ISM Spring Journals

Week of 1/21/19
For my first day of mentorship this semester, I was able to observe a variety of children
that visit the pediatricians. For the most part, I was able to see several patients receiving wellness
checkups for both newborns and teenagers. Another visit that I was able to observe was for
patients that were getting sports physicals completed. This was very interesting to watch as I am
usually the one that needs a physical, not the person administering it. Lastly, I also got to visit
with patients that had various injuries. This part of mentorship was extremely similar to my fall
mentor as that dealt with orthopedics. My mentor for this semester seems to be really fun and
knows a lot about his field. Even from my first day, I was able to tell how well Dr. Decker was
able to communicate and understand his patients despite them being of all ages.

Week of 1/28/19
This semester, I plan on having a project about "Developmental Milestones in Infants".
Through this idea, I want to explain both what developments to expect from growing babies and
what can be done if a child is struggling to reach a certain milestone. Unfortunately, I have not
yet decided on what I would want my product to be as I am conflicted about whether to make a
video featuring a normal newborn check-up or one of the techniques to help encourage a slow
developing baby. However, I do believe that my mentor will be extremely helpful in my efforts
as he frequently performs check-ups on newborns since he is a pediatric doctor. These
experiences will be necessary to me during the construction of my project as I will be able to
receive first-hand knowledge about the subject rather than just looking up all of the information
on a possibly untrustworthy website.

Week of 2/4/19
Unfortunately, my mentor did not play a significant role in helping me chose a project
topic as I already had an idea of what I wanted to do for the semester. As for my mentorship
experience this week, I got to meet with several patients that had sports related injuries. There
were two patients that were concerned with back pain and were potentially suffering from
spondylosis. Another patient we got to visit with was a soccer player with a broken metatarsal
that was not healing well. Lastly, one patient was a baseball player that was having pains in his
elbow and was concerned about needing Tommy John's surgery. Each time we met with a
patient, Dr. Decker and I were able to view their X-rays and measure the progress of their
injuries. Other visits that took place during this week included several wellness visits for children
of all ages from two to twenty.
Week of 2/11/19
During my mentorship this week, I got to see wellness visits conducted on two separate
patients that had different disorders. This was extremely interesting to watch as I have always
been curious about how healthcare visits are conducted differently with disabled patients. My
favorite patient from last week was a three-year-old with Downs Syndrome. While it was hard
conducting some aspects of the visit, I was very surprised to see how normally the patient was
developing as he was of average size and was even able to slightly communicate. The other
patient that was interesting to see was a fifth grader with Asperger's Syndrome. During this
particular visit, the patient was being rather difficult when Dr. Decker was asking him questions
and completing the check-up. After walking out of the room, Dr. Decker talked to me about how
the patient's actions were mostly due to attitude rather than Asperger's. I enjoyed hearing about
this as Dr. Decker made it clear that patients cannot "abuse the system" just because they have a
disorder.

Week of 2/18/19
I believe I have put a great amount of effort into my presentation as I tried to make my
PowerPoint as complete as possible. Despite having an extremely busy schedule for the past
week, I was able to include all of the required areas with as much information as possible. While
this process was more time consuming than I expected it to be, making the first draft of this
presentation was fairly easy since I was able to look at my fall PowerPoint for guidance. I was
also able to use a few of the slides from my fall presentation as they contained the same
information and did not require any changes. As for the help that my mentor provided during this
process, Dr. Decker did not have too much influence on the first draft of this presentation. For
the most part, my mentor has just provided me with suggestions for my product as well as giving
me various websites to look up information on. This is because Dr. Decker and I usually do not
discuss too much of my schoolwork while I am at mentorship. Instead, we focus more on the
patients and their treatments. For example, after stepping out of each patient’s room, my mentor
will try to say a few words to me about each child's case and what I should take out of it.
However, I do intend on communicating more frequently with my mentor about this project as
the end of the semester gets closer.

Week 2/24/19
I have truly become interested in the field of pediatrics through my spring mentorship
experience due to all of my interactions with the patients. I really enjoy getting to see all of the
different kids that come into the facility for checkups. It has been amazing to experience the
variety of ages that come into the office as well as the numerous different reasons for their visits.
As for the project topic that I have chosen for the spring semester, Developmental Milestones in
Infants, I have become interested in this area of pediatrics as newborns are expected to change a
significant amount in just a short amount of time. It is truly amazing to me that infants are able to
partially walk and talk just one year after being born. Some of the things that I have learned so
far this semester covers a wide variety of information. For example, I have learned that
pediatricians need to be able to communicate in several different ways so that they are able to
have a conversation with both children and adults. I have also learned that pediatricians need to
have a deeper sense of what a patient is experiencing apart from what they are being told. By
this, I mean that doctors in this field must be able to sense and/or assume certain things that are
not always directly mentioned in conversations, such as mental illnesses. Lastly, I have been able
to learn more about my project topic of developmental milestones as well as what to do if a child
is not reaching those goals on time.

Week of 3/18/19
I believe my current greatest strength in completing my spring semester project would
have to be my ability to collect both first- and second-hand knowledge about my project topic.
For example, through my mentorship experience with Dr. Decker, I have been able to watch
numerous wellness visits on a variety of patients that include infants of various ages as well as
older patients that have different disorders. By being able to view the infant check-ups, I am able
to get reliable information about the different milestones that babies should be reaching at certain
ages while also learning how to specifically conduct infant check-ups which will help me in the
process of creating my product. Viewing the wellness visits of older patients is also helpful,
especially if the patient has some type of disorder. These visits are extremely interesting to me
since part of my project goes over developmental delays and I am able to see how this can
possibly affect people in the long run.
As for my biggest weakness in completing my semester project, I believe this to be my
ever-increasing procrastination. As a senior that is getting closer to graduation, it has gotten
harder for me to focus on and complete assignments even if they are relatively easy. Because of
this, much of my project that could have been completed already still remains undone. However,
I still realize how important it is to finish out the year strong, so I will attempt to strengthen my
weakness by providing myself with a dedicated time to each week to work on my project and
other assignments without distractions.

Week of 3/25/19
For the most part I was able to learn several new things about my project topic through
the research that I have been working on throughout these past two weeks. For example, I have
been able to learn more about how to conduct check-ups on toddlers and infants as well as
understanding what doctors are examining during each step. This will help me in multiple ways
during the making of my project as I will need to know how to conduct a check-up on an infant
for my product and having the information about what pediatricians are examining for will allow
me to create a more collegiate level project as well as explain more in my product video about
what I am doing. The information that I have gained from my research will also be important for
the making of my project since it has helped me understand more regarding differences and
varieties within developmental delay as well as the symptoms that correlate with them.
Unfortunately, I have not learned too much recently during my mentorship hours because most
of the time I just see either check-ups or sick visits during which time my mentor just repeats
information that I have heard in the past or diagnoses patients with ailments that are not always
relevant to my project topic. However, since the due date for the project is getting closer, I intend
to start asking my mentor more questions that will help me complete my PowerPoint.

Week of 4/1/19
So far this year, my most enjoyable experiences in ISM (class and mentorship) have been
the multiple opportunities that I have gotten to watch surgeries being performed. These
opportunities all occurred last semester when I was following my previous mentor who was an
orthopedic surgeon. These were by far my most enjoyable experiences as I would like to go into
a field similar to orthopedic surgery whenever I get out of college and medical school. As for my
least enjoyable experiences this year, I believe this to be the making of the final product and
presentation. While I do love the process of learning all the new information behind the projects,
I absolutely despise the anxiety that comes with creating a final version of an important major
grade. This is because, despite giving yourself enough time to complete all components of the
project, things can still go wrong at the last minute. For example, last semester I made three knee
models as my product; however, just a few days before my presentation, all of the models had
cracks in them that I needed to glue back together and cover up with paint. As for mentorship
this week, I was able to have a few valuable discussions with my mentor and another doctor
about what to include in my video about conducting infant check-ups to inspect if the patient is
meeting their milestones. We were also able to schedule the presentation date.

Week of 4/8/19
During my most recent mentorship experience, I was able to watch both routine and
unique visits. Some of the more basic check-ups included patients who were concerned about
broken bones as well as those who needed to complete their yearly wellness visit. However, I
also got to see some more interesting cases such as a patient with the condition osteogenesis
imperfecta, otherwise known as brittle bone disease. This patient had come into the clinic with
the concern that she had broken or fractured her arm during her sleep. Upon looking at x-rays, it
became apparent that one of the bones in her forearm was drastically bent as if the patient had
experienced a greenstick fracture. We then splinted the patient’s arm and recommended her to a
more specialized physician such as an orthopedic surgeon. As for the progression of my final
presentation and product, I believe that I am at a fairly good place as I have completed the
majority of my necessary research. The main thing that I need to accomplish at this point is
putting all the research together in my PowerPoint; however, I am not concerned about the time
it will take me to finish my project as I now have more free time after school due to the
completion of my lacrosse season as well as the requirements of all my honor societies.
Week of 4/15/19
During my most recent mentorship experience, I got to see a variety of patient visits
including wellness check-ups, sick visits, and physical examinations. Since the end of the school
year is approaching, several middle and high school students came into the office today in order
to complete their sports physicals. The majority of these types of examinations usually consist of
testing the patient’s bone and joint strength, which is typically checked by having the patient
“duck walk” and hop several times on a single foot. As for the sick visits that I got to observe,
there was a spectrum of common illness as well as some that are more uncommon. For example,
one of the more unique cases included a patient that had pneumonia. During this diagnosis, Dr.
Decker had the patient receive a few chest X-rays after listening to his lungs. Upon looking at the
finished images, it was obvious that there was an infection of sorts in the lower half of his lungs
as there was not as much air space as there should be. Dr. Decker then went on to explain that
there are two types of pneumonia, and this case was a “true” manifestation. He then went on to
inform us that hospitals often claim to have diagnosed patients with pneumonia when the illness
is actually a manifestation of another sickness.

Week of 4/22/19
During my most recent mentorship experience, I was able to shadow Dr. Decker while
we visited with patients who were either injured or getting their yearly well-check completed.
When looking at the cases of the injured patients, my mentor would let me examine their X-rays
first and take a guess as to where I thought their injury had occurred. For the most part, the
injuries were tough to find as each had caused minimal damage. One of the more interesting
cases involved a patient with a bone growth on her humerus. While looking at an X-ray, it was
obvious that the patient had a sizeable, hardened growth that Dr. Decker was concerned about.
Since we could not give her a definite diagnosis, my mentor advised that the patient should get a
biopsy for further information on the lump. Overall, I have been extremely happy with my
mentorship experience this semester as it has introduced me to a completely different side of
medicine that I have not shadowed in before. Dr. Decker has been a wonderful mentor that
gladly taught me throughout my spring visits. Because of the ISM class, I have truly extended
my knowledge regarding different areas of the medical field and how to be a great doctor with a
constantly positive attitude.