Personal Reflection: Tutor Of The Week In Project Literacy

I hope that you are doing well and thank you for agreeing to be my mentor. I am writing in regards to a project I’m doing for my English 2 Honors class. This project is called the Passion Project. For this project, we spent a year learning about a topic that interests us or something that we are passionate about. At the end of the year, we demonstrate the outcome of our project by presenting it to our peers.

This paper is going to focus on the importance of getting a better way for Medicare to handle the needs of transplant patients. The current situation isn’t a good one. The patients are the ones that suffer while the medical insurance companies and centers keep making more and more money. This is showing to me how much of the healthcare has turned to be about that. The transplant centers are needed but there is so much red tape that they have to go through to be approved by Medicare it makes it hard for them to open. What seems like should be an easy fix sure isn’t when you look into it.

In January, 2016, I participated in the James Madison Legacy Project. Little did I know it would alter the way that I would then teach my 8th grade curriculum. It was something that I was not sure I could do, it was something I was not sure I wanted to do, but it was something that I felt I must do and for that I am extremely grateful. I am grateful to have participated in the James Madison Legacy Project not only for what it has done for me in the classroom, but for my students who just completed their First Congressional hearings.

I’ve dedicated Tuesdays and Fridays to mentoring 9th-graders about making their high school experience easier. My brother’s compassion leads me to mentor another class of special needs students. My passion for giving back to the less fortunate has led me to be a spokeswoman for the "Promise of Gwinnett" campaign and to speak in front of the GA Board of Education about my experiences with education. I made connections and strengthened my relationships with the underappreciated cafeteria staff and custodians through the Chick-Fil-A Leader Academy (CLA) as we threw them a celebration for their service. Every day I’ve been selling candy for CLA to raise money for a scholarship for those in need of financial aid. But my biggest success that triumphs in my heart is my dedication to Holiday

“6,935 people are dying because they had to wait. That’s 19 people dying per day for an entire year”(Barry). That’s nearly 7,000 lives; which is equivalent to to almost 25% of the current undergraduate body here at UW-Madison. According to Dr. Chris Barry, a transplant surgeon and researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center, “19 people die per day on the organ donor recipient list because there aren’t enough people signing their organ donor consent forms”. He proposes that we need to increase people's knowledge and tear down the myths and barriers of organ donation to facilitate their decision to donate.

The shortage of organ transplants has been an ongoing crisis for years; the growing list of patients awaiting transplants has no end in sight, and the number of people dying while they waste away on the waiting list is not going to go down unless something changes.Society has turned away from alternatives to our archaic organ donation program, but there are other options available.The transplant community and society as a whole need to step back and rethink--to adopt a more open-minded views on organs as a resource in order to save lives and make meaningful changes to the national transplant program.

While I have been blessed with many opportunities that helped me grow by pushing me to new limits, my volunteer work at South McKeel Academy through National Honor Society is my most memorable. The way I was brought upon this experience was not with the average vote. One morning I showed up to the 7 A.M. meeting ready to hear about how all

When I was a senior in High School I completed a final project that prompted me to choose a literary work written by an individual with different life experiences than my own, write a research paper explaining the author’s background, and compare how this author’s environment influences their interpretation of the world versus my own. I went into the project believing it to be another time-waster activity that would finally secure my high grade in the course. Unknown to me, this project would catapult me to pursue a career of social justice.

The participants of the IPT were chosen for their expertise, years of experience, certification, and passion for the patient-centered challenge. All the participants work in transplant administration. None of these individuals divide their time between the hospital and transplant administration. Too, they only see transplant patients in the in-patient and out-patient setting. The IPT members are as follows with their credentials, education, experience, expertise: PA-C, MPAS, Transplant Physician Extender, 10 ½ years as a physician assistant, 8 years as a transplant physician assistant; one transplant coordinator, RN, CCTN, 7 ½ years as a nurse, 2 years as a transplant coordinator, 3 years as a certified transplant nurse; MS, RDN, LD, CNSC, Transplant Nutrition Specialist, Nutritionist, 24 years as a dietician, 13 years as certified nutrition support clinician,

I spoke to nurses, and other transplant patients alike. Both lung patients and kidney patients who were waiting, and those who’d had their transplant and were fighting fit. The difference was compelling to see and I wanted to portray this in the script, and to try and promote the positives of organ donation.

This young man’s growth in the face of past failure remains my proudest accomplishment as a teacher and as a person. I helped him go from sullen and reluctant to experience a feeling of accomplishment as a result of his own hard work and persistence. I refused to allow him to cut corners and pushed him to truly earn his credit in my class, and in doing so, helped him understand the value and results of hard work, something that will carry over in every aspect of his

The research method used for this study was qualitative that involved conducting interviews with patients who were selected based on information gathered through the Organ Transplant Tracking Record (OTTR). In addition, patients’ rights are covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and reviewed, monitored, and approved by the internal review board (IRB) of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Moreover, these interviews were conducted at patients’ home; however, in some instances, the interview was conducted at a different venue suggested by the patient. The potential participants had to have end-stage liver disease (ESLD) and be a candidate on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) before being interviewed (Brown et al., 2006). In addition, the interviewers were not associated with the medical center or the transplant team. This was done so participants would not associate the study

Compared to other well performing hospitals, we had a similar mix of patient population and our fleet of doctors, surgeons and nurses were equally as good as other organizations, if not better. This issue needed a system perspective to go beyond the knowledge of what is known, transcend paradigms and uncover the hidden solutions. A rigorous analysis revealed that we did a great job at what we were supposed to do i.e. transplant. Since our program faced fierce competition in the region, we were motivated to increase our transplant numbers by all means possible. This loosened our patient acceptance criteria. Compared to other programs, we accepted difficult cases. We succeeded in handling them too, but nevertheless, our 3-year and 5-year patient/organ survival rate suffered. Our strategy was to increase the waitlist volume to improve the organ matching chances of our institution. Our focus and expertise was on transplant and we lacked the robust pre and post-transplant process to help our patients. Equipped with this knowledge, we consciously expanded our boundary of care. Not only was it the right thing to do, but without it, the existence of our organization was in question. Now our patients receive personalized care and the transplant coordinator provides several personalized pre and post-transplant coaching sessions to help patients understand the process. Our dedicated social health worker makes home visits and schedules periodic sessions with patients to ensure their compliance and ability to survive the transplant experience – emotionally, physically and financially. By establishing the functional feedback loop in the form of patient satisfaction surveys, we constantly adapt to become better at caring for our

It was 0730; I stepped off the elevator after two 12-hour NOC shifts, instead of being tired and eager to go home, I headed to the cafeteria. As I walked toward the cafeteria, I had a huge smile with thoughts of excitement and satisfaction. For my Senior Preceptorship, I am assigned to work on the Tower 8 Transplant/Metabolic/Telemetry Unit at UC Davis Medical Center (UCDMC). My experience with the Tower 8 Unit has given me the opportunity to collaborate and work under the guidance of a registered nurse. According to the California Board of Registered Nursing, (2013) under “Observation of signs and symptoms of illness, reactions to treatment, general behavior or general physical condition,” I am able to implement intervention based on my observations of abnormalities. Not only am I refining my clinical skills and utilizing effective communication, I learned the required specific policies and procedures for renal transplant patients. According to Bonuel and Cesario, (2013), “The care of a patient undergoing renal transplant is complex and centered on critically assessing renal function, administering immune-suppressive therapy, observing the function of the newly transplanted kidney, monitoring fluid and electrolyte balance, preventing sources of infection, detecting early signs of complications and rejection, and managing and supporting the patient and family through the recovery phase.” I agree with this statement as I am learning the transplant nursing culture and the

It is this effort that impressed me the most. I have nearly three and a half years of experience under my belt, where I have worked with nearly 700 different students and I have not met a student more dedicated to having a positive impact on her community. Rebecca has participated in activities such as: Cleaning the local beach of trash, serving citizens at local Soup Kitchen, providing gifts and services to the local nursing home, handed out books at community Safe Haven on Halloween, and helped organize the school blood drive. Last year she was so concerned about promoting the literacy of her community that she approached me about sponsoring a book club. I was awed that she would be willing to take on more activities into her already busy plate and gladly helped her in founding Raymondville High School’s first book