Over the break, I plan to research the question of how well our doctors are meeting the public's expectations. I have a pretty good idea of how to present this at the end. I'm going to make a survey that I'll pass out when we get back and gather a few video clips to make the presentation nicer. It's going to suck to have to blog all of it though. It's ridiculous that these breaks are intended to give students a chance to relax, and yet teachers give us more work than usual during them. No wonder why kids today are so stressed out and overly medicated. I understand not wasting the time for interviews in this particular class, but anything else is uncalled for. Okay, I'm done ranting. Here's a funny video I'm going to use in my presentation:

Coming Soon...

I've got a lot of research now on women in neurology, so I want to interview a male physician and get the other point of view. I have someone lined up, but before I contact him I want to have a substantial amount of things to talk about. The next step will be researching the question about medical profficiency. Once I have most of that covered, I'll set up a meeting to talk about both questions. I think I'm going to make another survey. This time it will actually serve a purpose, at least.

I was watching tv last night and found a show called "Married to Medicine". I was actually really excited because I thought it was going to be about strong, independent women doctors. The description said something about balancing home life with the hectic work schedule. I thought, "Yes. This is exactly what young girls need to see on tv. Something to aspire to." But I was so, so wrong. Instead, the first thing I see is a loud, obnoxious rich woman yelling at a group of other rich women. She was saying that she didn't want to "start any drama" and that everyone was trying to exclude her from some party. She wasn't a doctor; she was an unemployed, pampered doctor's wife. Her whole goal in life was to find a rich man to take care of her and buy her nice things. It was disgusting. And we wonder why there aren't more young women coming into the field of medicine. It's because they are told by the media to be housewives instead of proffesionals. It really pisses me off.

I've been trying to find conferences about women in medicine. A lot of medical colleges hold them, but they've passed by now. There was even one on Friday that I just missed! I'm going to have to watch them on youtube instead, but I can't do that in school. After that... I don't know. Interviews, I guess. I'm a bit stuck right now. I want to get a detailed picture of this issue, but I don't know what else I can do. I'm going to see where the videos lead me.

Mr. Shtino lent me a scifi book last week and I read one story about a neuroscientist. It's called "Flowers for Algernon." In the story, a mentally handicapped man in his late 30's is chosen for a medical experiment that triples his inteligence. It is implied that some type of brain surgery is preformed, but they don't go into details. As his IQ rises, he learns that his friends have been abusing him and he was treated like a worthless fool. He eventually becomes more intelligent than the doctors that preformed the study. He realizes that the effects are only temporary and is terrified of returning to his previous state. When he does, it devastates him. This is an important concept to keep in mind when discussing neurological testing because doctors don't always understand the impact of their work. When I start to research the future of neurology, I should try to think of the unanticipated consequences that will result from each technology.

I went to the doctor's office the other day and got a quote from a female physician. Besides that, I've been researching more for the women in neuroscience question and I think I'm set for now. My next task is to get some interviews to back it up. The problem is that I don't want to conduct an entire interview for only one set of questions. I'm going to have to make up a bunch of sub-questions that a person could answer in case their first response is, "No, I don't see too much discrimination in the workplace." That will happen this weekend hopefully. I"ll probably start it on Monday, though, because I'll be doing an english essay all weekend. Thanks a lot Shtino :P

So I met with Mrs. Repasy and we worked out how I'm tying the research questions into a presentation. To clarify, question #1 is going to introduce the topic of Neurology and set the stage for later discussions. Questions #2 and 3 will give people and idea about the field of Neurology today. The last question will apply Neuroscience to people everywhere and show them what to expect in the future..... you know what I just noticed? No matter how many times I do it, I always forget that Neurology and Neuroscience shouldn't be capitalized. It's like a freudian slip or something.

The first new line of research i'm going into is about women in neuroscience. All the people I've talked to said that it was a big part of the career that I need to consider. I 've spent the last two days researching it and believe that it is something worth addressing in my presentation. Neurologists seem to be pretty diverse gender wise, but there is a strong male majority in surgery. One of my interviewees described it as, "a boys club," a phrase that is continuing to pop up in my studies. It seems that women are even being discouraged to go into surgery by their medical school counsilors! “Women are dissuaded from the field being told that they won’t make as good a surgeon as a man." Part of me wants to work harder at it in an attempt to make these (expletive)'s think twice, but I don't know if I can keep calm in this kind of environment. I couldn't sit there and take that.

I saw this a while ago and thought it was funny. I never actually posted it, though, so here it is:

The reason I changed my old research questions is that I started getting really bored with the project. I felt like I was answering the same questions over again and that the level of detail would break people's interest. These are the questions I really want answered now that i've gone deeper into the subject. I think that no matter how interested you are in medicine, things that cause controversy get attention. Everyone will want to put their words into the mix. If I'm going to be going into this field, I also think that I should be prepared to deal with things like sexism. I don't want to get caught up in the job and lose sight of how I'm coming off to my patients, either. The other two questions are about introducing the topic and getting people to see how the future will be changed by Neuroscience. I'm going to take the information I have about the two jobs and move onto the other questions for now. I've got to put in the time to figure out how to get that done. It might be hard to find interviewees who will talk openly about these things. I guess this is where the internet research begins.

Okay, I've got my research questions down. No promises, but I think these are going to be it.

1) What are the differences between jobs in neurosurgery and neurology?
2) Are modern medical proffessionals meeting the expectations the public has of them?
3) What is it like for women in neurology?
4) Where is neruoscience headed in the future?

I would write more but I have to go see what this Harlem Shake business is about. Something's going down.

1) What is your job like day to day?
2) How does a hospital run?
3) What kind of procedures are done?
4) What is the basic format of a surgery?
5) What kind of person do you have to be/ what skills do you need to be a surgeon?
6)  What kinds of opportunites are you given because of your job?
7) What kind of salary can you expect as you rise in the ranks?
8) How do you deal with job related stress? 
9) Is the pressure worth it?
10) Does it get easier? At what point do you get used to it?

These were my original interview questions for neurosurgeons. Now I need to adapt them for the neurologist. I think I'm going to make the project about both jobs. I can definitely use some of these today, and when I get more surgeons to interview I can compare the answers. So for the neurologits...

1) What is your job like day to day?
                - Where do you work now?
                - What kind of patients do you see?
                - What are your responsibilities?
                - How do you treat an illness? What power do you have to do so?
                - How stressful is it? Comparatively? 
2) What qualities/skills are needed to be a neurologist?
3) What kind of opportunities are you given because of your job? 
4) What kind of salary can you expect as you rise in the ranks?
5) What do you enjoy most about your job?

I only have thirty minutes with her, so I hope I can get some thorough answers for some of these, at least. I really have to be on my game today. Update post coming soon.

I finally figured out why I was having so much trouble finalizing my topic. I always thought that in neuroscience, I had to choose between surgery and research. I completely forgot about Neurologists. Looking back on my early posts, I noticed that I never even mentioned a diagnostic branch. I realize that going into this project, I didn't have as clear an idea about what Neurology was as I thought. If my recent blogs have been a bit confusing, it's because I forgot that research was a totally different thing which I haven't even been looking into; in mixing up the two, I was under the impression that I'd moved the project away from diagnostics. I know that I really shouldn't be changing the project this late, but to avoid further confusion, I'm just going to title it Neurology. I feel like the project has taken on a life of its own. I can't even control where it's going anymore. I don't think it would be practical to decide on what it's going to be just yet, so I'm going to gather information on everything and see where that leads me. So far it's taken me to Starbucks, so that must be a good omen.

Despite forgetting to blog it, I actually did do that research. I found a good foundation for neurology questions. One of the pages I found detailed the specific differences between neurologists and neurosurgeons. Luckily, the questions i have or the surgeons don't need to be adapted too much. I got the specifics down for the meeting tomorrow. Starbucks, 3:00-3:30. I'm a little worried that I won't be able to get enough in that time. My last interview took two hours. I'm going to have to spend the whole morning shaping the directions I need the questions to lead me in. I'd do it now, but I'm at a baby shower. I imagined it would be more fun; I've been sitting here for two hours listening to my mom's friends talk about diaper cakes. If you don't know what that is, I advise you to never find out.

The neurologist said that she would be in touch sometime later in the week. I'm pretty sure we're set for Sunday. I've been so stressed out lately it's hard to focus on the research. I took on too much at once and now i'm juggling three video contracts, this project, and a multicultural day booth. No matter how hard I try I can't do it all myself. I figured that anyone I asked for help would make up an excuse to get out of the work, but the reality is even more frustrating. These kids I'm working with say they'll get things done and then just don't do it! They have no sense of responsibility. I feel like I'm the only teenager on the planet who cares about keeping a promise. If things were different, I would have spent last night doing research for the interview. Now I guess I'll have to do it tonight.

So the interview went well. I ended up staying for two hours and getting an hour of recording material. But the most important thing that happened was this: I learned that being a neurosurgeon is not what I thought it was. Apparently, everything I love about neuro isn't as involved in neurosurgery, but in neurology. I know Mrs. Repasy is going to love this new development. I'm sorry! I changed the project from Neurology to surgery just to find this out. But this is going to be great for my presentation. The project is about self discovery and changing our opinions. I don't want to change the project again. I dedicated my research to neurosurgeons and I'm going to continue on that path. So now, it's going to be less about job preparation and more about getting the information I need to solidify my decision to branch out. On the other hand, I really am interested in what a neurosurgeon's life is like. I think now that my personal line of questioning is out of the way, I can be objective in my research and get a clearer final product. I would like a second opinion on which field is better, too. She gave me the contact info for the new head of neurology at Capital Health where my mom works and my dad used to work. I talked to her and set up an interview for next Sunday! Already, doors are opening for me. After that, she has some neuro-nurses she'll talk to for me. She's been very helpful. Research online starts this week.

I'm in Marlton right now getting set up for my first interview (finally)! It's with my dad's old work friend. She's a nurse practitioner with previous experience under neurosugeons and so far I think this is going to go well. She seems really nice and not too intimidating. I think in this project I'll get more out of the nurses than the actual surgeons. I have a feeling that they'll be more open with their information. I hope this won't be awkward. Wish me luck! I'll write a post-game update when I get back.