Saturday, May 30, 2015

May BLOG:
For nine months, it was mentorship to research checks and then interviews to practice presentations. Throughout this senior year, many challenging assignments were heading right as if these were bullets, but none has ever hit me. I dodge the difficulties of these assignments and try to go through them, putting all my effort for a success of completion. Finally the end has come and my final presentation had to be one of the most challenging event I ever encounter with. For weeks, I prep myself day and night from my power point, setting plans, and speeches that I almost lost my voice. Overall, I declare within my final presentation to do the best among the rest, to really collide all my knowledge of my topic and my experience in one. At the end...it was a full SUCCESS. I informed everything I wanted to say within my presentation and overall I found it really fun to tell my audience about the difficulties and outcomes of patient compliance in the pharmacy. I felt this project's weight was finally lifted off my shoulder and I was now free to have a full on rest with relaxation. This Senior Project may be difficult to solve at first, but if you take your time and assemble each puzzle piece correctly, then you will see the entire picture clearly.

GOOD LUCK TO THE NEXT SENIOR GENERATION OF IPOLY.
FELLOW CLASS OF 2015, I'LL SEE YOU IN THE NEXT GENERATION OF OUR LIVES :)

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Blog 23: Final Lesson Reflection
Title: Blog 23:  Senior Project Reflection
Label: Presentation
Directions: Please answer the following questions, and submit them to the blog.
Due Date: The day after your block presentation by 8:00 A.M.


(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
 
My last and final project for Senior year is finally completed. This has to be one of the greatest accomplishments I have ever achieved in my high school life. I am extremely proud on the way I have performed during this presentation through the way I spoke: gaining full control of my voice, my compelling actions through my speech, the adrenaline feelings of confidence, and the speed I took within my talking time, slowly.  
 
 From earlier this past year, I had unsuccessful experiences with  my previous lesson plan presentations. One of the main reasons on why I had a 'failure' onto these smaller presentations was my uncontrollable actions of my voice because I always talk too fast. I am a nervous speaker when it comes to presentations, so when I presented in those events in the beginning of the year, I would speak fast. Part of me wanted to beat the time limit as well for getting off stage. But after getting me results, I could see that the intense speed of my speeches are causing unexpected low grades of my project.    
 
By the end of the year, I wanted to make this final presentation the best among the rest. I corrected all my flaws and errors that were from my previous presentations. When the deadline of my senior presentation was getting closer, I practice day and night on my speeches of what I should be informing and how to gain control of my voice as within speed as well for volume. I even did a few practice presentations on a few critics who have given me great feedbacks on what I should improve. As soon it was my turn to present, I try to remember all necessary information and keeping control of actions through the body and voice. I even keep myself thinking to "slow down" because I knew at this moment that I had an hour and a half to use, so in this case I try to take advantage of time. However, being on stage today, I have forgotten all about time. I never bother to look at the clock because I knew I had all the time at this moment to explain my project precisely to my audience. Thus, I spoke to the people as if I had all the time in the world to tell them about my entire life experience of this nine month process. At the end, I gained a full success and I received great comments from others of the positivity of my project I have presented.  


(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessmenthttp://cdncache-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
 
Research, research, and research as well as interviews, mentorship, and independent components have all worked for me to create my project informative towards to my audience. With all the information I had, it build up this confidence inside me that I knew all the research I found was legit, true, and relatable to the people. In my perspective, all my main sources have been a way for me to prove that my facts were correct and creates these information I found on how it relates to society.  
 
Another important factor has to be time which improved my self-performance for my speech. Time was more expanded for this presentation that I knew I have extra time to explain everything I found necessary to tell to my audience. I had many researches and information I found important to mention throughout my lecture, so with the extra time I had taken my time slowly to explain everything.


(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently
to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?
 
What didn't work in my project is the audience's engagement because my hook activity was a bit short. All I did was show a short video on what retail pharmacists have to deal with everyday in the pharmacy, but I notice that not a lot of people have gotten engage through it because it might have been I cut it short unexpectedly. With this low achievement of the audience's attention in the beginning, it created a difficult moment for me to make sure that they were actually being interested or paying attention to my lecture.
 
If I had a time machine, I would go back to the very beginning of my presentation and try to get the audience's attention by asking them a few questions that would be relatable to within my project. (Ex: Who here experience long waits in the pharmacy? Have anyone complained at a pharmacy?, etc.) After that, I would play them the video, but have it last for more than a minute or two and then ask them of what they have observed. By this change, I could make sure that I have really grabbed the audience attention in the first place without worrying to try to engage them more throughout this lecture.


(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.
 
This seniors project had really opened my eyes of doing researches consistently of new, old, or recent information is open to the public every single day. But without this project, I wouldn't know the true experience in the life in the pharmacy field. Before in Junior year, I seek interest in a pharmacist career, but after doing sixty hours of mentorship had really change my expectations of the pharmacy field to be bitter sweet. Senior project have pushed me to strive more experience within the pharmacy field, but I couldn't get that experience I wanted within my mentorship because since I am a minor, I am not qualified to do any work in the pharmacy; against health policy rules. But with my daily observations in the mentorship, I seen the difficult and unexpected events to occur within the field of what all responsibilities the pharmacist (my mentors) have to deal with every single day. (leader of staff, store management, medication dispensing, consulting, counting pills, medication approval/checks)

Within these nine months, my endless researches (RC checks) have really educated the values of patient compliance occurring in the pharmacy and how it is effecting throughout the medical field as well as our society. From patient compliance, it lead on to teaching me noncompliant health problems and minor ideas to enforcing compliance to defeat noncompliant issues within patients. Most of my resources are from recently published articles on how new methods are being develop to decrease the rate of noncompliant and to create enforcing compliance more simpler for pharmacist.

Since this senior project pushed me into doing actually working experience. For my Independent Components (1 & 2) I gotten more involve into the medical field as in I got to do patient interactions and got to do actual work. I volunteered at Glendora Grand Nursing Home and was part of the Activity Center for a total of sixty hours services. In these components, I really enjoy patient interactions. I found it fun to help patients to fulfill any requests they may ask from me and it was really exciting for me to bring in the satisfactions for patients within the Activity Center such as bringing in the games they want to play, giving them the snacks or drinks they wanted, and more. Within my volunteering services, I use my knowledge of patient compliance (consulting, enforcing compliance) to develop communication with patients and their requests.

As of now, the senior project have prevented to me take on the path of a pharmacist because after observing months in Del's Pharmacy 1 (mentorship), I have a low interest of being a pharmacist or being part of that field. But I did became a somewhat expertise of patient compliance on ways to improve patients to be more compliant and aware of their medication usages. Patient compliance not only effected within the pharmacy field, but it is bound to effect anywhere in the medical field that has to do with medication usages. With my experience from the nursing home, it had really influence me to take part in the medical field as a professional who deals with more physical interaction with patient services such as nurses, doctors, etc. Unlike pharmacist who deals with patients consulting, medications, and store management, I want to be a professional within the medication field that has to deal with physical patient services like doing check ups on patients and help the patient with any health problems they may be facing and especially to be reliable in all places. More specifically, I want to be someone in the medical field who has the authority to be anywhere, at anytime, and people are relying on me with patient services.

Overall, those are my thoughts of the future after my experience with this entire project. Without this senior project being part of my life, I could have been clueless of what life is in the pharmacy. With my experience in the nursing home activity center, I could get myself a summer internship or more volunteer works in local hospitals around West Covina. After a long year of research and inputting hours, I am grateful for putting this project as one of my greatest accomplishments in my life so far because I am able to use all my experience from the mentorship and the nursing home to open myself to new opportunities in the medical field that involves more of patient interaction.





 
  

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Blog 22: Mentorship
Title:  Blog 22: Mentorship
Label: Mentorship
Due Date:  Thursday, May 14 by 8AM
Content:

LIA Response to blog:
    Literal
·     Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog
 
 
·     Contact Name and Mentorship Place:
 
Place: Del's Pharmacy 1
Phone: (909)-477-6300
 
Mentor: Nohan Khalaf (Pharmacist)

Pharmacy Technician: Feddy
(Another employee who seen me work at the mentorship this entire year)
 
    Interpretive
     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
 
The most important experience I gained from my mentorship is the inside knowledge of the process in the pharmacy. In other terms, what goes on in the back of the pharmacy? I learned a lot  throughout this year in Del's Pharmacy 1, I learned how to assemble and package a prescribed medication, I learned how to make prescription labels, and the work differences and similarity between pharmacy technician and a pharmacist. It may not be a retail pharmacy, but I describe this closed pharmacy as a full expansion of the back of a retail pharmacy. Usually in the front of a retail pharmacy, there isn't much work to be shown, only consultation, but within the back, there are lots of work to be done.
 
 Seeing visual action of what needs to be done in the pharmacy had really explained to me on the variety of questions I had in the beginning:
  • Why do pharmacists get paid so much? (Answer: There is more responsibilities they need to do)
  • How hard is it to pack a prescription? (Answer: Not too hard, but double checking is tedious)
  • Why are the waits in the pharmacy long? (Answer: prescription preparation and consultation) 
  • Is there lots of chemistry involved? (Answer: Very little, yet useful once in a while)
My entire perspective of pharmacy field has changed forever and I have full respect of  the works of a pharmacist. I hope to share my experience with other people who are interested in the pharmacy field and tell them how the job works for a pharmacists and the skills that are needed. As for people who do not take interest or respect for the field, I want to show them how important the pharmacist job is and the responsibilities they have to do in order to keep us, the patients, safe with our medication usages.
 
   Applied
     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.

EQ: What is the key way pharmacist can enforce patient compliance to prevent noncompliant health problems?

Mentorship had really expanded the ideas of errors and solutions within a pharmacy between the consultation/communication and the function of the store. I took use of my observation to answer and ask the right questions about compliance on how can a pharmacist enforce more. Every time in my mentorship, I was free of trouble to ask my mentor and the other technicians of any questions I found to be curious to ask. Throughout this year, I had five mentors (pharmacists) I worked with and each of them had a different experience in their field of pharmacy. Some of the pharmacists worked over ten years, some owned a pharmacy before, most worked in Egypt, and overall, . I was opened to a variety of information about the pharmacy field that I took interest and use of what I have recently learned. With every pharmacist I met, each one had a different on how to enforce compliance throughout my discussion of my EQ such as the use of handouts, calling the patients, and just taking their time during consultation.
 
For most of my research checks, I was influence to know more of what I recently learned and seen from the pharmacy and the discussions form my mentor and I which I found curious to check up on. These were ideas I wanted to research more about later on when I did my RC notes such as particular searches about the problem of patient compliance issues within the pharmacy, possible solutions, moderate ideas, and more.
 
All three of my answers that helped relate to my EQ were all part of my observation within Del's Pharmacy 1.
 
1. Good Pharmacy Practice:
This answer was influenced from my first mentor, Andrew Kest. He taught me how Good Pharmacy Practice helped improve his work in the pharmacy  of knowing the basic roles and guidelines on how to be a Good Pharmacist. These rules basically shows pharmacist on how are the works in the pharmacy and what was requirements must be done within the retail pharmacy. There is even a set of rules on the requirements on how to give a proper consultation which my mentor, Andrew, told me that it helps pharmacists to enforce more compliance to patients. For every other mentor I met along this year, I always ask them first of their experience when they use Good Pharmacy Practice and each one I had a different response and more information on both their experience, thoughts, and Board of Pharmacy logic behind this answer.

2. Patient Portal:
I first found this answer by taking on the interest towards technology usages in the pharmacy. In Del's Pharmacy, their main and most reliable tool all employees are dependent on are the computers. They insert all information within the computers such as patients medication records, pharmacy documents, prescription labels, and other important information. This idea influenced me to search about  modern technology within the retail pharmacy. Then I stumbled across patient portal which was something I found new, yet it was too new that all my mentors doesn't know about this website. However, they all found patient portal interesting as I told them what it was about and had their own ideas of its ups and downs.

3. Utilizing Technicians:
I found this answer as one of the most least obvious in my mentorship because the entire pharmacy was filled with technicians working around everywhere. I seen how technicians work and their daily performance every day, especially only having one pharmacist working and six technicians working by my mentor's side does really get the job done fast. At first I didn't found the works of technicians can help pharmacists enforce more compliance if they can't be part of it. But after a few information I found on the use of technicians, there are solutions that indicate that techs can help create more time for pharmacists to focus on consultation with their patients, making sure the patient understands fully of their medication. However, I wasn't sure if this information was legit, so as I went to the pharmacy, I showed my mentor all of the research I found to make sure it was legit and true from their experience. And my mentor did found a few errors, corrected my mistakes, and informed me new information about technicians and pharmacists relationship in between.

*Please do not turn in your mentorship hours to the office.  After we collect the total list from all seniors, we will turn in one piece of paper with all hours for everybody.  It is counted as 50 hours of the 200 you need in order to graduate from I-Poly.  The 10 hours in the summer have already been added to your community service total.

Grading Criteria (May 13th)
  • 50 hours completed (50 from the academic year)
  • LIA response (submitted to your blog)
  • Essential question connection

Monday, May 4, 2015

Blog 21: Exit Interview
Title:  Exit InterviewLabel:  Exit InterviewDue Date:  Thursday, May 7th by 8AM

 
Please be advised.  The senior team will not conduct any exit interview in which the student has not turned in a passing research count and completing this blog.  In addition, you are expected to dress as you would for a job interview.
Content:

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

EQ: What is the key way pharmacists can enforce patient compliance to prevent noncompliant health problems?

Answer 1: Common Sense of Good Pharmacy Practice to Pharmacists 
Answer 2: Advance use of technology for a more convenient work placement in a patient portal website
Answer 3: Pharmacists creating more time for consultation work by having their technicians work on their minor tasks.
 
Best Answer: Answer #3: Use of technician's assistances to benefit the pharmacists.
 
             When a pharmacist provides consultation to their patients about the instructions and benefits of their medication, it is difficult to make sure patients got the full understanding. Some patients may be just nodding their head in urge to leave the pharmacy ASAP, some commonly do forget, and some may have a learning disability (slow learning process). Either way, all patients are different. In order to provide proper consultation, the pharmacist should take their time to make sure that patient is fully aware on how to use their prescriptions correctly. Yet what blocks this is that the pharmacist doesn't have all the time within consultation due to the other works they have to do, so the limited time for consultation is 5 minutes or less. But if pharmacists took use for their technicians to work more on their store-related tasks, then it can build up more time for pharmacists to worry less about those work and focus more on consultation able to enforce more compliance.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

             I found my Answer 3 through previous answers from older Ipoly seniors who did pharmacy as their Senior Project. Most had the health care team as their answer, so I did a few research on that part, but I didn't found it as a helpful answer for pharmacists to enforce compliance because in order to have a health care team in the pharmacy is if that pharmacy is part of a hospital. But then I develop a curiosity on what kind of health team is involve in the pharmacy. Only pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy assistants are all the roles within a retail pharmacy. I did more research about the work and reliability of technicians to the pharmacist because the technician's role within the pharmacy is to be of assistance for the pharmacist at all times and the technician's can do most of store-related work within the pharmacy (more in products management). Even in the mentorship, I got a more visual aspect on how useful and the process of work the technicians and ho they assist for the pharmacist (there is only 1 pharmacist and 6-8 technicians. From then on, I developed the idea of my third answer.
 
(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?
 
              One of the difficult works in finding my answer 3 is research. It felt impossible on how should I research about, so I started off simple my typing up "pharmacy technicians" in this website "pharmacytime.com (another reliable site). I found tons of articles about pharmacy tech on what they are, who is in charge of them, and I notice one mentioned about expanding the technicians roles within the pharmacy. After gathering these informations, I wanted to make sure that the research I found was legit. Then I texted and email a few of my previous mentors to ask them about the works of a technicians and if they, themselves, take an advance use of the techs assistance. I even brought these questions up as I went to the mentorship with my recent mentor and got a more visual/verbal information from technician's themselves. Overall, I found some of my sources were right and a few wrong, yet it did lead me onto a path for what I must research more about the relationship between techs and pharmacists. 
(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

         I found my interviews and mentorship as my most reliable sources to use within this project because I gained more visual information from different pharmacists with each of them working from a complete area within the pharmacy field (hospital pharmacy, independent pharmacy, closed pharmacy, chain pharmacy). These were information that was based on experience perspective in the field. However, if these sources are suppose to be based on research count then "Expanding the Role of Pharmacy Technicians" By Fred M. Eckel I found to be a reliable source to in visualize if technicians took charge in more store-related work able to benefit the pharmacist to work more on top of their license (main role: EX. consultation, expert of medication). Another RC source I found helpful is an article "A Pharmacy Technician's Role in Medication Error Prevention" By Michael Gaunt. With more technicians working in prescription packaging that it may lower the rate of human errors work. Yet there is possible event an error will occur that is why the only work pharmacists should do during prescription packaging is doing the final check on these packages before giving them to the patients. By having the pharmacist doing less store-related work in the pharmacy, it will give them more time to focus on consultation more able to take their time to make sure patient's understand the welfare of their prescriptions. All of these sources I found were extremely helpful to gain knowledge of what I should know more about and question more of. Between the sources I stated out, I would go for the two research articles as my main sources.

Gaunt, Michael J. "A Pharmacy Technician's Role in Medication Error Prevention." A Pharmacy Technician’s

Role in Medication Error Prevention. N.p., 18 Jan. 2010. Web. 03 Apr. 2015.http://www.pharmacytimes.com/publications/issue/2010/January2010/MedicationSafety-0110

Eckel, Fred M. "Expanding the Role of Pharmacy Technicians." Http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/Expanding-the-Role-of-Pharmacy-Technicians. N.p., 18 July 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

Be prepared with evidence and specific examples to support any response.  It is also significant to cite sources as you explain.