Independent Component 1

• LITERAL
(a) I, Mila Therese Reyes, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.
I completed my hours with Dr. Baron, a cardiac surgeon, and Michel Daher, a pharmacist.

(c) Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours. 
Click here to view my hours.

(d) Explain what you completed.
I accompanied Dr. Baron on a whole-day medical mission to Tecate, Baja California, Mexico. Since I do not yet have my license, I was not allowed to assist the medical team during the medical mission asked from handing them some medicines or getting vials. I ended up observing how they communicate with their patients by asking open-ended questions to give a proper diagnosis and thoroughly explaining the medications they would have to take or the explaining the condition they were suffering from. I also was able to observe how they worked together (nurses, physicians, physician assistants, pharmacists, etc.) to help each patient as best as possible.


• INTERPRETIVE
Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work. Provide evidence of the 30 hours of work.
Since this was an all-day event, I spent nineteen hours total at the medical mission. In a regular hospital or clinic, I cannot really see how a physician works with other medical professionals but this medical mission helped me understand and actually see how medical professionals interact with each other (and their patients) and work together to help the patients as much as possible.
As for the rest of the hours, I had to complete them with my mentor (Michel Daher, PharmD) because the second medical mission that I was supposed to join got cancelled after the passing of one of the doctor's son.
For a complete (and clearer) log of what I did for my independent component 1, please click here and scroll down to the orange section.

• APPLIED
How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better? Please include specific examples to illustrate this.
This helped me decide on "collaborative care" as one of my answers to my essential question. Like I mentioned previously, I was able to better observe how a physician interacts and works with other medical professionals to provide the best form of patient care.
For example, when I was mentoring in a clinic, I thought that the physician only coordinated with the nurses to help a patient but at the medical mission I noticed that the physician works with the pharmacist, anesthesiologist, and physician assistant, too.