Embedded Files
Week of 9/23/19:
This week I met with Joseph Ingriselli, a physical therapist at Advanced Physical Therapy LLC in Farmington, CT for the Capstone Networking Event. Joseph and I had a solid conversation about my project and driving question. He provided with me with a lot of useful advice that will help me throughout my project. He also gave me the contact information of the some of the physician assistants he knows in the field that I can reach out to about shadowing. To the right are my notes from our meeting and his business card.
NetworkingNotesCapstone Networking Event Notes
Week of 9/30/19:
This week I worked in depth on my design plan. I outlined my goals, anticipated outcomes, potential audiences, prior knowledge, anticipated obstacles, and the anticipated time it will take me to work on this project. I completed an initial draft of my project design plan and had it peer reviewed by Rachel Higley. To the right are the suggestions that she gave. I peer reviewed Rachel's project design plan and gave her suggestions as well. After that, I updated my design plan and made some final revisions to ensure that I am ready to submit my project design plan to the steering committee next week.
Design Plan Peer RevisionPeer-reviewed Project Design Plan
Week of 10/7/19:
This week I worked on updating my design plan after feedback from Ms. Tebbetts and Mrs. Stokoe. I also attended to UConn Health Center Library field trip and learned about how to find quality scholarly articles on PubMed and Scopus. I found a multitude of great articles that I plan on utilizing in the future. I am currently in the preliminary stages of my research and notes. I found my first article and began taking notes on it. In addition, I received my feedback form that was completed by Joe from the Capstone Networking Event.
Feedback FormCapstone Networking Event Feedback Form
Week of 10/14/19
This week I finished taking notes on my first article, "Medial Patello-Femoral Ligament Reconstruction for Patellar Dislocation: A Systematic Review". My notes from this article can be found under the "Research" tab of this website. This article proved to be very helpful as it provided a baseline assessment on the effectiveness of an MPFL Reconstruction prior to any other surgeries such as the tibial tubercle osteotomy. I've updated my annotations in Noodle-tools for this journal as well. At the end of the week I submitted my design plan to the steering committee.
Week of 10/21/19
This week I annotated and took notes on my second article, "A Modified Tibial Tubercle Osteotomy for Patellar Mal-tracking". This article discussed the effectiveness of a tibial tubercle osteotomy in efforts to reduce patellar instability and mal-tracking. The experiment concluded that this procedure did in fact reduce symptoms and help with patellar issues. I updated Noodle-tools as well. In addition, my design plan was accepted by the steering committee (can be found under the "Design Plan" tab) and I wrote my design plan reflection (can be found under the "Reflection" tab).
Week of 10/28/19
This week I spent time revising my "Design Plan Reflection" (can be found under the "Reflection" tab) by adding more depth and sophistication. I've also begun searching for new scholarly articles for article #3. In addition, I began to draft an email to some physician assistants in my community to inquire about shadowing.
Week of 11/4/19
This week I have been working on various tasks such as reaching out to PA's in my community and getting to know the Tunxis Medical Terminology Course website. I called a few Urgent Care facilities in the Farmington Valley area and I'm waiting for calls back. We spent class time making sure that we can log into our Tunxis account and familiarized ourselves with the site. We will be starting this course next week. We also made LinkedIn accounts to hopefully find some more community connections.
My LinkedIn Home Page
Week of 11/11/19
On Monday and Friday, my capstone class made a group circle and we went around one by one and talked for one minute about our community connections. I talked about how I've had no luck so far finding community connections. I've called multiple local urgent cares and been in contact with nurse practitioners who never call me back even after I make a follow-up call. After talking about these challenges, a peer mentioned a PA that she knows who would be more than willing to help me. I plan to learn more and reach out to this PA. On Wednesday, my class began the Tunxis Community College Online Medical Terminology Course. I completed Module 1 and I'm currently working on Module 2.
Week of 11/18/19
I called both the orthopedic department at the UConn Health Center and the Elite Sports Medicine wing of CCMC and inquired about shadowing. I received calls back from both hospitals and was sent forms to fill out before I can shadow. I completed the forms and sent them back to both places. I have a specific RPN that I will be shadowing at UConn, and there are three possible PA's that I could shadow at CCMC (whichever has the availability I will shadow). Once my forms are processed, I will receive specific dates at both hospitals in which I can come in and spend a day shadowing. I'm currently working on my notes from Article #4 (can be found under the "Research" tab) which are due on December 2nd.
Week of 11/25/19
This was a shortened week due to Thanksgiving Break, however I was still able to get some work done. I completed the first lesson of the online medical terminology course and am currently working on the second. I also reached out to both the Elite Sports Medicine Department at CCMC as well as the Musculoskeletal Unit at the UConn Health Center. I was unfortunately unable to set up shadowing at UConn because I'm not 18 years old. But, I've been in communication with staff at Elite Sports Medicine and plan to set up a full day shadow with a PA.
Week of 12/2/19
This week I continued to work on the Tunxis Community College Online Medical Terminology Course. I'm almost finished with the third lesson. I also filed my paperwork to CCMC and I'm currently waiting for a response from the organizer to set up a time to shadow one of their PA's.
Week of 12/9/19
This week I finished all of the medical terminology lessons available and am currently waiting for the next one to come out. I'm still waiting on a response from the woman I've been in contact with at Elite Sports Medicine (CCMC). If I don't hear back soon, I plan to send a follow-up email. In class, we learned about our upcoming midyear presentations and also watched an example of what it should be like. Currently I'm working on Article Notes #5.
Week of 12/16/19
I finished my Article 5 Notes (can be found under the "Research" tab) and also completed lessons 9 and 10 of the Medical Terminology Course. Over break I plan to begin working on my midyear presentation which is on January 12th, 2020. I'm still waiting to hear back from CCMC regarding shadowing.
Week of 12/23/19
This week was winter break, so I decided to take some time off from capstone work.
Week of 12/30/19
This week I got back in touch with CCMC to follow up about shadowing. It turns out, the lady that I was in contact with no longer works at CCMC. So, I forwarded all of my documents and everything to the new lady. After she talked it over with her manager, they came to the conclusion that the previous lady, Ashley Kelsey, spoke too soon, and that I wasn't actually allowed to shadow because I'm too young. Now, I'm currently working on finding a new source to shadow soon. I also completed the Tunxis Medical Terminology Course. To the right is my certification of completion.
Tunxis Medical Terminology Course Certificate of Completion
Week of 1/6/20
This week I focused on preparing and practicing my Midyear Presentation. On Friday, January 10th, I presented my presentation in front of the Career Capstone class. I got a lot of good feedback that I plan on entering into my digital portfolio next week. The feedback I received can be found under the "Midyear Presentation" tab.
Week of 1/13/20
This week I focused on updating my digital portfolio. I also had my midyear meeting with Dr. Monaghan where we talked about the progress I've made so far this year and what I plan to do in the next half of the year. After talking, I decided that I need to make shadowing hours a top priority of mine in order to reach the 15 hour mark. With that said, I plan on reaching out to more physician assistants and possibly setting up a meeting with Mr. Netcoh, the activities advisor, to talk about possible shadowing opportunities.
Week of 1/20/20
This week I continued to update my digital portfolio. I worked on completing any weekly logs that I missed and adding documents as well. I finished my reflection for Midyear Presentation (can be found under the "Reflection" tab) and submitted it to Google Classroom.
Week of 1/27/20
This week I called Advanced Physical Therapy (APT) LLC in Farmington, CT and inquired about shadowing opportunities. I had initially planned to shadow Joe Ingriselli, a physical therapist at APT, as he was the one I had a conversation with at the Capstone Networking Event. He was already mentoring someone, so I decided to mentor his colleague Lindsay Vose. I was able to book one shadowing visit for Wednesday February 5th from 3:00-4:00 and one for February 14th. In class, Mrs. Tolles (the literary specialist) came in to discuss how we should go about writing our research paper. We did an initial flash draft where we spent 15 minutes writing about our topic. To the right is my flash draft document. This flash draft was very beneficial because it helped me identify what research I still need to do in order to write a successful and well-rounded research paper.
Week of 2/3/20
This week I met with Mr. Netcoh from the career center. We discussed some places and people I could reach out to in order to get some shadowing hours. To the right are my notes from our conversation. As of right now I have no hours because every place I've contacted has an age requirement of 18 years old and I'm still 17. On Wednesday February 5th, I shadowed Lindsay Vose at Advanced Physical Therapy LLC in Farmington from 3:00-4:00pm. Lindsay had no patients at that time, so I spent the hour asking her a lot of questions about her job, her college experience, daily life, etc. I posted the notes I took from this in the Community Connections section on this website. This was a really cool experience and it felt good to finally be able to shadow someone. After talking, Lindsay and I decided that I will come in every Friday from 2:00 to 5:00pm. I'm very grateful that she gave me this opportunity and look forward to going back next week. In addition, I finished my outline for the research paper which was due on Feb. 5th. 500+ words of our research paper was due on Friday Feb. 7th, which I turned in. A lot of my paper right now is messy and I just wrote a few paragraphs that I knew I was going to include, but it does not have a lot of organization yet.
netcohNotes from meeting with Mr. Netcoh
Week of 2/10/20
On Monday Feb. 10th, we had our third CPR class. For this class, we went into the gym and actually practiced performing CPR on a dummy patient. I couldn't participate in it because I have very bad knees and couldn't kneel on the ground to perform CPR. Ms. Stokoe said that during the actual CPR test, the dummy will be on one of the bleachers so I can stand and perform it rather than kneel on the ground. On Wednesday Feb. 12th, 1000+ words were due for our research papers. Over the weekend, I worked on continuing my paper and also organizing all of my thoughts logically. I was able to also make a list of some things that I still needed to research that would be an important asset to my paper. On Friday Feb. 14th I shadowed Lindsay again from 2:00-5:00pm (notes from this visit can be found under the "Community Connections" tab). Unlike last time, there were a lot of patients that both Lindsay and her coworker Joe Ingriselli were working with. There were six patients that I was able to interact with. Lindsay introduced each patient to me and told me about what they were focusing on that session. After that, Lindsay worked with each individual patient. I took notes about how Lindsay went about treating each patient based on their ability and age.
Week of 2/17/20
On Friday Feb. 21st, our full research paper was due. I'm very proud of my research paper as I worked extremely hard on it. In class on Friday, we were paired up and exchanged our paper with a peer. We spent the entire class peer reviewing and took the papers home with us to continue the review process. Next Wednesday we will return the papers to the writer and give them some verbal feedback as well. After school on Friday from 2:00-5:00pm I went back to APT to shadow Lindsay (notes from this shadowing visit can be found under the "Community Connections" tab.
Week of 2/24/20
On Monday, we got CPR certified in the gym by Ms. Stokoe and Ben Troup. We had to properly care for a "person" who was unresponsive and had collapsed on the ground. We went through the proper procedure such as chest compressions and breathes. We did 3 sets of 30 compressions. On Friday, we turned in our final research paper to Ms. Stokoe and Ms. Tebbetts. After school on Friday, I went to APT again to shadow Lindsay from 2:00-6:00 (notes from this visit can be found under the "Community Connections" tab). I was able to interact with her new patients as well as patients that I had already met previously. They had a lot of patients this time from all age groups so I was able to learn about the different care and precautions they take with certain ages.
Week of 3/2/20
On Monday, Ben Troup (a local EMT) and Ms. Stokoe (my capstone instructor) instructed us on first aid, such as how to identify and treat certain injuries/emergencies. We had no class on Wednesday due to the odd half day schedule. On Friday, we worked on updating our digital portfolios. I worked on updating my project documentation and also uploading my notes from shadowing to Community Connections as well. After school on Friday I shadowed Lindsay for the fifth time from 2:00pm-5:00pm. My notes from this shadowing visit can be found under the "Community Connections" tab of this website. I was able to connect with patients I had previously met and also interacted with with new patients.
Week of 3/9/20
This week, we worked on updating our digital portfolios. Last week, I updated the majority of it. So, this week I worked on making my digital portfolio more aesthetically pleasing. I added some pictures and also some background images. A guest speaker was supposed to come in on Friday to talk about her project from last year, but she had to cancel. My goal for the coming weeks is to finish the rest of my shadowing hours. I need 5 more hours. But, since everything in Farmington is closing until who knows when, I plan to text Lindsay and ask her if APT is still open and if I can come shadow. If not, that I will plan on reaching out to individuals through LinkedIn and request to do an interview over Google Hangout, Skype, or FaceTime.
Week of 3/16/20
Due to the current unknown circumstances with COVID-19, I did not complete any work this week. However, texted Lindsay Vose at APT, my shadowing mentor, to see if I should still come in to shadow on Friday 3/20/20 from 2pm-5pm given the circumstances. She said that the clinic is still open, but they are limiting the number of people in the clinic at one time. So, she suggested that I don't come in, but she will get in touch with me if anything changes. My conversation with her can be seen on the right.
LindsayConversation with Lindsay
Week of 3/23/20
On Monday 3/23/20, we were introduced to the new Connected Learning protocol. Our task for today was to continue working on our digital portfolio and turn in any revised work. I updated the project documentation slide of my portfolio and also revised my Midyear Presentation Reflection and turned it in (this can be found under the "Reflection" tab). I also started to look into other ways I can get my community contact hours.
Week of 3/30/20
This week, we received feedback from our research papers, so I spent some of this week worked revising it. The main thing I had to fix was the order of my citations. To the right is the feedback that my capstone advisor, Mrs. Tebbetts, gave me. In addition to this, I also continued to work on updated my digital portfolio as Quarter Three ends next week. I made sure that I had everything listed on the Digital Portfolio Quarter Three Check List. Lastly, I watched a YouTube Video about the MPFL Reconstruction surgery, took notes on it, and wrote a reflection so it would count towards a community contact hour since we aren't able to go out and get hours at the moment. I also tuned in to a Zoom call from Drexel University about health sciences and the PA program. Below I have attached the forms I filled out for each contact hour.
FeedbackResearch Paper Feedback from Mrs. Tebbetts
Week of 4/5/20
I spent the majority of this week revising my research paper using the feedback that Mrs. Tebbetts provided me. The major thing I had to do was make sure to add some information in about patellar instability in adolescents because that's what my question is focused around. My research didn't pertain to adolescents as most studies are done on adults, so I had to clarify that a goal for future researchers should be to conduct these studies on adolescents as they are the major population affected by patellar instability. I emailed my revised copy of my research paper to Mrs. Tebbetts.
Week of 4/12/20
On April 17, I received news from Mrs. Tebbetts, one of my capstone advisors, that my revised research paper earned "advanced". To the right is the confirmation of my score. Other than that, this week I continued to work on updating my digital portfolio.
Advanced2Week of 4/19/20
Throughout this week, I worked on completing the rest of my alternative contact hours.
Week of 4/26/20
This week I worked on completing the rest of my alternative contact hours. Once I did that, I completed the Fieldwork Verification Form. Lindsay Vose, my shadowing mentor, sent my capstone advisors an email confirming that I shadowed her for a total of 10.5 hours. Then, I uploaded my verification form to Google Classroom on by the deadline on Friday, May 1. My completed verification form can be seen to the right.
Week of 5/3/20
Throughout this week, I spent the majority of my time updating and finalizing my digital portfolio which is due to the steering committee on May 8th at 2:30pm. I worked on making my portfolio more aesthetically pleasing, adding missing items, and organizing documents. The major thing I was missing was the screen capture introduction for the home page. Therefore, I followed the directions from our technology specialist, Mr. Marshall, and recorded the screencast. I followed the "Checklist for Digital Portfolio End-of-Year" which can be seen to the right. I uploaded my digital portfolio to the master bucket in the capstone Google Classroom on Friday, May 8 for the steering committee to review.
ChecklistCompleted Digital Portfolio End-of-Year Checklist
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