Title: Independent Component 1
Label: Independent Component
Due Date: Friday 2/6 at 8AM
Content:
- LITERAL
(a) Write:
- “I, Adrienne Alba, 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.
- Chen, Pauline W. ʺThe Choices Patients Make.ʺ The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Oct. 2008. Web. 05 Nov. 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/health/10chen.html?pagewanted=print
- This article had inspired me to volunteer at a medical facility that allows me to interact with patients. I wanted to gain an experience as the person who provides the simple services to patients and what responses will these patients give towards to my assistance.
(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.
(d) Explain what you completed.
I have gained a month experience of patients interactions in the activity program at Glendora Grand Nursing Home. What I meant by interaction is by assisting patients in every need at the Activity Center such as requests for a beverage, snacks, games, nail polish, or activities that would keep themselves amuse. My role is to provide these patients with any request they asked within the activity program.
INTERPRETIVE
Every Friday, (sometimes weekends or off-weekdays), I volunteer at Glendora Grand Nursing Home as part of the Activity Program. My typical routine is Bingo Round 1, snack duty, Bingo Round 2, and Dinner: beverage duty. For bingo, there are patients who wants to participate in Bingo, but they cannot either move their arms as much, speak out loud, or recognize some of the numbers. It was my responsibility to assist 2-3 patients during Bingo by pointing the numbers, repeating what was said, or stamping their papers. During Bingo, I would set up the beverages and snacks and serve them to all the patients participating in the game. After the end of the game, I help clean up Bingo and prepare for dinner time. I'm in charge of providing hot beverages of chocolate coco and coffee to all the patients. From bingo stamping to coffee making, these may seems like normal job, but it is multitasking throughout the process. I work with 20-25 patients at the Activity Center and it is my part to make sure all patients are provided with the necessary requests they have asked, so I may be in service to fulfill their satisfaction.
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- How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better? Please include specific examples to illustrate this.
In my Independent Component, I wanted to understand the basic strategies of how to keep patients compliant by general health related services. I volunteered at Glendora Grand Nursing Home's activity program to gain an experience on how to be of assistance for these patients in the Activity Center. This includes to gain a personal view of why patients tend to act as the way they are. When I mean assistance, it is referring to services that I can provide them such as board games, cards, nail polish, drinks, snacks, craft works, and mostly entertainment supplies. The reason why patient compliance is becoming a major issue in the medical field is the lack of communication between the patient and their healthcare provider. At first, I thought the solution to communicate with patients is to have a proper, friendly attitude, but “All patients are different," a very common quote I been hearing through my mentorship, research, and independent component.
In Glendora Grand Nursing Home, the Activity Director, Wen, told me a lot of the other employees (nurses, care-workers, etc) in the facility sees the activity program as a simple job, but Wen disagrees with that statement. She told me that the activity program’s role is to follow through all medical records, statements, and regulations for each patient who participate in their activities. All employees of the program needs to know every patient’s medical condition such as basic diets, illness, and their capabilities in physical attention. However, some of these patients do not have the motivation to get out of their room due to their own personal health condition or just don’t feel like participating in these minor events. It is the program’s position to bring amusement to these people by keeping them company either with a random, friendly conversations or playing small board games and more.
I learned in my Independent Component that the activity program's role is to bring enjoyment for their patients, to keep them occupied from boredom and motivate them to get out of their rooms once in awhile. This is an act to keep their patients compliant for their own physical and mental health needs. By keeping their body in motion and give them a positive vibe of what is there to offer in Glendora Grand. The activity program delivers compliance through good services of well nurious meals and likable activities. If it wasn't without the activity program, what will be patients be doing? In my own thoughts, possible, patients would still be in their rooms all day and complain to the nurses that they want to leave the facility or see a negative viewpoint in the home and their caregivers. I see these employees are motivating their patients that there is more excitement in this facility than watching TV. A happy patient is equal to a healthy living.
A patient behavior is an important experience I received during component which is affected by the services that is given. I found out the way the activity program serves food is very similar to a pharmacist providing medication, these employees make sure the patients are getting the required meals that relates to their certain diet and can help with their health conditions. If a patient asks for something that can harm their illness, the employees tries to suggest the patient to pick a more healthier choice and brings out a basic information on how their choice is unhealthy. But if the patient still refuse, then the employee must follow through the patient's request. Similar to patient compliance in the pharmacy, it is by law that the patient has a choice whether or not to follow through their basic health rules that has been suggested or provided.
This Independent Component taught me that even persuading patients to take on a more healthier act isn’t enough to become more compliant, even if you gave them all the warning outcomes. For instance, an elderly man asked me to get him some hot chocolate and I told my supervisor about the man's request. She told me that he cannot have any sugary beverages or meals due to his diabetes condition. I told the man that we do not serve hot chocolate at this hour and I suggested him juice or water. Then instead he asked for coffee, of course, I told him that any drink that contains sugar will affect his diabetes. The man got mad at me and told me that his doctor allowed him to drink what ever he requested. He told me that I had a bad attitude and went in the kitchen to get the hot chocolate himself.
At the end, I felt a bit scolded by that man and that experience got me caught in a moment. This is what pharmacists have to go through everyday to prevent the patients from becoming noncompliant with their medications which is very similar as activity employees with serving food or snacks to the patients. After 30 hours of volunteer work in that facility, I can understand the struggle pharmacists and all other employees have to go through everyday. My Independent Component taught me the difficulty to enforce compliance towards patients. These people should know it isnot a wise decision to drink hot chocolate when they have diabetes. On the other hand, healthcare workers and volunteers need to bare that frustration and remember what is their role for these patients.
Grading Criteria
- Updated log in Senior Project Hours Link
- Evidence of 30 hours of work
- LIA submitted to blog
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