Synthesis

The medical field is broad and includes many more aspects than most people consider. This field is important to the world and will always be needed in society.

What people imagine the medical field is like: Prompt 10: Grey's Anatomy Medical Myths	Doctors are the only ones with medical backgrounds, and doctor's offices/hospitals are the only place you will work if you go into the medical field.	Grey's Anatomy Photo
Reality of the medical field: Why Do I Want To Be A Physical Therapist?	Professionals with a medical background can have a variety of different jobs and careers. They are not just based in the hospital setting. Some other settings and careers in this field includes nursing homes, gym, schools, office, labs, etc.	Physical Education

A big misconception that many people have about the medical field is thinking you are restricted to working in an office at a doctor's or in a hospital setting. Little do most people know, healthcare is a huge industry that is found almost everywhere you look. People neglect to understand that medicine is everywhere. Working in the medical field ranges anywhere from designing meal plans, helping safety test a car, etc.

• Biomechanics/Orthotics & Prosthetics
• Designing running shoes
• Designing prosthetics
• Healthcare Management
• Manage health care supplies
• Design health care supplies
• Occupational Therapy
• Helping children with disabilities
• Teaching someone how to walk again after an accident

(Occupational Therapy)

Throughout this blog project, we have discovered many advances in the medical field that we would have never known of otherwise. For example, none of us had ever even heard of biotechnology until we read up on it during the blog project. Biotechnology is used in kinesiology to show 3D graphics of the patient’s body. They can see exactly where the patient is feeling pain, by seeing a different color in that specific area. We also have learned that if you have a small cold, working out can actually help it! We always thought that bed rest is the only cure, but who knew going for a run can help too? We have also learned about a new invention used during physical therapy called treadsence. Treadsense is a machine created to help increase and improve one’s balance while they are in motion. This invention has helped people learn to walk again while using a "webcam, treadmill, and a computer modeling of the human body" (CPH). Inventions such as this have helped society immensely while recovering from injuries, or just simply old age.

Something that was constantly discussed throughout this project was how the medical field is portrayed through the media. We found an example of this in the television show Grey’s Anatomy.

Grey’s Anatomy (examples)	Real Life
Sexual relations between coworkers and patients	Doctors and nurses are required to sign a contract saying they will not form sexual relations with a patient and/or coworker
Everyone does everything	Realistically, this does not happen. It is very rare that people are not specific to one job. This is the purpose of specializing.
Medical mishaps are a common recurrence	Mistakes happen. On television and in real life. But on television they seem to occur far more often than they should.

This blog project has taught us so much about our field. It has also shown us how important it is and it will always be in demand. It is applied in many different aspects that we, as bloggers, did not even consider. Ideas such as that exercise helping boost happiness and increasing performance of one’s immune system were learned through the project and help proved to us that research is constantly being done to find ways to help live a longer and healthier life. Such research is constantly being conducted that presents new ideas on improving life’s longevity and creating a healthier life. The medical field allows for growth in life and the opportunity to live it in the healthiest way possible. Although technology is growing, the physical person will always be needed, even just to provide comfort to the individual. It’s that physical contact that provides the comfort to a person who is in need that helps keep the medical field alive.

Winter Workout Tips

Did you know that in the Winter months your body stores more fat? The University of Colorado did a study that discovered that the chemical of ATLPL doubled in the winter than in the summer. This chemical is the one that promotes fat storage! So what can you do to fix this?

1. Get rid of the baggy sweaters! Yes, winter is the perfect time to lounge around in baggy sweats and sweaters, but studies show that this is actually connected to feelings of laziness. Wearing tight  clothes that show your figure may get you going to the gym. It's a subconscious feeling and when you hide your body in loose clothing, you don't notice what you need to work on.

1. Cut down on carbs! Have you noticed that you crave more carbs in the winter? This actually happens because as the days get shorter, you receive less sunlight. This in return makes the serotonin in your brain less active, which leads to tiredness and hunger. We all know that eating carbs without working out afterwards leads to weight gain and fat storage, so try to snack on healthier foods during the cold winter months.

1. Go outside! We all remember playing in the snow outside as children, so why not continue doing it? Check out these fun activities that are actually workouts:

1. Don't lay on the couch all day! Cold snowy days lead to movies and snack, but this ultimately leads to an unsuccessful day. If you must partake in days like this, try some of these exercises during commercial breaks:

1. 

Hopefully these tips will keep you in shape this Winter, and get you ready for your Spring Break body! Stay warm and stay healthy! 

Larissa L.

Cited: 

"Winter-Proof Your Workout." Fitness Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

Open Your Eyes to What You Are Eating!

If you know me you know I LOVE pizza. I decided to look for an article about pizza because I knew I would find something that interested me by doing so. I was honestly not that surprised by most of the findings in the article. I was always aware pizza was not a healthy choice of food. But what did surprise me is what pizza parlors are putting in our za!

Everyone knows pizza is bad for you. Loads of carbs, tons of cheese, lots of greasy pepperoni goodness. But what about all the additives that aren't so plain to see. Almost all the pizza places that "food babe" obtained ingredients such as MSG, GMO, and artificial coloring and flavoring. That's kind of scary. Not really ever knowing what it is that you are consuming. Something I found even more interesting was the trouble "food babe" went to to find the ingredients! Little Caesars (a personal favorite of mine) refused to tell her the ingredients used in their pizza and said "if you need to know so badly maybe you should just not eat it". 

After reading all this I was really turned off by the companies putting all the unhealthy and unsafe additives into food and also pizza in general. Although pizza is yummy and really great after a long day, eating too much and consuming all of the artificial and oily additives can lead to diabetes, obesity and even depression. I love you pizza, but you are not worth it! The article really opened my eyes and it proved that we are all blinded by our tastebuds sometimes!

Hari, Vani. "If You've Ever Eaten Pizza Before, This Will Blow Your Mind." foodbabe. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2014. <http://foodbabe.com/2014/03/23/if-youve-ever-eaten-pizza-before-this-will-blow-your-mind/>.

Rachel Grzanka

Prompt 6: Evaluating Sources

I read the article,  "Should Nurse Practitioners Be Able to Treat Patients Without Physician Oversight?". The article discussed the shortage in physicians and how a possible solution would be to allow nurse practitioners to step in and help fill the gap. The debate of the article is whether or not this should be allowed. 

After doing plenty of research, I found that nurses are capable of all the things a physician is, just not legally able to do so. It is understandable that people may not feel comfortable allowing a nurse to tend to all of the things a primary care physician would normally do; nurses go through less schooling and there is a reason they are paid less. Despite all of this I also see why certain people think allowing nurse practitioners to step in is a good idea; they have the proper knowledge to treat patients and the amount of schooling that nurses have encountered ables them to do so. 

In my opinion, nurses should be allowed to step in if they are able to prove they can perform physician tasks as well as the physician his or herself. If able, then I see no reason for the nurse practitioner to hold back and watch as we struggle to find a solution to this shortage. 

Blackwelder, Reid, and Angela Golden. "Should Nurse Practitioners Be Able to Treat Patients Without Physician Oversight?." Wall Street Journal. N.p., June 2013. Web. 22 Nov. 2015. <http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324715704578480911396098592>.

Rachel Grzanka

Prompt 2: Defining Ethics

The Nursing Code of Ethics was developed as a guide for properly carrying out nursing duties in a consistent and ethical manner. A study done on this code yielded ten values; human dignity, privacy, justice, autonomy in decision making, precision and accuracy in caring, commitment, human relationship, sympathy, honest and individual and professional competency. These values found from within the code of ethics reflects my own personal values. I find myself very honest, very sympathetic and I can easily relate to many of the other traits. Which is a great part of the reason I am looking into this field. 

The study also revealed that many of the common values found in nurses are shared within the global community; not just in nursing. Some people's ideas of the traits may differentiate. Influences of social, cultural, economical status and religious beliefs result in different definitions of the traits. 

Many people in today's society recognize nurses as the qualities they obtain. Personally I think this is because a nurse knows what a patient needs and wants so they work to live up to the expectations that the patients have. It is obvious that a patient would want their nurse to be honest, caring, sympathetic and precise. People, for the most part, believe that those working in the field follow the code of ethics. This is because in the nursing field you have a patient who is relying on you and a little mistake could come with big consequences, such as endangering the patients health or loss of a job. 

Shahriari, Mohsen, Easa Mohammadi, Abbas Abbaszedah, and Masoud Bahrami. "Nursing ethical values and definitions: A literature review." NCBI. N.p., Feb. 2013. Web. 22 Nov. 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3748548/>. 

Rachel Grzanka

Prompt 4: Considering Delivery and Style

Considering Delivery and Style

After reading two completely different sources for information regarding new developments within the kinesiology field, I've been able to detect reasons as to why each style works for grasping new information and which style is preferred on the delivery of information.

The scholarly article titled "A Hyperventilation Theory of Job Stress and Musculoskeletal Disorders" discusses research conducted on the effects of stress and the relation to musculoskeletal disorders. It presents this information with an abstract, a summary of the article,  as well as paragraphs that explain the specific parts of the research. It also includes graphs that help break up the amount of text and represents the information being delivered.

The online article titled "Age-related Differences in Brain Health Vary with Fitness Level in Older Adults" summarizes a study conducted to see how fitness and health of the brain correlate. It was found that the higher the fitness level of an individual, the healthier brain is as they age. This style presents the information as a summary of an actual study done. It includes minimal photos, but is broken up into paragraphs. This article contains far less information that the scholarly article presented in this post.

The style of the two pieces differ greatly. The greatest difference is the amount of text and the delivery of the text. The text in the scholarly article is scientific and uses less common words to describe a new study completed, whereas the online article is the opposite, using common language and words to summarize a previous study done. Personally, I prefer the smaller amount of text and a summarized version of the research because I feel I can better understand the information being presented without being overwhelmed by too much information. Some individuals may prefer scholarly articles over summarized, online articles because they like to read all about the topic and like to know the details. Because of all of the details included, I believe that the scholarly article would be trusted more. We, as humans, seem to put more trust into things that we know more information about.




Source(s):

"Age-related Differences in Brain Health Vary with Fitness Level in Older Adults." News Medical.
             AZO Network, 6 Nov. 2015. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

Schleifer, Lawerence, Ronald Ley, and Thomas Spalding. "A Hyperventilation Theory of Job Stress
             and Musculoskeletal Disorders" Wiley Online Library. American Journal of Industrial
             Medicine, 15 Jan. 2002. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.


___________
Stacie Kussro

Prompt 1: Asking Questions and Breaking Assumptions

Asking Questions and Breaking Assumptions: Kinesiology

Preconceptions:

1. Kinesiology is physical therapy.
2. Kinesiology is the study of movement, therefore, is physical activity. 
3. Kinesiology is related to physical education.
4. Kinesiology deals with athletics and sports. 
5. Kinesiology strictly involves the physical activity portion and no other components. 

Introduction to Kinesiology: Studying Physical Activity by Shirl J. Hoffman

This textbook defines kinesiology in it's many parts and recognizes many of my preconceptions. 

1. Kinesiology is physical therapy: WRONG
• This statement isn't 100% incorrect, but the idea that kinesiology is only physical therapy is the idea that is wrong. Physical therapy is a branch of kinesiology and a career path that one could choose to pursue, but kinesiology is not just physical therapy. As described in the textbook, kinesiology is also related to health and fitness, therapeutic exercise, physical education, coaching, sport instruction, and sport management. These examples are still only a small fraction of paths one could take with majoring in kinesiology. 
2. Kinesiology is the study of movement, therefore, is physical activity: RIGHT
• Kinesiology IS the study of movement and is physical activity. "The discipline of kinesiology is physical activity" (Hoffman 5). This means that kinesiology's focus or theme is physical activity, also meaning that kinesiology revolves around physical activity. Physical activity can be defined as "intentional, voluntary movement, directed toward achieving an identifiable goal" (Hoffman 6). Movement is a little different than physical activity, being defined as "any change in the position of your body parts relative to each other" (Hoffman 7).
3. Kinesiology is related to physical education: RIGHT
• As previously stated, physical education is a career option one has when majoring in kinesiology. The textbook describes the idea that if one wanted to pursue a career in physical education, it would be a great idea to also have a background in pedagogy. Pedagogy "focuses on teaching behaviors and producing learning in students" (Hoffman 430). The textbook uses the example that an effective physical education teacher would know that practicing skills taught is more important than lecturing about the skills. They would also know about the importance of physical activity to children's health. 
4. Kinesiology deals with athletics and sports: RIGHT
• Kinesiology CAN deal with athletics and sports, but does not always. Physical therapy is a branch of kinesiology that does not deal with athletics or sports, but rather the movement of the body to create a pain-free and healthier lifestyle. Branches of kinesiology that do deal with athletics and sports can include sports management, athletic trainer, personal trainer, coaching, etc. 
5. Kinesiology strictly involves the physical activity portion and no other components: WRONG
• Kinesiology also involves the social aspect. "Kinesiologists with a background in sociology are aware of the dominant competitive model of sport as well as the kinds of daily human interactions that make particular ways of organizing and engaging in physical activities more socially valued than others" (Hoffman 185).

This textbook gave me a better idea of what kinesiology is and all of the aspects involved. As such a simple source, I found it gave better information that other sources I've previously been using to research such ideas. This source also got me more interested in my field, as well as taking the classes involved in increasing my knowledge related to my field. 

Source(s): 

Hoffman, Shirl J. Introduction to Kinesiology: Studying Physical Activity. 3rd ed. Champaign: 

           Human Kinetics. 2009. Print. 

___________

Stacie Kussro