What's the most difficult part of being a physical therapist? What's the most rewarding part?
• Are there certain qualities one should possess if looking to become a PT?

Blog #3: Topic Choice and Working EQ

1. My topic: Physical Therapy

2. Focusing question: How can a physical therapist best develop a patient's plan of care?

3. Check the side bar for my Working Bibliography! -->

Blog #2: Summer Mentorship

1. Mentorship Log
 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jiPQKkUNaBeqHjmeXuUmfIGigAjKZmpf5BdjUfenGlM/edit?usp=sharing

2.  Dr. Andrea Haston, DPT.
     Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation.
     866-724-4127

3.  Questions I have:
(for my mentor) How did you decide on PT as a career? What did the schooling entail? What's the most rewarding part of the job?
(general questions) What qualities should someone in PT possess to ensure a good patient experience? Are the patients you deal with mostly elderly, or is the age range pretty broad? What other people in the hospital do PTs work closely with?

4.  The most important thing I gained from in this experience was a different perspective on being in a hospital setting. When you think about it, most people only have to visit hospitals when there's something wrong with them or when there's something wrong with a family member or close friend. That was true for myself as well, so as you can imagine, going to the hospital was never particularly fun for me. This mentorship experience shed a different kind of light on hospitals for me. I was able look around and take everything in for what it was, and it was really kind of fascinating. When you're the one that's sick, you're just thinking "How bad is it, Doc?" But when you're on the other side, you're thinking "What can I do to help this person in the best way possible?" People tend to think of doctors as bringers of bad news, but in actuality they're problems solvers. This was made clear to me after my first day of mentorship, and even though I don't think I want to be a physical therapist, I think that a job in the medical field is definitely for me.  

5. My senior topic is going to be on Physical Therapy. It wasn't my first choice (I wanted to Anesthesiology),  but Casa Colina is close to school, and my mentor has very set work hours and a high availability on weekdays, so getting hours this year shouldn't be an issue at all. Physical Therapy is also a job that I can easily shadow and participate in to some degree. If I decided to stick with Anesthesiology, the only thing I'd really be able to do is interview my mentor. I wouldn't be allowed to go into operating rooms at all. So after weighing the two against each other, I decided on PT. During my mentorship I'm actually interacting with people and getting a good idea of what PT is all about, so I think it'll make for a much better experience, and by extension, a much better senior project.

Well that's about it for this blog post so peace out girl scouts!

2-Hour Presentations

First blog post.
Woooooooooooo.

So for the past week and a half we've been checking out senior presentations.
These are the ones I went to go see:

Teaching Biology, Educational Nonprofit Management, Coaching Softball, Plant Science, Pediatric Dentistry, Software Development, Sales Representative, HLE Officer, Clinical Pharmacy, Homelessness, Magic the Gathering, High School Basketball, Dentistry, Strength Training, Educational Nonprofit Services, Lending  

I'm still curious to know what exactly goes into the "independent components" that the presenters keep mentioning. I feel like that term is pretty self explanatory, but whatever man, I'm still not really sure how they work.

I also want to ask all the seniors who did topics like pharmacy and dentistry about college majors. I'm planning on pursuing a career in medicine (anesthesiology), and I'm want to start formulating a plan of what classes I'm going to take. I'm hoping that the seniors could tell me a little about post-secondary schooling and all that jazz. I could probably get this info from Hunzeker, but I'll ask some seniors, too.

I'm kinda unsure about how senior presentations are graded. I saw some pretty solid presentations that apparently did not meet the criteria, and I've heard that if you screw up your presentation there's a chance that you can't graduate. As for me, I'm not really a big fan of not graduating, so I'd like to find out more about the grading process ASAP.

It seems to me that what makes or breaks a senior presentation is passion. There were a couple presentations I sat through where it was freaking' unbearable hearing the person ramble on about a topic they didn't even seem interested in. On the flip side, some presentations on topics I thought would be boring were actually cool because the presenter actually seemed stoked to talk about them. For my presentation, I'm gonna talk like the ShamWow guy so people don't fall asleep.

I want my topic to be Anesthesiology. This is a career that I actually would like to go into, so why not do my senior project on it? I want to be mentally prepared and have my game plan drawn up before I even step foot in a college, and I feel that choosing my senior topic on something I actually plan on doing is the best way to reach that goal.

For my mentorship I'm probably going to shadow an actual anesthesiologist. I've got a family friend who is pretty close with one, and apparently he's a real cool dude. Getting hours shouldn't be too much of a hassle. I'm pretty sure he works out in Riverside, which isn't that far from me. Overall I'm pretty stoked to do this mentorship, and stoked to start senior year as well.

Anyways, I think I'm pretty much done with this post, so I'll wrap this up.
Till next time.
Peace out.