Blog 24: Last Presentation Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?


My activity went by really well. I'm very happy that the audience was very much into the activity I had created and I'm so thankful that Mr. Pang said that it was one of the best he's seen in a long time. I was honestly surprised at how much fun everyone seemed to be having throughout the game.


(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?  Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

I think I should get an AE for this presentation because I made sure to include what's required for the presentation and I also had a plethora of props and tools that directly correlate to my topic. I made sure to reference sources and my mentorship throughout my presentation and show where I got my information from. I had a lot of fun presenting and I'm thankful that my audience was very responsive (aka laughed at my jokes). I warmed up as the presentation went along and there was a lot of information I had to run through, so I'm so glad it turned out well in the end.

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

I think I should get an AE for the project this year. I've done all my assignments and I put a lot of work into making sure my other presentations throughout the year were the best I could produce. I spent a lot of time going out and talking to experts in the field of anesthesiology. I wanted to gain insight from several different angles of the topic, so I interviewed several people, shadowed at different hospitals, and looked at other sources (books, articles, journals, videos, documentaries, etc.)

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

What worked for me was my access to experts in anesthesiology. I was lucky enough to find a mentor that let me see such a wide view of what the job entails and I'm so thankful for that experience. I was able to even talk to patients and see the entire process for each procedure in a day. My mentorship was definitely a key factor that helped me narrow down my project.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?

Even though I was lucky enough to have access to experts like my mentor, I was held back by the fact that I have to be 18 years old to legally shadow under some doctors that I wanted to follow throughout the day. I wanted to follow a couple doctors in the hospitals that they worked in, but because I'm not of legal age yet, I had to pass the opportunity. 

Another problem I came across was HIPAA laws, so basically the doctor-patient confidentiality laws.With each patient, I had to ask if I could be present for their procedure and I had to ask if I could take pictures during their procedure. I was lucky enough to be allowed to do so, but it was still something I always had to keep in mind whenever I went to mentorship.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

I had always been influenced by my parents' jobs as doctors throughout my life. I had been thinking about pursuing a career in medicine but I was very unsure. This senior project gave me that little push to put myself out there and learn from the experts. This really motivated me to pursue medicine (at least for now) and I had such a fun experience gaining more and more information. Whenever I would go to mentorship, I looked forward to watching cases and seeing how each procedure differed from the last. I found a lot of enjoyment (as morbid as this probably sounds) in seeing the surgeon cut open the patient and being able to see the patient still breathing (their chests would move up and down as they took breaths). The best part is being able to share these stories with others because it's an exciting feeling. I'm mostly thankful for the amazing experiences that I had throughout the year and I feel it was a sort of "leg up" for what I want to do in the future. 

Exit Interview

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

EQ: How can an anesthesiologist best ensure a patient's safety and comfort for surgery?

Answer 1: An anesthesiologist can best ensure a patient's safety and comfort for surgery by being well-versed on the drugs used for surgery to maintain body functions.

Answer 2: An anesthesiologist can best ensure a patient's safety and comfort for surgery by monitoring a patient's vital body functions through use and full knowledge of anesthesia machines.

Answer 3: An anesthesiologist can best ensure a patient's safety and comfort by reviewing the patient's history and background.

My best answer is my Answer 1, because drugs are a major part of an anesthesiologist's job. They can interpret readings from their machines and look through patient charts to plan for their anesthesia care, but without having drugs and knowing how to use them, they can't proceed with their task. They can determine if the patient is having trouble breathing or if the patient is uncomfortable with the help of monitors, but could do nothing to help that if they don't have the tools to help them.

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

Once I had narrowed down my 3 answers, I started asking the medical professionals that I interviewed what they thought. The response that stood out to me most was that of Dr. Imelda Murillo. She said that you can't call yourself an anesthesiologist if you don't know how to handle the drugs. There are so many drugs to understand and so many methods to use them depending on the individual patient. With other research, too, I have found that drugs are the key to anesthesia. A patient cannot be rendered unconscious without medication and cannot feel less pain without the aid of medication. Monitors are to show the effects of the drugs and the condition of the patient throughout, but the patient cannot be helped if not given a mixture of medications.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

I had trouble narrowing down 3 answers, let alone a best answer. There are so many layers to the job of an anesthesiologist that summarizing them to concise wording proved difficult. However, what helped me the most were my mentorship experiences and interviews. This is why I decided to do extra mentorship hours for my IC 1 and shadowed under different anesthesiologists from other hospitals for my IC 2. I wanted to get a better idea of what anesthesiologists do. Just by watching them and talking to them I gained more insight than just reading articles that have the basics or generalize the job that they really do.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

My interview and shadowing experience with Dr. Zhuang T. Fang from UCLA was a major contributor to my findings. I was exposed to so much more than I had imagined and I was lucky enough to have help from someone that not only is an experienced anesthesiologist, but also a professor that teaches doctors how to specialize in anesthesiology. He helped me understand the more complex concepts and it definitely enhanced my project.

Other major resources I used were 2 books: Anesthesiology and Anesthesia Crash Course. Though simply titled, they both put seemingly confusing and overwhelming concepts into layman's terms. This helped me understand at least the basics as to the tools, machines, medications, and duties of an anesthesiologist and how they do it. In fact, Anesthesiology included a chapter that talked about Mallampati Classification, which I had used for my hook activity.