Week 8

Desired Outcome: Formulate product ideas. Internship is solidified, and students can begin planning their project and product.

Blog Entry: 

Where am I now? 

I have my backup internship solidified - I will be working at KitTea in Hayes Valley. This will have me working at a tea house that has cats. I will mainly be taking care of cats, and helping visitors interact with the cats. These cats are up for adoption, and have gone though special selection.  I would try and volunteer with the cats in the back of the house, as opposed to working with food. While food prep is something I am interested in, I am more interested in observing the people to cat and cat to people relationship. 

What have I learned about my topic from the research done in March and April? 

I have learned all about the History of CPMC as an institute. I have learned about the history of the emergency room, which I thought was super cool, especially since it is a place where i want to work. In English, I studied Florence Nightingale, and got to study the history of the nursing profession. As I am considering becoming a nurse practitioner, I think this research was super wonderful as well. I also chose to educate myself about the history of abortion rights, which is something I am glad I decided to do. Additionally, I chose to briefly compare the healthcare systems of the United States  of America and Canada and found it very intriguing to compare and contrast. I feel like all of this has given me a good foundation to volunteer at California Pacific Medical Center. And if I chose to work at KitTea, my research will give me a good foundation for my project. 

What do I still need to do before May 1? 

I have my interview for my first choice internship on Tuesday. This is at CPMC  - also known as California Pacific Medical Center (http://www.cpmc.org/). I would probably be volunteering at the California Campus (a history can be found here, and modern services, etc can be viewed here and here.) My ideal goal is to volunteer in the ER, but if that isn't possible for any reason I'd be happy to work in the Ambulatory Care Unit, Nuclear Medicine, Nursing Units, Rehab Therapy  (information can be found here.) While CPMC does offer volunteer opportunities that are hands on in other ways, I would love to do something with a medical focus. I'm hoping that this will help guide me towards a decision about medical school. After the interview (assuming it goes well), I think I will have to undergo a background check. Once that clears, I should be "hired".

Additionally, I need to work on the wording my central question. See the bottom of this blog post for more details. 

What will my product be? What do I need in order to make it happen?

If I work at CPMC - and probably if I work at KitTea, too - I will make a website on healthcare services for teenagers around the Bay Area. I think it would be very awesome to find out this information, and it could be useful for other people, too. I need access to the internet. I might call my doctor, and I will defiantly look on my health plan's website. If the opportunity presents itself, I might talk to the doctors at CPMC. My friend's mom is a doctor, and I might ask her to tell me a little bit about what she knows. While this shouldn't be hard to make (or at least so I imagine), I do expect it do be a little time consuming/laborious. This is defiantly a product I can craft during senior project. if I don't do that I will either make a separate website or write an essay on the benefit of surface animals. The second option will only (maybe) happen if I work at KitTea, and will not happen if I work at CPMC.

BONUS: Central Question?!!???!?!?!

Right now, I am still waiting to see if I get one internship. I have designed the questions so they could fit either. I still very much so need to work on the wording, but I am happy with the ideas.

• What are the similarities and differences between KitTea and CPMC? 
• How are they tuned to meet different needs? How and why are they different? Similar? What makes these places effective?
• From a design point of view, what similarities can we see that have gone into both environments?