Blog 17 – Interview 4 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?
There were actually two important things that I learned from this interview. The first is that, as a doctor, it is important to use the respect that is gained from the title of being a doctor and to use it to help patients recover. The second is that patient's outlook can affect a patient's recovery.

2. How will what I learned affect my final lesson?
I don't think how what I learned will greatly affect my final lesson. It may, however, give me some more details to add to my final lesson and give me the opportunity to go more in depth on my topic.


My interview didn't go as well as I had wanted it to be. She wouldn't answer in a straightforward manner (how she says she talks to her patients) but rather uses stories to answer questions. If she did give straightforward answers, she would only give a one-sentence answer.

Blog 17 – Interview 3 Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?
The most important thing that I learned from this interview is that one of my answers, "Patient Education," could be renamed to "Ensuring Patient Compliance." Though this may seem logical, it was pretty surprising to me to find that "while a doctor can put a great plan together, it's gonna ultimately fail unless the patient is fully committed."


2. How has your approach to interviewing changed over the course of your senior project?

My approach to interviewing has definitely changed over the course of my senior project. When I first interviewed, I was mainly reading off the paper and never really asked follow-up questions to get better questions. Now, asking questions seems natural. Almost all the questions I asked in this interview were not what I wrote down.

 

Blog 14 – Interview 3 Preparation

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 Alicia Cuento, MD. She is a pediatrician.


2. Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview. What is the date and time of the interview?
Friday, February 12 at 3:30pm


3. Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.
How else can I find more information on caring for patients?


4. Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC 2, possible experts to talk to, etc.).
What do doctors do to train for direct patient care?


5. Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ.
What does a team of medical professionals normally include?
What are some difficulties they might face in trying to provide patient-centered care?


The interview transcript  is due to turnitin.com with the 5-minute audio excerpt and entry to the blog on Friday, February 19th. In addition, you need to turn in the verification sheet to your house teacher.

Blog 10 – Interview 2 Reflection

NB: Questions answered here are referring to my second mentor, Michel Daher PharmD.
Link to interview: https://soundcloud.com/mila-therese-reyes/interview-2-michel-daher

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else? Are you shadowing? Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic? If so, what? Are there other people who are experts in the location? Etc...)
During my mentorship, I ask questions and occasionally help out in his pharmacy by sorting through medications, printing out stubs (the ones you stick to the bottles), and keeping the medicine area sterile.


2. How did you find your mentor? How did you convince this person to help you?
I found my mentor at one place that I volunteered at. After finding out that I am interested in the medical field, the head of the volunteers suggested I talk to the new pharmacist in the building. It was originally planned that I would just shadow him to get a feel of pharmacy is truly what I would like to do but when I found out about senior project, I decided to ask him to be my mentor.
I didn't really need to convince him to help me. All I did was asked and then *boom* he became my mentor.

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship? How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship with this person?
I would say that we are pretty comfortable with each other. Since I never got to talk to him very often, there are still some moments when I clam up and feel a little awkward. He is a really fun guy to be around with, though.
The time I've spent with him so far has seemed very valuable. He gives a lot of information while he works. When he isn't working (downtime) he shows off his funny and entertaining side. This keeps my attention and makes me want to become a pharmacist even more.

4. What went well in this interview? Why do you think so? What do you still need to improve? How do you know? How will you go about it?
My interview went well in that he was able to answer my questions in a concise manner. I need to improve on getting more in-depth answers. However, it's possible that he gave short answers since he inadvertently already answered them when I first met him.

Blog 5 – Interview 1 Reflection

 

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview? Is there anything I would do  differently for other interviews?

The most important thing I learned from the interview with my mentor is how important it is to be sensitive to symptoms when diagnosing and treating patients. In pediatrics, it is especially hard to diagnose a patient who is barely learning how to communicate. During the interview, Dr. Cuento compared the differences between an adult patients and very young patients – an adult can more easily describe symptoms compared to a young child who can barely talk. 

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts? What is the most useful? Why?

Unfortunately, my mentor didn't suggest any resources. However, she did suggest another doctor who I could interview – her son. Her son is also a pediatrician and works in the same medical office Dr. Cuento works in.

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me?

Dr. Alicia Cuento has over thirty-five years of experience in pediatrics and has had experience in the medical field in the Philippines, New Jersey, and Los Angeles.

Click here to listen to Interview 1.



Mr. Rivas: I had scheduled this to be published today at 7:30am. Since I accidentally clicked "Save" instead of "Publish" last night, this didn't get published until now, after school.

Blog 3 – First Interview Preparation

Dr. Baron operating on a patient in the Philippines during a medical mission

1. Who do you plan to interview? Why?

I plan to interview Dr. Robinson Baron because he is an expert in the career that I would like to get into later in life. Like him, I would like to be a doctor. Dr. Baron has a kind heart for the poor. I also would like to be able to serve and attend to the medical needs of the poor. Dr. Baron's medical mission for the underprivileged in Mexico, the Philippines, and other third-world countries has inspired me to pursue a medical career and do medical missions in the future. When I interview him, I will get more details on how to go about this dream and what motivates him to serve the poor.


2. Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask. What additional questions do you plan to ask? Ask open-ended questions. What are open-ended questions? Click here! 

• How did you decide to pursue this career path?
• How would you define a "good" doctor?
• What are some problems you encountered during your career? How did you solve them?
• What is the most appropriate way to relay bad news to a patient without being too harsh?
• Is there anything you dislike about your job? If so, what?
          – What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
• You have been part of the World Medical Mission USA Foundation for around 28 years. What motivated you to serve the impoverished? What has kept you motivated?
• What is the most rewarding part of serving the impoverished?
• Has a language barrier (if any) affected the care of each patient? Were you able to work around it? How?
• What's the greatest risk one takes in being a part of a medical mission?
• How do you balance work, family responsibilities, and volunteer work?



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This isn't part of the post... Just keeping it here in case I forget about this.Reminder:  The interview is due to turnitin.com by September 16th at 8AM. Your teacher will give you a component contract and verification form shortly.  The verification form should be physically  turned in that morning to your house teacher.