After, reading the “Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals,” I chose three core competencies which I believe I can use to evaluate progress in my practicum experience. The competencies include: (1) Analytic/Assessment Skills, (2) Communication Skills, and (3) Community Dimension of Practice Skills. I have chosen these skills because I believe these competencies are important in public health. My Analytic/Assessment Skills are very important in health care, because as health care providers we have to take the time to process all the information we received and not just act quickly. I have to work on this competency, because sometimes I just jump to conclusion and I do not stop and think about all the other circumstances that can be going on. Communication Skills is a competency that is necessary in all the careers, but in health care it is important to know how and when the best time to communicate is. At times, I’m a shy person and I know I have to work on my communication skills. Usually, I just follow directions and I don’t give my opinion or ideas, but I know I have to work on that no matter what the end results will be. The last competency I want to work on is the Community Dimension of Practice Skills, because public health focus on the communities. I want to learn to identify the necessities of the community and help them with resources.
January 04, 2017
Today, was my first day at my practicum site Wichita Medical Research & Education Foundation (WMREF). My main two projects are to help them update the Institutional Review Board (IRB’s) forms and translate some Advance Directive forms. My preceptor gave me a tour of the building and showed me all the forms they need me to update and translate. There are only four people in the building and they gave me a great welcoming and arranged me an office. My preceptor guided me through the computer and showed me where all the forms are located in the computer and how to access them. The executive director decided that my first project will be to translate the Advance Directive forms, because she said “almost every place we present, people will asked for Advance Directive forms in Spanish but we don’t have anything right now in Spanish.” On my first day, I only had time to get familiar with the documents and the information they need me to translate.
On my second day they told me the first priority they wanted me to work on was the Frequent Ask Questions (FAQ’s). I worked on the FAQ’s for next three days the document was almost five pages long. On the fifth day I started on the Living Will document and it was finished at the end of the sixth day. At the beginning of the seventh day I started to work on the third document the Advance Directive for Medical care and I’m still working on it. So far I have learned great information, just by translating some documents. I work in the health care field and I have heard of the Advance Directive forms, but I never knew how easy the process to acquire them was and this is something we need to communicate to the community and have them accessible in as many different languages as possible.
Journal #2
01/16/17
I picked back up on continuing on the translation of the Advance Directive for Medical care or (Durable power of Attorney for health care).
01/17/17
Today, I finished with the Advance Directive for Medical care or (Durable power of Attorney for health care) and started with DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) form.
01/18/17
Today, I attended an IRB meeting. The IRB meetings are to discuss new studies, update the IRB committee about any recent changes in any active studies. They also present any final reports on studies, and to close any miscellaneous studies. During this meeting they present a new study, updated on six previously approved studies, they submitted final reports on two studies and close a miscellaneous study that expired on 12/15/16. The organization did several attempts to contact the investigators, but they did not reply to emails and phone calls, so the IRB committee decided to close the study. The meeting was interesting because they discussed some studies and their preliminaries and I was able understand more about the research world and what research the investigators are doing in the community.
01/19&/20
I continued working on the DNR form and finish it.
01/23/17
Today, both of my preceptors worked from home and on Friday they have told me to start translating the next flyer (Make decision yours). I emailed my preceptors my objectives and goals assignment for them to read through and make any changes if need it.
01/25/17
I got there and reviewed the objectives and goals assignment and they told me that we need it to make some changes and they give some suggestions and told me to bring it next day. I continued working on the Make decision yours flyer.
01/26/17
Today, as I came in the executive director informed me that both of my preceptors were in a webinar meeting about some IRB changes. I just continue working on the Make decision yours flyer and start on t Summary/KS Advance Directives flyer. The webinar was over at 3:30 pm and they had to go to Wesley to meet with the research team to discuss the changes of IRB forms. We didn’t have time to discuss my objectives and goals assignment on this day.
01/27/17
We sign the forms for my objectives and goals assignment, and after I continued working on the Summary/KS Advance Directives flyer.
01/30/17
Today, I finished with the Summary/KS Advance Directives flyer and started on the new flyer Understanding Do not Resuscitate. My preceptors work from home on Mondays, so the executive director informed me that we may have to wait to work on updating IRB forms, because of the new guidelines, but I should wait to talk to my preceptors to see what the new plan is.
Journal # 3
1/31/17
Today, I met with my preceptors to figure out the plan after they had a webinar about the changes on the final rule and how is going to affect IRB intuitions. The main project of my practicum was to help them to update the IRB forms and help them develop some flow charts to make it easier for investigators when they submit a study. They told me for this week just to continue translating some of the flyers about Advance directives while they learn more about the final rule and how is going to affect the research world.
02/02/17
Today, I started on the next flyer Understanding Do Not Resuscitate and almost get it done and made plans with one of my preceptors for next morning to attend to the Health Alliance meeting.
02/03/17
Today, I attended the Health Alliance Meeting. It was a great experience to learn more about what other organization around town are doing to help the community. During the meeting I learned that committees in the Kansas House and Senate have introduced Medicaid expansion bills and on February 8th they are going to have a hearing with the proponents and on the 15th they will have the debate to vote on the law. Also, during the meeting we learned that the YMCA has an adult program for pre-diabetes patients and is going to be the only program in Kansas this year that’s going to qualify to be paid by Medicaid. By knowing this of information I may be able to share it with people in the community. During this meeting I was able to use my communications skills because I also volunteer with The KIDS & SIDS network and the executive directors was not able to be there. She knew I was going to the meeting with practicum and she ask me if I could share with the group of a community baby shower event that the organization is holding on March 4th. It was a little bit intimating because in the room there were around fifty people, but I didn’t let myself be intimidated because I have to get better at my communication skills. Also, during this meeting I was able to use my community dimension skills by learning more about the community and what resources they have. I knew about Grace-Med and Hunter Health clinic having their ACA navigators, but I have never heard of Project Access and they also have trained ACA navigators to help anybody in the community to help them get enrolled in the program.
02/06/17
Today, I finished the flyer Understanding Do Not Resuscitate. My preceptors decided before we start working on the IRB forms it was a great idea for me to learn about the research world. They assigned me some readings such as The Belmont Report, The Declaration of Helsinki, and Nuremberg code. Today, I finish the translation for the last flyer, I started with the Belmont Report.
2/07 and 2/08
These two day I spent my time reading and learning more about the rules and regulations about studies. It was interesting to learn about all basic ethical principles of a research.
2/10 and 2/14
Today, my preceptors believed it was a good idea for me to read through the IRB orientation power point. New IRB members will get more familiar with everything their job includes, the power point is around 150 slides. I learned that the IRB committee reviews three different kinds of studies Exempt, Expedited, and Full Board. Exempt and expedited are reviewed by designee in the organization, but Full Board have to be reviewed by the IRB committee, because they are greater than minimal risk. During all this reading I was able to use my analytical and assessments skills because I was taught the ethical principles of the researches, by reading, searching on the internet for definitions of terms I didn’t understand.
02/15
Today, I was present in the second IRB meeting. It was better than last time because I was able to understand more of the terms they were using during the meeting. During this meeting they presented a two new studies, three quality improvements projects and updated on six previously approved studies, they submitted final reports on four studies.
02/16 and 2/17
My preceptors and I started to design some flow charts on what forms investigators have to submit depending on the kind of study they are doing. It is moderately difficult of hard because you have three different kinds of studies, and you have to ask all kinds of questions such as is there more than one IRB committee involve in the study? Is there minimal risk or greater than minimal risk? We have change our flow charts twice.
Journal #4
02/21/17 & 02/22/17
These two todays my preceptors believed that it was a great
idea to go through 2016 and 2015 studies to get familiar with the submission
process and what forms investigators submit for different studies. They
suggested to keep a list of the forms as I get familiar of the forms for each
different study. I made a flow chart with all the different kinds of studies
and with all the forms the investigator submit. At the end of my second day I
presented the flow chart to both of preceptors, so we can start on the flow
charts. On these two days I was able to use my analytical/assessment skills
because I had to go through different kind of studies and compare them to find
out the differences of the forms. Also, I was able to use my communications
skills because I presented the flow charts to my preceptors.
02/23/17 & 02/24/17
Now, that I’m more familiar with the forms investigators
submit for different studies I started to search the internet to check lists
other IRB’s are using to gather some ideas. My preceptors again wanted me to
put something together and present it to them. At the end of the second day I
presented my ideas to my preceptors and they were extremely pleased with the
check list I created. Once again, on
these two days I was able to use both my analytical/assessment and
communications skills. I used my analytical/assessment skills through surfing
the internet to get ideas of what other IRB committees are using for check
lists. My communication skills where used when I presented my ideas to both of
my preceptors and I was able to answer their questions. I was also able to
share my opinion on how the form should look like.
02/27/17
Today, I was invited to an event WMREF sponsors at Wesley
Medical Center. The event was a roundtable discussion about addressing breast
cancer disparities in our community. During this event I discovered that breast
cancer is a big problem in Africans Americans in our state. In Sedgwick County
between the years of 2010-2014 the percentage was at 32.3 compared to whites
was only 17.6. During this event I was able to use my communications skills
because we were sharing our opinions on how some women are treated differently
in our health care systems. During this event I was able to use my Community
Dimension of Practice Skills because I learned of some of the programs are
available in our state for women to do their yearly visits at low cost or no
cost. The state has a program call the early detection works program where the
women after the age of 40 get a free mammogram each year.
03/01/17
Now, that we have the check list we want to use, we need to
decide what forms need to be updated. Today, I searched for other forms other
IRB’s are using and compared them with other IRB forms I am working on. I was
able to use my analytical/assessment skills because I had to compare the forms
WMREF is using with what other IRB committees are using and make notes.
03/05/17 & 03/06/17
On Mondays both of my preceptors are out of the office, so I
was not able to present to them the forms I wanted to update them on, so they
told me to just start creating the forms and to present to them on Tuesday. On
Tuesday 03/06/ I presented the part of the form I had done to my preceptors and
they were really happy so they told me to just keep working on it.
3/7/17, 3/8/17, and 3/9/17
These three days I worked on updating some of the forms for
the Research Proposal Application the investigators used when they submitted a
new study. I updated the investigator’s summary and the budget forms and
presented to my preceptors. During these three days I was able to utilize my
analytical/ assessment skills because I had to research some other IRB forms
use locally to compare them. My preceptors wanted the forms to be similar, so
when the investigators are using them they are familiar with forms. I also, was
able to implement my communications skills because I had to communicate with my
preceptors about the forms. During the process, I was able to raise my opinion
about the forms and inform my preceptors if I didn’t like some of their ideas.
My preceptors accepted some of my ideas and gave a great explanation when they
didn’t agree with me.
03/13/17
Both of my preceptors work from home on Monday’s. Today, I worked on finishing updating the
investigator’s summary and the budget forms after the changes my preceptors and
I made on Friday.
03/14/17
Today, I presented the forms to my preceptors and decided
what other forms I need it to start working. Today, I was able to practice my
communication skills because I presented the forms to my preceptors and discuss
what other forms we need it to start working on.
03/15/16
Today, we had our IRB meeting. During the meeting the IRB
committee approved four Expedited/Exempt new study approvals and one QI
(Quality improvement) study. The committee approved two continuing review
studies and presented three final reports. They discussed one internal adverse
event in a study and decided that the adverse event was part of the side
effects of the study and decided to continue with study. During the IRB meeting
I was able to utilize my community dimension of practice skills because I was
able to see what research the investigators are doing in the community.
3/21/17, 3/23/17, and 3/24/17
These three days I continued working on more forms for the
Research Proposal Application. I updated the face sheet form, Abstract of
Research Plan, and the Biographical Sketch.
Journal #6
03/28/17
Today, I continued working on updating the IRB forms. At the
end of the day my preceptor gave two Spanish consents to make sure they matched
in English before she approved them with the investigators.
03/29/17
Today, I attended the fourth annual Health care ethics
conference that my practicum site plans every year. The conference was a great
with excellent speakers. The first speaker was Dr. Wynne Morrison, she
discussed ethics at the end of life in pediatrics. She told great stories about
critically ill children and how she always tried to support the parents’
decisions if she knew the patient will live a little bit longer. She stated
“the only time I approached them with other believes is when I know we did everything
medical possible to help the patient.”
Another great speaker was Malachi Winters from the Sedgwick EMS
department. He gave us great examples of when it is appropriate to call 911. He
also explained how EMS department have tried to implement better services for
the EMS department to cope with the all the deaths they deal with. He stated
“we need better services and if you have any suggestions please share them with
me.” It sad to know the EMS department do not have the resources for their
employees to have psychology benefits. On this day I was able to use my
community dimension skills because I learned some of the benefits the EMS
department here in Sedgwick County do not have.
04/03/17 & 04/04/17
These two days I continued working on translating the
consents forms to go over them on Friday with my preceptors.
04/07/17
Today, in the morning I attended the Health Alliance meeting.
The meeting was to covert infant mortality in Sedgwick County. The first
speaker discussed Disparities in infant mortality and explained a program that
is been launch to decreased them; the name of the program is Zero to One. The
second speaker discussed sleep-related deaths. The top three related infant
deaths in Kansas are congenital anomalies, prematurity or low birth weight and
SUID (Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths). She explained how African Americans are
at greater risk to die from SUID. African American babies are 10.1 per 10,000
births more likely to die compare to 5.5 of white babies per 10,000. She also,
explained her programs and how they trying to expend around the state training
safe sleep instructors to train other child care providers about safe sleeps.
The third speaker discussed prematurity and how they are trying to help the
community with that problem. She discussed the Baby Talk program where they
enrolled mothers to receive six prenatal classes to get prepare for the birth
of the baby and help them stay healthy during the pregnancy to help with the
prematurity births. During this meeting I was able to use my community
dimension skills by learning more about the community and what resources they
have in the community for mothers. In the afternoon, I presented the consents I
translated to my preceptors and discuss what was similar and what they can
improve on.
Journal # 7
04/10/17
Today, I was
able to work from home, because my allergies were terrible and with both of the
cats they could worsen. I worked on
updating two forms one was the Resources and Environment form and the other one
was the consent check list. The consent check list was a little bit harder to
proof read because the form is used by the other IRB is just looks different. I
did some research on them, but I still had questions. Today I was able to utilize my analytical/
assessment skills because by researching some information for the consent check
list.
04/11/17
Today, I presented
the two forms to my preceptors and asked the questions I had for them. Both of
the preceptors were satisfied with the forms. One of them just said she want it
to make sure we have everything the code of federal regulation requires for the
informed consents check list. She said “I have to look for some information and
then I want you to make sure all the information is on the check list.” While
she was looking for the information I started working on updating more forms. I
worked on WMREF institutional protocol Addendum form and WMREF Research
Financial Conflict of Interest. At the end of my shift one of the preceptors
gave all the requirements from the code of federal regulation and told me to
work on it next day. Today, I was able to use my communication skills by
communicating my concerns with my preceptors and by presenting the forms to
them.
04/12/17
Today, I
started by working on the consent check list by comparing all the information
my preceptor provided to me the day before. I didn’t have to make any changes
to the form because it already contained all the information ____ requires. I
discussed the form with my preceptors and continue in updating the rest of the
other forms. I started working on the only fillable form that WMREF has right
now and made some adjustments my preceptors needed in the form. Today, I was
able to use my communication skills by communicating with my preceptors about
the new adjustments my preceptors needed in one of the forms and give them some
ideas on the form.
04/17/17, 04/18/17
& 04/19/17
During these
three days, I continued working on updating the forms and putting the new full
application in one document and presented to my preceptor. On Wednesday, I presented the new full
application to both of my preceptors and they were satisfied with my work. We
started to discuss my next small project because it ties with updating all the
forms. They want me to develop a check list for each study they have, so the
investigators know exactly which forms to fill out. Today, I was able to use my
communication skills by presenting the new application to my preceptors and by
discussing all the new forms with them.
04/20/17
Today, I
started to develop a check list for one of the studies and planning on color
coding each check list so it will be easier for the investigator to find them
better.
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