I came back from a four-day weekend only to go to school for two days: sounds like the ultimate dream. On Thursday, I headed over to downtown Dallas to compete in the State Conference for DECA. Going to DECA reminds me of my ISM topic of last year, International Marketing, and although I have found a new career path, I could never forget my past journey that made me realize my true calling. Thus, when DECA conferences roll around, I am always excited to catch up with my friends who are interested in business. I look forward to meeting up with everyone once again in Orlando for the International Conference!
Aside from DECA, I also took some time this weekend to review my original work presentation that was given a week ago. It is always interesting to see how watching the videos gives me such a different perspective of my presentation. For example, sometimes when I paused during the presentation, I felt as if I was talking so slow, but while watching the video, it seemed very natural. Thus, watching the video has made me realize that when I consciously think about talking very slow, I will end up talking at a normal speed. Now, it is time to start diligently working on my final product!
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Just like every Friday this past month, I headed over to Affinity Neurocare last Friday around lunchtime to meet up with my mentor, Dr. Dike. After enjoying some Chinese food and a casual conversation with some of the office staff and physician assistants, I came to realize that I could really get used to this lifestyle: I was now truly looking forward to Friday’s and not just because of the weekend.
While shadowing Dr. Dike, I was able to come across many different cases, including two patients with migraines, which is what my final product will be over. However, this visit taught me a lot about the emotional aspect of neurology, including the importance of patient privilege and patient confidentiality even when it is immediate family members who are asking for the information. In addition, I was also able to learn about the importance of transcultural health care. One of the patients came in complaining of different varied symptoms, but everytime Dr. Dike asked her questions, her husband would answer instead. At first, there was a concern of abuse, but soon, it became apparent that it was due to cultural differences. Especially in the United States, where there are hundreds of different cultures present, it is important to respect patients’ personal preferences and boundaries even if it not the norm in the United States. Even though it seems as if senior year has just started, it is already time to start coming up with ideas for the final product; the end is near. Starting off the brainstorming process, I had no idea what to do for my final product. The only thing that I was certain about was that I wanted to help others in a more direct manner. I thought about organizing a free neurological clinic for the community, but after doing research and realizing how expensive basic scans and tests are, I realized that this would not be feasible.
During my visits to Affinity Neurocare, Dr. Dike had mentioned that he was trying to start research of his own using his patient cases, and he would love for me to work on that with him whenever I got the chance. I decided to look more into this option, so when I went on my mentor visit last Friday, Dr. Dike and I talked about possible research topics. After discussing topics such as the effect of socioeconomic factors on stroke development and the correlation between obesity and migraines, we decided that it would be best to conduct a retrospective analysis on the latter because Dr. Dike has had many patients with migraine issues in the past. Furthermore, finding a correlation between migraines and obesity could help tremendously in treating this severe headache, especially in the United States where obesity is a major health issue. In the next upcoming weeks, I will be tweaking my proposal and defining it more clearly so that I can go ahead and officially get started. This Friday, I was able to go on my first observation visit at Dr. Dike’s office; an experience that I had been looking forward to for quite some time. Instead of just staying for simply an hour, I shadowed Dr. Dike for over four hours, and the time spent was worthwhile because his patients had a variety of different conditions and diseases.
During the visit, Dr. Dike showed me different EEG and MRI scans, and being able to apply the knowledge that I had accumulated from doing research assessments showed me this cumbersome assessment’s true benefit. Dr. Dike described how during the EEG, the frequency of eye blinks can show how anxious the patient is, and I found this quite interesting because these scans were able to reveal not only neurological disorders but also emotions. However, perhaps the most interesting case that I came across was the last patient that I saw: she was suffering from both an unknown neurological disorder and many different mental illnesses. As the patient recounted her past history and trauma, I came to realize that neurologists also have to be well-adept in dealing with mental illnesses and providing psychiatric help. As second semester progresses, I am looking forward to having more of these hands-on learning experiences! |