Academic Article

As I am in the Heart Cardiac Cath Lab, I believe that my final project will reflect my mentorship and will relate to heart attacks. One risk factor for heart attacks is levels of cholesterol and I found a great article by Dr. Allison Dupont, a cardiologist where I work, on heart attacks and cholesterol. She discusses how there are two types of cholesterol the "bad" type or LDL and the "good" type or HDL. She said that having too much LDL can lead to atherosclerosis where cholesterol attaches to the sides of vessels which can lead to artery blockages or coronary artery disease. She mentioned that healthy living can reduce high levels of the bad type of cholesterol however only twenty percent of cholesterol is related to foods consumed so it is important that if healthy choices do not reduce the levels of cholesterol, it is important to consider drug therapies to target the other eighty percent that cannot be affected by what is being eaten but is rather created and regulated in the liver. She focuses on the important of taking steps in order to prevent a potentially deadly heart attack.

Dupont, Allison. "Can Cholesterol Increase Your Risk of Heart Disease." Northeast Georgia Heart Center, Sept. 2010. Web. <http://www.ngheartcenter.com/pdf/dupont1.pdf>.

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.

Learning Revolution!

If I had unlimited time and resources, I would learn Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Slovak, and Russian. I think language is so interesting and if I had unlimited time I would love to learn many more languages because it is such a valuable resource.

I believe attitude is more influential than aptitude. Though aptitude is very important, attitude seems more important. You could have all the aptitude in the world and have no attitude and that would be a waste of God’s gifts to you. Attitude makes the difference. Attitude can either dramatically accelerate you forwards or backwards but when it accelerates you forward, the sky is the limit.

I don’t necessarily believe the current grading system should be abolished but rather restructured. I feel like so many students just try to “get by.” Therefore, I believe grades below 80 percent should be considered failing. Also something I see a lot (outside of my classes) are students who don’t work at all and then expect their teacher to pass them with a 70 when they deserve to fail. I think failure is something schools have reduced too much. Sometimes it takes a flat out failure to teach you a lesson. However, when students are handed a passing grade with no effort, they believe this will happen to them the rest of their lives and it actually won’t. That is one area I think should be changed.

The Honors Mentorship Program has definitely brought to my attention the necessity of computer skills. Though I consider my computer skills to be at an intermediate level, there is still a lot I don’t know, especially in the medical field. All of my mentorship activities require computers including looking through past medical files and inputting data into computer databases. Computers will always be around so it has made realize that it is really important to adapt or else technology will keep progressing without you. 

What time is it?

What time is it? College time! How fast time has flown by! I cannot believe it is already time to be looking at colleges! I’ve anticipated this time for so long but now I’m wishing it could be pushed back just a little! Nevertheless, this is a time of stress and anticipation as I apply for college and scholarships.  

Colleges I plan to apply to…

1.      Emory University- Atlanta, GA; www.emory.edu

2.      Wake Forest University- Winston-Salem, NC; www.wfu.edu

3.      Elon University- Elon, NC; www.elon.edu

4.      Vanderbilt University- Nashville, TN; www.vanderbilt.edu

5.      University of Georgia- Athens, GA; www.uga.edu

6.      Oglethorpe University- Atlanta, GA; www.oglethorpe.edu

7.      Georgia Institute of Technology- Atlanta, GA; www.gatech.edu

Degree Program: Biological Sciences (but I’m toying with the idea of double majoring in Biology and Spanish)

Somethings I use to distinguish between colleges I am interested in are size of the program, percent of students in Biology, and medical school acceptance rates. Right now all of the schools I am applying to meet my criteria with the exception of UGA which I am using as my “fall back” school. However, the only criterion not met is size which is something I think I could learn to live with. Thankfully, there are no extra requirements for Biology. Location and size are definitely criteria for my ranking of colleges. I don’t want to live TOO close but don’t want to live very far away.

Rankings:

·         Emory: #20

·         Wake Forest: #27

·         Elon: #2 in the South

·         Vanderbilt: #17

·         UGA: #63

·         Oglethorpe: #164

·         GA Tech: #36

Many factors go into these rankings including average standardized scores, GPAs, retention rate, etc. There are professional associations once I become a doctor including the AMA and many “Boards”.

Potential Scholarships:
Coca-Cola Scholar

Interact Scholarship

Teen Volunteer Scholarship

Video

Reflection

This is the procedure that occurs that I am looking back at after people have ST-elevated Myocardial Infarctions. 

I look through past EKGs like this one to find out where the heart attack is occurring in the heart muscle.

Whoever said that senior year of high school is the easiest year of school and is very relaxing before starting college needs the slap of reality because they are one hundred percent incorrect. I can now say that my senior year is absolutely not the easiest year of school thus far and is the furthest thing from “relaxing.” This year has been the most hectic, busiest, and most stressful year yet. However, I guess I can only blame myself for my situation. No one is making me participate in seven extracurriculars including National Honor Society, Beta Club, Creativity, Service, and Action club, Interact Club, Health Occupation Students of America, Competitive Math Team, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes except myself. And no one is making me take seven of the hardest standardized classes in the world plus Honors Mentorship (the best class in the world :P). And I only have myself to blame for trying to fit in everything else like applying to colleges and scholarships, studying for SATs and ACTs, going to church, and trying to actually enjoy my senior year with friends and family. However, though I have not chosen the easiest route, I believe that it will pay off in the end and I cannot wait to reap the benefits of the seeds sown laboriously! I guess that’s something that I have learned the most recently. I see so many people around me who are having a blast this year but I always have to remind myself that what I am doing, I am doing it for a purpose so that even though it may not be fun now, I can enjoy different things for the rest of my life. 

Good side note: 
A great place to find scholarships is www.fastweb.com

Literature Review

I recently read the article "Heart Health and What Family History Can Tell You" by Heather Westmoreland, MD. The article talks about the significance of family history in cardiovascular health. Medical research recently found that when a person has a close relative like a sibling or parent with a history of heart problems and a relative like an uncle or an aunt are ten times more likely to have heart health problems. Knowing about your family history of heart disease is important in making sure you are proactive in protecting your heart like maintaining a healthy level of cholesterol. Like always, it is important to maintain a healthy weight, eat healthy, and exercise daily.

Mission Statement & Reflection

My mission is to never stop growing spiritually, mentally, intellectually, and in relationships.

I view my mentorship as a wonderful opportunity that I am blessed to have and do not want to take it for granted. To get the most out of my mentorship I want to always remember that I can benefit from this experience no matter what I am doing. This experience will greatly impact my future as I learn to interact with medical professionals. The activities I will be doing in my mentorship will also prepare me for college and graduate school as I will be doing important cardiology research.

21 Day Challenge

1. Exercise for 10 minutes per day.
2. Write one, quick email first thing in the morning thanking or praising a member of your team.
3. Write down three things each day for which you are grateful.
4. Meditate for 2 minutes, focusing on breathing in and out.
5. Write for 2 minutes per day describing one positive experience you had over the past 24 hours

I would love to take the 21 day challenge if there were more hours in the day!

Lapdog Reflection

Personally, I believe I handle leadership in a very vocal manner. Though there are positives to this method such as clear communication and direction, there are also negatives such as dictatorial perceptions of myself by others. I can definitely apply what I learned at Lapdog. During one of the challenges, I was blindfolded. This is especially difficult because I was what felt like hundreds of feet in the air (probably only like 40) and relying on my team to guide me through the challenge.  I believe that it is difficult to trust myself because I am a people pleaser and feel disappointed when I disappoint someone else. I also think that trust is what challenges me with being led by others. Though the roles of the one delegating trust and the one receiving trust are both very challenging, I think the delegator of trust is a little bit more challenging because so many people are looking up to you and expect you to succeed but it becomes very disappointing when the people who are trusting you see you fail. I believe that by being more vocal and thinking out loud and collaborating ideas from other people are what will improve my donation and reception of ideas. Laughing with my team and enjoying our time was definitely the most enjoyable time of the Lapdog challenge and I am so grateful to Mrs. Mellette and Mrs. Killingsworth for giving us this wonderful opportunity.

New & Old

Though I have already met my mentor and had the opportunity to mentor with him this past spring semester, the things I read and listened to about meeting your mentor is still important to maintain. I should still remain polite at all times even if I have had a really bad day at school. I should still be respectful so that I too can gain his respect. And I still want to smile and make this an enjoyable experience even if school is stressing me out. I am so excited to start back at the Cath Lab and look forward to being with my mentor again.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! This year I will be participating in Hall County's Honors Mentorship Program (HMP). I am excited to be returning to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, GA. This year I will be mentoring in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab with Dr. Jeff Marshall, a cardiologist. I am so excited to this year and will utilize this resource to share information and experiences.

P.S. A little explanation of the blog... hmp- Honors Mentorship + nghs-Northeast Georgia Health System + ccl + Cardiac Cath Lab= hmpnghsccl.blogspot.com