Technology!

1. My mentor uses a lot of technology throughout his day to day work. In the lab, they use high tech equipment such as x-ray machines, intra-aortic balloon pumps, complex computer programs, and many other medical technologies. He also uses programs like Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access when working in the office. Also frequently utilized are communication tools like emails and text message via phones. When he is on call, he wears a pager in order to be alerted to call the hospital so he can come in if he needs to treat a patient.

2. He primarily uses email, text messaging, and computer instant messaging technologies to communicate with other professionals.

  3. He uses power points and other complex systems similar to power point to share research or cases with others. When working through the hospital, the hospital occasionally also places lectures or things like such on their education website.

4.  He believes that in the future, telemedicine will become more popular. He thinks that doctors will soon be able to see and assess patients without having to be directly in front of them but rather through live feeds such as in the case of rural hospitals that do not have specialists. A specialist from a larger hospital could use telemedicine to make a judgment on whether or not the patient could be adequately treated at that hospital or needs to be brought to a larger hospital.

   5.  I believe that technology will be a large part of my profession in the future. As so much of medical records are being switched over to electronic copies, I think I will very frequently be utilizing technology in my future profession.

Because of the availability and ease of the internet, I would like to somehow incorporate the internet into my final project potentially by creating an informative website that could easily be shared and is not limited by a number or brochures or length of video or anything like that.

Broken Systems

I believe that a broken system we see today is the use of technology and communication. So many people (sometimes including myself) have become so dependent on technology for communication. Therefore, people have a hard time communicating without technology. I see this a lot where people begin to use "text language" such as lol, jk, btw, etc. I think this creates problems by coming off as disrespectful and not paying attention.

Something I think that is broken in schools today is the low academic expectation of students. It seems like the standards for students are set so low. When it is easy to just "get by" with little or no effort, students think this is how the rest of their life will work. I think it creates problems of not properly preparing students for the "real world" by giving them a false illusion of how success is attained. However, students in my class give me a little hope for the academic future of this nation because of their efforts to meet and exceed the expectations.

My Essential Question

Essential Question: To what extent does smoking cigarettes negatively impact cardiovascular health?

Why did you select this as your essential question?
I chose this question for my project because I believe that it is something that crosses many people's minds. I also believe that this question is relevant to many people because so many people smoke cigarettes and as young people begin to decide if they want to smoke cigarettes.

What excites you most about finding the answer to this essential question?
I am most excited about finding empirical evidence that proves this research question either way. I know that smoking cigarettes negatively impacts cardiovascular health but the part I am excited about discovering is the extent of its impact.

Do you feel that this question accurately reflects a desire/need that you have to find out more about this topic?
I believe that this topic does reflect a need for myself because though I don't plan on every smoking cigarettes, it certainly doesn't mean that people will try me to join them in smoking cigarettes.