Original Work Proposal

Family practice includes the medical treatment of all genders and ages and addresses

illness related to all organ system and every disease entity. Family practice focuses on treating

and diagnosing the entire family. Therefore, family practice medical providers tend to care for a

patient through their entire life, birth to old age. Family practice physician assistants manage

patients with chronic conditions, prescribe medication, perform physical exams, order and

interpret lab, and diagnose or treat illnesses and injuries. The most common illnesses seen in

family practice offices include bronchitis, diabetes, headaches and migraines, asthma, bladder

infection, and finally respiratory and sinus infections. However, most of these illnesses can be

prevented to reduce the risk of doctor visits. This idea led to my plan for my original work in

Independent and Study Mentorship. I plan to create an informational infographic regarding ways

to prevent these reoccuring illnesses such as the common cold.

In my Independent and Study Mentorship class, I will shadow a family medicine

physician assistants. By doing this I will gain more experience and knowledge which I can use in

drafting my original work. I am hoping by shadowing in the clinic and having patient

interactions, I can observe why patients still are being treated for these reoccuring, preventable

illnesses. The first step in developing my original work is to talk to my mentor and get their

opinion on the importance of living a healthy lifestyle to keep the body in balance and the

immune system functioning efficiently to defend against illnesses. From there, I will begin to

research further to collect data and evidence I can use in my informational pamphlet.

I will use higher level thinking to effectively create an informational pamphlet that can be

used in the family practice clinic. My hope is that by creating my original work, it can actually

be applied and used in the clinic. By creating this informational pamphlet, my goal is to reduce

the amount of common cold or flu cases in the clinic.