Summer Studentship 2010/2011 Update #2

Wil:

Hey Megs. I guess it's time for another update...

Well, it has been 7 weeks into my project and I have yet to do the interviews. I'm starting them next week on Monday. I'm now a bit concerned that I only have 3 weeks to finish the large majority of my project which will involve transcribing and analysing my interviews, then forming a discussion and conclusion.

So for the past 7 weeks I've been doing a myriad of tasks. One of the most significant activities was writing up my report. So far I've pretty much prepared a literature review on selected topics on rural health. That has taken me a long time. Before Christmas I sent my supervisors a draft copy. They've provided me feedback and have told me to "bulk it up" some more, which I'm currently trying to do. I predict that my report is going to be some 35 pages long upon completion. Although somewhat short of my supervisors expectation of 50-60 pages, at the moment I just want my report to be done!

I've decided that I'm a very slow reader. I spend a lot of time reading over journal articles and I feel like it's taking an unhealthy amount of time for me just to get through one article. Tell me your secrets, Meg! I know you're a very efficient reader.

Apart from writing my report, I've been doing all sorts of things which are helping me to build my knowledge about rural pharmacy and pharmacy in general. I think one of the things I enjoy most about this studentship is that I've been given so many opportunities to do stuff that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

My supervisors sent me on a little 2 day trip to Milton to work at Milton pharmacy, a country pharmacy. Its purpose was for me to experience rural pharmacy for a while. To be honest, it wasn't too different from the pharmacy that I worked at in Auckland except maybe for a few minor aspects.

I also got to spend a couple of days with the pharmacy department in Dunedin hospital. I got to following a pharmacist around as she did her rounds at the wards. There, I was looking at some outpatient processes which many rural individuals experience such as take-home antibiotics and other IV infusion medications. I spoke to a patient who lived in a rural town and the issues she had with the postal service who deliver the medications to her house. It's those sort of things that impact on the daily health experiences of rural communities.
My hospital visits were really enjoyable. I would love to work in a hospital one day.

Last week we had highschool students spend a couple of days in the pharmacy school for the Hands on Science programme. It's similar to the Rotary National Science and Technology Forum that I attended in Auckland but this one is organised by Otago Uni.
On day 3, they had a molecular modelling computer lab session organised, but the lecturer who had planned to run it was absent that day. So another lecturer pulled together a PhD student, a technician and me to collectively take over lab session. So for about an hour, I was a lab supervisor to about 12 or so highschool kids who just finished Form 6. I really enjoyed it. I tried to put the modelling that they were doing into a pharmaceutical context and relay that back to what they had learned in Form 6 and what they will learn in Form 7, since it was only about 3 or so years ago since I did all of that.

So those are some of the fun experiences i've had during this summer. As a summer student, we also get invited to staff functions like special lunches and stuff. Yay for free food! (Although sitting around with all your lecturers is sort of awkward..)

Next week I'll be visiting Roxburgh and Lawrence to interview a pharmacist and depot operator. Hope that all goes well.


Well, it looks like both our summers have been quite eventful so far. But yours is more on an international scale! I hope you're still having fun in Taiwan. Bring me back lots of presents :P

To those with an opinion

Wil:

I've just found this wonderfully amazing video on the internet titled, "Skewed views of science":



Essentially, it explains why and how one would require an open mind when deciding to agree or disagree with a scientific claim. It also goes into what the right (and the wrong) way is in going about challenging a current scientific belief.

While it would probably be most sensible to keep my promotion of this video completely neutral, I cannot resist the urge to challenge those who outright doubt vaccines, evolution, the big bang theory (and other secular ideas) to watch this video and question the source (and credibility) of their disagreement.

Points from the video that I like:
(1) Your own personal intuition or bias does NOT form a valid rebuttal;
(2) You are not allowed to impose your own intellectual limitations upon others;
(3) Guilt and fear do not invalidate scientific discovery or alter facts;
(4) Think carefully about the technology and medical treatments you take for granted that wouldn't exist without the science you readily attack;
(5) Discouraging people from studying science or questioning their beliefs is nothing more than social control;
(6) You can turn non-fact into fact (or the other way) by scaring people.

This video is a refreshing change from all the crazy (and plainly ignorant) things "the public" (e.g. lay people and the uneducated) yap on about in newspapers, talk-back radio and on the internet whenever they feel confronted or at edge by science.

Show me those peer-reviewed journal articles!

Tag! You're it

Megs:

I, being bored, happened to be scrolling through all the labels we've ever tagged the posts on this blog with. Quite interesting, really! There aren't that many repeats - you'd think there would be.

Frivolous has only ever been used once. huh.

Noticed these two in amusing succession:

violas get special treatment (1)
violist might as well be handicapped (1)

Also, a lot of them are utterly random and make you really wonder, wtf? Such as:

bad egg (1)
Megan is nuts (1)
Wil is imaginary (1)
donkeys (1)
don't read me (1)
guinea pig (1)


The most used is holidays, with four tags. Good to know we celebrate the important things with repeated mentions!

The full list:

Labels 2010 (1) 2011 (1) anagrams (1) analysis (1) anatomy (1) anti-smacking bill (1) armies (1) articulate (1) audition (1) Australia (1) awesomeness (1) AYO (2) bad egg (1) bag (1) banana phone (1) banner win (1) Being born (1) bilirubin (1) birthday (1) blog banner (1) books (1) BOptom (1) bored (1) Bucklame (1) bus (1) Canada (1) cardiac output (1) career choice (1) City (1) cliche (1) clustrmaps (1) codes (1) coding (1) collecting (1) competitive entry (1) conumdrums (1) crap (1) cricket (1) crocheting (1) Dalai Lama (1) death note (1) decisions (1) disappointed (1) don't read me (1) donkeys (1) drawing (1) dream (1) drosophila (1) dun dun dun (1) dyslexia (1) Emergencies (1) Etsy (1) evil (1) exams (2) fail (1) fashion illustration (1) flies (1) FML (1) frivolous (1) Fumedgm (1) fun times (3) Geo Challenge (1) gold class (1) goodbyes (1) gothic lolita dresses (1) Grafton (1) guinea pig (1) hand-eye co-ordination (1) happy new year (2) head tilt (1) health (1) health care (1) hobbies (1) holidays (4) hospice (1) HSFY (1) hslacking off (1) Hukafalls (1) idiot (1) inexcusable (1) internet (1) interview (1) IOUs (1) jet (1) justice (1) Kaohsuing (1) kidney (1) kinokuniya (1) learning (1) leo (1) Les garcons mignons (1) lily allen (1) limited entry (1) list (1) medsci203 (1) Megan is nuts (1) Megs (1) mixpod (1) mnemonics (1) more stuff (1) movies (1) music (1) My life is so boring (1) Mystery Google (1) names (2) nDeva (1) New background (1) New banner (1) New Moon is boring (1) New Zealand (1) New Zealand Herald (1) Northern Express (1) optometry (1) papers (1) Patrick (2) people being a bitch (1) Peru (1) pharmacy (3) photoshop (1) pianos (1) poetry (1) pointless (1) preferential entry (1) procrastination (1) pseudonyms (1) recycling (1) resize (1) resizing MP3 players (1) resolutions (1) ring (1) Rotorua (1) rural (1) sand sculpture (1) sewing (1) sewing machine (1) sign language (1) silly laws in NZ (1) skull (1) sky city cinemas (1) sleepy (1) spas (1) Spongebob (1) strikes (1) studentship (1) stuff (3) stupid (1) sulphur (1) summer (2) Sydney (1) t shirts (1) Taiwan (1) Taiwan tour (1) tans (1) Taupo (1) telephobia (1) tess (1) the Link bus (1) the lovely bones (1) the start (1) things (1) thinking (1) tired (1) toll-like receptors (1) trademe (1) twincest (1) university of Otago (1) violas get special treatment (1) violist might as well be handicapped (1) wall of text (1) wardrobes and pictures (1) warrior (1) Wil is imaginary (1) Wil. (1) Word Challenge (1) world famous (1) world map (1) xmas xtress (1) yay (1) zombies and parties (1)

Happy 'Eleven!

Megs:

Yay yay yay!

I love the start of new things. It's like embarking on a new project or beginning a new hobby, which is always delightful. And a new year is like a new project which, at least chronologically, finishes by itself (I should hope so).

New Year's Resolutions:

- Go ZUMBA-ing at the gym, at least once a week. My new Zumba-buddy-friend is Chumin, with whom I've vowed to go gymming with. Yay!
- Join and participate in an environmental group
- Draw lots; every day, if possible. Get good at it. *
- Write more - poetry and stories.
- Blog lots
- Have FUN!

And that's all that seems important, really.
Bring on the New Year!!

* Incidentally, I'm happy to announce the making of Wardrobes and Pictures , the blog I will be using to update all my sketches and drawings in.

Now in the manner of, say, some sort of yeast-thing that grows on the original organism and buds off it, I'm linking the blog from this blog. I can't remember if yeast actually does that, but oh well :D Click click!!

Two days left

Megs:

Wow! Less than 48 hours - for the time zone I'm in, at least - before 2010 is over, and the New Year arrives!!! I suppose I should really get posting about my adventure in Taiwan - namely, the OCAC (can't remember what that stands for) Expatriate Youth Study Tour, or as I prefer, Around Taiwan in 21 Days for Overseas Taiwanese Kids.

The trip was AMAZING. My eyes have really opened, in the sense that I got to know heaps of students around, above and below my age in a non-studious setting (well, it's called a Study Tour, but when you don't have exams it doesn't count), from all over the globe; from places I'd never even heard of until three weeks ago, when I met them.

I formed close friendships with people from Australia, South Africa, Singapore, Mauritius, and of course New Zealand. Of course, back in Auckland, where exists a very multicultural society, I know wonderful people from all of these places (except Mauritius, which was new to me) and over the last three weeks they helped me to regain confidence and emerge more from a shyness or shell that I had lately been conscious of forming. Everyone was open, friendly, quirky and fun. A few of the crew:

The Team I was assigned to was #12.

Our leader was (and IS) an awesome, wacky and sometimes (self-determinedly) awkward guy by the name of Edmond. Except he hates this name, so we called him Jeff, because apparently he looks like some Taiwanese singer also called Jeff. Jeff bought a stuffed monkey on this tour, for which I volunteered to be responsible. Ergo, Team 12 became the Monkey Team, with Monkey Numbers 1 - 15. We were very good at our Sound-Off! I was #7.

The 180 or so students on this year's tour went round Taiwan in five massive tour buses. We were on Bus E, aka the Easy Bus! Complete with TV and a Karaoke set, at which some of the boys were very good at. (Girls: mostly too shy to sing. Hum!)

This is Taiwan. It's shaped, by general agreement, as a kumara/sweet potato. Although I remember when I was 8 I was dissatisfied with this analogy with what seemed to be an obscure vegetable, so I insisted it looked like a chicken drumstick.

...Anyway! We travelled around the island in an anti-clockwise route around the coast. Every day was filled with lessons and activities that brought us closer to the culture and history of Taiwan: museums, factories, sightseeing. We baked kumara in the earth;

made paper;

went SHOPPING;

and many other things - attended two military schools for a day;





we also went bike riding past a beach and around a park; visited countless historical sites; had an international basketball tournamet (NZ won :D); visited Buddhist and other religious temples; climbed up a mountain that was inhabited by many monkeys; stayed at an animal resort; stayed at lovely hotels, stayed at not-so-lovely hotels, watched Taiwanese aboriginal dances and rituals, and a whole litany of other things - AND, if Facebook hasn't been spamming your News Feed enough already took about a million photos. Not possible to upload all of them, so here are some. :P

I'm amused and grateful towards everyone who said "Have fun!" to me before I left. Having fun doesn't even begin to cover it. Those 21 days were unforgettable, and as the (now very overrused) saying goes - Taiwan definitely touched my heart :)

Summer of 2010/11; Part 1

Wil:

While others are basking in the New Zealand sun, returning back to deliciously cooked home meals with their family after work at the end of the day, travelling the world, or just plain doing nothing, I'm here at university stuck in an isolated (albeit adequately lit with natural light) seminar room tapping away at my laptop for at least 7 hours a day and 5 days a week. But don't despair, it's not as dire as it sounds. Any job has its fill of gross paperwork and unsightly clerical work. And my work here doesn't completely consist of staring at a computer screen. I'll tell you more about the exciting events I have encountered so far, and what the future holds, later.

But first, so what exactly am I doing you might ask? Well, for those who didn't know, I'm currently undertaking a summer studentship at the School of Pharmacy. A studentship is a research job where you work under the supervision of a staff member at the university. The summer project was developed by, and is related to the supervisor and whatever research they're carrying out at the same time.

I am supervised by two lovely women who work here at the school. My primary supervisor is Dr Kirsten Lovelock who is a research fellow (she doesn't teach). My project relates directly to the area she is studying at the moment. She got her PhD in anthropology and is a very knowledgeable social scientist.

My secondary supervisor is Dr June Tordoff who is a senior lecturer in pharmacy. She is traiend as a pharmacist and works part time at Dunedin hospital doing drug information, which is basically like customer services for the pharmacy. She answers drug questions that come from anyone: local and distant pharmacists, doctors, students, patients etc.

My project is titled, "Access to medicines and health care in rural New Zealand: the role of the rural pharmacy and depot." Dr Lovelock has done a lot of work on rural health and I'm contributing by researching the contextual nature of health in rural settings and how the pharmacist contributes to the well-being of the community they serve.

Due to the lack of a fully coherent health care workforce in rural areas, health professionals already existing in such places often need to take up responsibilities which extend beyond their traditional roles of their discipline. I'll briefly look at the capacity of the rural pharmacy and the services they offer. For this part, I'll be interviewing rural pharmacists and depot operators. Depots are little shop thingies in remote, rural places were patients can leave prescriptions which will then be transferred to the affiliated pharmacy to be processed and filled, which are then returned to the depot where the patients can pick them up. Depots tend to be located in remote areas where a pharmacy wouldn't be financially viable, but the area still requires the services of a pharmacy. They are usually manned by a pharmacy technician or even just a lay retailer.

I'll also dip into looking at how the rural community perceives the rural pharmacy and their access to health care services. There's often discrepancies between the way the policy makers handle rural health care (or any other aspect in the whole of society, for that matter) and the reality of the situation faced by those who actually live in these settings and who are affected by the policies that are put in place. We'll be interviewing members of the community for this section.

So that's a long-ish summary of what i'll be doing in my summer. I have to write up a report on all of this. I've done about 10-ish pages so far and I feel like it's only about 1/6th there. Bah. So much work and i'm already half way through my studentship. I feel like this is going to take much longer than just 10 weeks.

This is just blog #1 in a series of blog posts that I'll hopefully churn out while my adventure unfolds over the summer. Expect lots more over the next week (or so. I'll probably procrastinate...) since i'm already half way through my studentship. I have plenty to say!

To my readers: if you want to continue talking about rural health in New Zealand (or even health in general), feel free to hit me up! Comment away. Let's partake in some healthy discussion.

This is just like me

Megs:

Hum hum, conumdrums.

I bet, hypothetically, if I ever wrote a really good book, or made a really good painting that surpassed anything I've ever done before, the final manuscript or piece would end up sitting in the corner of my room, or under my bed, because I wouldn't be able to think of a title/name with it that I didn't feel was rubbishy, or already taken.

This is just an observation.

What was that saying? A truly eloquent donkey would starve to death / die of dehydration if it was place equidistance from a pile of hay and a trough of water, if it was equally hungry and thirsty, because it wouldn't be able to decide. This is very a compelling thought, and really rather fail.