My Internship
My Site
We are looking at Obstructive sleep apnea sleep studies in children from ages 1 y to 18 y. We have look at this data and encoded information like age, date of referral versus when they got the study done, were they diagnosed with sleep apnea, and what the recommendations the doctors gave to treat it. This information helps us see how many children were referred and how long it took them to get their sleep study and who actually has sleep apnea. All of this information is important for the next task to look at socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and race and why that causes a delay in diagnosis for some children. We will focus on looking at parent’s education and where the family lives to determine socioeconomic status. From a survey that the parents fill out we will be able to look at race and ethnicity. We will be able to draw conclusions from all this data together.
What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea?
OSA is a sleep-related breathing disorder where there is a decrease or complete stop of airflow through the airway
OSA and Behavior
OSA is important to diagnose because it does not just affect lives at night time. During the day, it can cause poor concentration, irritability, daytime sleepiness. At night, it causes pauses in breathing, gasping for air, and restless sleep. Overall, it can cause high blood pressure, increased risk for heart attack, heart disease, and stroke.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea Disparities:
In Fall 2020, I have worked on a team looking at ethnic and socio-economic disparities in children and why that causes them to have a delay in diagnosis and treatment for Obstructive sleep apnea. I have been inputting data on my team into Redcap from sleep studies and this data tells us whether the child has OSA and their other diagnosis found through the sleep study. Although coding data may seem small, my team has coded thousands of sleep studies. The small steps in this data have led to the first steps towards finding out why some races, ethnicities, and SES have a delay in being diagnosed with OSA. This data will help doctors educate people on the importance of following through with a sleep study and getting diagnosed.
My Reflection
At my internship site, I've learned the importance of community within the workplace. My site asks every week what is new or going on in our lives which helps us create relationships and care for each other. When we know about each other and their goals then it is easy for our supervisors to create networks for us. I have been able to watch my supervisors manage a team. They always are taking notes and answering questions when people need help. This reminds me to be available to the people that I am overseeing.
I have seen people on my team be really knowledgeable about the research and I admire this professionally. I want to ensure that I can explain my research to people who have no prior knowledge about it, so it is easy for them to understand. I have loved being apart of a professional world and working on a project with a much greater purpose. My site has been connected with researchers all over the country; this isn't work just local and it now has an impact on the whole nation.
My Poster
Abby LHSI Poster draft 3 mm edits .pptx