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Archive for year: 2015
Technological Advancements
Due to the advancements of technology, Jenna and I thought it would be beneficial to research current cardiac applications available on our smart phones from the patient’s perspective; HeartDecide was quickly discovered. This free application, available for all Apple products, introduced an all-encompassing cardiovascular easy-to-use tool for patients to understand their respective cardiac anatomy, conditions, and procedures. Although this application was released in 2012 by Orca Health, Inc. at Harvard University, it is continuously updating its information with a copyright date until 2015. Once downloaded, the user has the option of entering the application as a doctor, nurse, or patient. We reviewed the information as if we were a patient, browsing to find a specific medical condition. For instance, we searched “heart attack” via the “conditions” tab and found a simple video lasting 1 minute and 32 seconds. In addition, there are written materials provided after the video by swiping the screen to the left. Here we found a frequently asked question and answer section detailing “what is a heart attack,” “what causes a heart attack,” “what are the symptoms,” and “how is a heart attack treated.” Furthermore, there are numerous conditions available to search such as angina, atherosclerosis, atrial fibrillation, sudden cardiac death, heart failure, and many more. We both believe this to be a great informational tool for patients in order to understand more about their clinical condition.
HeartDecide can be used as a supplemental tool to the education provided by the cardiologist. Often, when patients are newly diagnosed with a cardiac condition or a trauma occurs, they are not able to fully comprehend and/or process the education provided by the clinicians. They can learn great detail about their condition(s) on their own time once they are psychologically prepared to do so. Therefore, we highly recommend this application to all clients with a cardiac condition <3
Project 1
After reading Detroit by Lisa D’ Armour and Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire I would recommend the business and drama program perform Detroit by Lisa D’ Armour. The play Detroit touches many social economic issues in modern day America such as the loss of the American middle-class, which leads to the distortion of social relations. Both plays touch on the differences between the classes yet I found Detroit to be much more entertaining with its elaborate use of controlled chaos.
Link to full report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yiyGr3XA7NUvoz5aTyW2i8WmGStZU9a26VRnXjaHdjw/edit?usp=sharing
Cardiovascular Technological Advancement
Due to the advancements of technology, Allie and I thought it would be beneficial to research current cardiac applications available on our smart phones from the patient’s perspective; HeartDecide was quickly discovered. This free application, available for all Apple products, introduced an all-encompassing cardiovascular easy-to-use tool for patients to understand their respective cardiac anatomy, conditions, and procedures. Although this application was released in 2012 by Orca Health, Inc. at Harvard University, it is continuously updating its information with a copyright date until 2015. Once downloaded, the user has the option of entering the application as a doctor, nurse, or patient. We reviewed the information as if we were a patient, browsing to find a specific medical condition. For instance, we searched “heart attack” via the “conditions” tab and found a simple video lasting 1 minute and 32 seconds. In addition, there are written materials provided after the video by swiping the screen to the left. Here we found a frequently asked question and answer section detailing “what is a heart attack,” “what causes a heart attack,” “what are the symptoms,” and “how is a heart attack treated.” Furthermore, there are numerous conditions available to search such as angina, atherosclerosis, atrial fibrillation, sudden cardiac death, heart failure, and many more. We both believe this to be a great informational tool for patients in order to understand more about their clinical condition.
HeartDecide can be used as a supplemental tool to the education provided by the cardiologist. Often, when patients are newly diagnosed with a cardiac condition or a trauma occurs, they are not able to fully comprehend and/or process the education provided by the clinicians. They can learn great detail about their condition(s) on their own time once they are psychologically prepared to do so. Therefore, we highly recommend this application to all clients with a cardiac condition <3
The use of mobile technology to enhance CVD screening
Recognizing those at risk for CVD is a primary prevention. I found a study that compared a the use of a non-laboratory, paper-based CVD risk assessment chart tool to a mobile phone CVD risk assessment application. The goal was to compare the time it would take to train community health workers, the duration of screening. The paper-based tool was created to avoid laboratory costs; the tool substitutes the body-mass-index for blood lipid level to calculate the CVD risks. This makes screening easier and the best part is that it is cost effective. The development of the mobile device was so it could automatically calculate CVD risks scores with less room for error due to manual calculations and so it could be directly carried into communities. This is an excellent resource that is being used in low-resource settings. The mobile device is also better than the paper-based tool because it can be used by those with a lower set of skills.
The use of the mobile device had some pros and cons. One positive outcome was that it took less time to train personnel in the use of the mobile device compared with the paper-based tool. The mobile device was faster at yielding results. Many of the health care workers felt that there was less room for error because they did not have to manually do calculations. Some cons were that in previous times the visual chart was being used to explain to clients what their results meant. Many also felt that having the detailed chart gave them a better understanding of calculating the risk but with the phone everything was basically done for them.
I really liked this article because it talked about how technology is being used in lower income settings were detecting those at risk for CVD is a high priority. This mobile device it taken into communities, which in my opinion is the way to go because some clients have difficulties with transportation. The device can then calculate the client’s CVD risk and they are then educated or referred to a health care provider. Having a tool that requires little training, has little room for error, and yields quicker results will enhance CVD screening. This is important because the more people that are being screened the more people we can prevent from developing CVD. A con that I would also have trouble with is the fact that the machine is doing everything and when compared to the paper-tool where the calculations were being done and understood by the workers I am not sure how well the workers would understand what the results actually mean when using this technology. The article mentioned that this is being done in South Africa but this would be nice to have in our communities where many are not screened for CVD as a result of more than one obstacle.
References
Surka, S., Edirippulige, S., Steyn, K., Gaziano, T., Puoane, T., & Levitt, N. (2014). Evaluating the use of mobile phone technology to enhance cardiovascular disease screening by community health workers. International Journal Of Medical Informatics, 83(9), 648-654. doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2014.06.008
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Ethics Statement
A great set of ethics that I feel can be implemented just about anywhere are the six pillars of character. If you can demonstrate; trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship you will able to build a great community.
Statement of Ethics
After having a discussion with a couple of my peers we agreed that it would be a nice touch to add the following quotes to any statement of ethics in the peer mentoring area.
- “Treat others as you would like to be treated”
- “Think before you act”
- “Honesty is the best policy”
I think that, at times, quotes have a bigger resonance with people then a list of rules and complicated descriptions. Although such things are necessary to run an appropriate organization, little things like quotes can have more meaning and influence on individuals.
Oh Decisions Decisions
In bulletin one it discusses a situation in which a student partakes in an activity that if caught would be considered a felony and how nothing bad has happened as a response to their action. As a peer educator is is important in this situation to report the incident due to the nature of it being an illegal action as mentioned in principal 10. Another way of dealing with the situation is asking the student to not only consider the consequences of their actions upon themselves, but how it may impact other students. It is important to remind the student that laws are their to protect not only our well being, but also the well being of others. Most of the possible consequences of this situation are the student reminding you to mind your own business or potentially even being threatened as you are trying to make the student confess to a felony they committed.
In bulletin three it discusses a situation in which you feel attraction toward a person who you have been tutoring and how you considering going to a third party to determine wether they were mutually interested. As a peer educator you must remember the concepts of principals seven and eight that deal with dealing with people you may have pleasant or unpleasant feelings about. While it would be pleasant to be able to work around this situation there is no real way to deal with this situation without informing the person and breaking some code of conduct. No real consequences exist from the solutions I proposed besides holding onto your feelings and not being able to express how you feel towards someone.
What Do I Do? What Do I Say?
Real Life Ethics.
- As a discussion leader of a group, you notice a student with whom you have had an unresolved conflict during the past year. You have strong feelings and reactions to seeing this individual.
- The principle most applicable to this situation is principle number 7. This principle states that one must “continue to deal appropriate(ly) when working with persons for whom you feel some aversion.” Personally, I would be as professional as possible in this situation. I would hide and mask my feelings and continue with my designated tasks. If, at the end, I still feel bothered by the situation, I would ask that individual if we could talk about this conflict in private. In this situation, I believe that principle 5 also comes into play. Principle 5 states that one must “show respect and dignity for other individuals.” Even though I have a conflict with this individual, it does not constitute my right to show him/her any less respect than anyone else who is in the room. If, our conflict can not be resolved after privately meeting, I would nonetheless continue to treat this person in a civil, respectable, and professional way.
- You are interacting with a person who has a political or moral viewpoint that differs from yours. You find this viewpoint reprehensible, although it could be understood as acceptable based upon this student’s culture and value system. You want to argue a different point of view.
- The principle most applicable to this situation is principle number 5: one must “show respect and dignity for other individuals.” I feel that this type of situation occurs quite often due to the fact that every person is different, causing everyone to have different ideals and political standings. One must learn to hear what people have to say and not become instantly aggravated when what they hear is not in line with their views. Everyone has the right to express what they believe. One must learn to retain their emotions and not argue with individuals. Here is where I believe principle 6 comes into play; one must “understand [their] own personal bias and avoid imposing this bias on others.” We all have our own way of thinking. It is not right of us to tell people that their beliefs are wrong, for what is right depends on the eyes of the beholder. When it comes down to it, people have to learn to respect others and their beliefs, regardless to whether they agree with them to not.
