In Retrospect of Independent Component

Now that independent component is officially over, I've had some time to really think about how effective taking a nutrition class was to my senior project. I felt that the independent component was extremely helpful to my senior project. I was able to take a class that only 3rd year or 4th year students at Cal Poly get to take and get a B in it! My favorite part of the class were the assignments. They were extremely personal which are very rare in a college class. Here are my assignments, an explanation of them and why I liked them.

Assignment 1: Food Intake for 3 days

-For Assignment 1, I had to track my food intake for three days from the amount of water to the amount I exercise. This will be my foundation for the rest of the assignments. The reason I liked this assignment so much was for the fact that you don't realize what you eat until you have to write it down. It was, in a weird way, fun!
Assignment 2: Food Groups and Calories
Assignment 2: Nutrients Report
Assignment 2: Physical Activity Report
-For Assignment 2, I had to input my assignment 1 into choosemyplate.gov. Choosemyplate then creates reports that I had to turn in. The first report (Food Groups and Calories) showed what my target portion for each food group, the average eaten for each food group and my status. For example, 

I am supposed to eat 7 ounces of whole grains. I ate on average 6.5 ounces and my status was okay. This shows what I need to be eating and what I should be eating. The second report (Nutrients Report) showed what my target nutrients should be, average nutrients eaten and my status.  For example, my target calcium intake is 1300 mg. I ate 724 mg so my status is under. This shows what nutrients I am undereating and what I am overeating on. The third report (Physical Activity Report) shows how much I exercised and calculated if that was a healthy amount.
Assignment 3: DRI Report
Assignment 3: Energy Balance
Assignment 3: Intake vs. Goals
-For Assignment 3, I had to also input my assignment into a nutrition tool. This one we used was more academic. It was called Diet Analysis. For the first report (DRI Report) it stated the daily intake for certain fats, vitamins, minerals, etc. and determine if I was having the right intake. For the second report (Energy Balance), it showed how many kCal I consumed, burned, and the net Kcal. It also gave me a daily caloric summary. For the last report (Intake vs. Goals), it showed what my intake was as opposed to what I should be intaking.
Assignment 4: Recommendations and Guidelines
-In this assignment, I had to choose whether or not I met a certain guideline based on my food intake and explain with details why I didn't meet that guideline.
Assignment 5: Nutrition Self Study and Genetic Risks
-In this assignment, I had to fill out my family's history and what my risk of certain diseases are. I also had to discuss how I could reduce my risk for certain diseases based on what I learned in class.

Overall, I felt this independent component was extremely helpful to my senior project. Even though it is nutrition and not pharmacy, it helped me understand how the body is affected when you don't have certain requirements. As pharmacists, you can then prescribe a patient certain supplements when you know what they are missing. 

Blog 21: Independent Component 2

Literal:

a) I, Gina Thi, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

b) Professor Wajeeha Mazhar with Nutrition by Sizer and Whitney helped me complete my independent component.

c) Spreadsheet of Hours

d) I finished up my upper division Nutrition course. 

Interpretive:

Every week I would go to my nutrition class for about 4 hours a week for lectures. I would spend about an extra hour taking the weekly quiz. As it reached towards the end of the quarter, I spent more time studying for the final in order to achieve at least a B in the class. I also completed multiple assignments where I tracked my intake and found out which crucial elements I was missing in my diet. Here were my favorite assignments. 

Assignment 1: Food Intake for 3 days

Assignment 5: Genetic Risk?

For my final, I spent a considerable amount of time studying. 

Outline for Final

Applied: 

This component helped me answer my essential question by understanding how the body works. As we got more further within the course, I learned about different vitamins and other things the body needs in order to function. For example, I learned that a protein deficiency can lead to Marasmus or Kwashiorkor. These diseases strike early in childhood. Marasmus can be defined as muscle wasting as growth ceases and nutrition absorption fall. Kwashiorkor is a reduced disease resistance and large intake of fluids due to loss of protein. I also learned that excess can lead to a greater risk of heart disease. Knowing and learning these crucial facts, as a clinical pharmacist I can take these into account. This independent component supports my first answer, preparing for the consultation. By learning these health issues, a clinical pharmacist can then adjust the drug regimen if it does conflict with the patient's body. 

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1. I plan on continuing taking my nutrition class up at Cal Poly Pomona.

2. I will not only be attending lectures for 4 hours a week but have supplemental assignments, reading, and quizzes that will surpass my 30 hour requirement.

3. My independent component relates to my working EQ because as a clinical pharmacist you must take into consideration of the food as well as the lifestyle of the patient when planning for a drug regimen. By knowing the basic knowledge of how the body works and how nutrition affects it, I will be able to have more knowledge of what a clinical pharmacist does and how they can best give a quality patient consultation. 

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Literal:

A: I, Gina Thi, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

B: Cal Poly Pomona Nutrition Class

C: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkTrsAi92Qd1dFRhdWJqcE1lVmVzQkJYS0czck53LXc&usp=sharing

D: I have taken about half of the nutrition class including lectures, quizzes, assignments and a presentation all about the nutrition and the human body.

Interpretive:

Every week I would spend 4 hours listening to lectures with another 2 hours or so for studying and reading what was covered in the lectures in the textbook. Please refer to the previous blog posts for pictures of my quiz scores.

Applied:

The component helped me understand my topic better by learning what the body is doing as well as medicinal uses for the body. For example, I have learned that supplements are not really good for you because it can give you more than your body needs. When you have more than your body needs, your body can react negatively. I have also learned about the different systems within the body such as the nervous system. This has made me understand my topic better by giving me an academic look at how the body works and how different lifestyles can affect the body. This can help me in the future by giving me more information about how to consult the patient based on their body and lifestyles. 

2nd Quiz of Independent Component

Senior Project Update

(1) What are you currently doing in your independent component? 
          I am currently trying to get into a nutrition class for my independent component as well as trying to get into a laboratory to observe biology students.

(2) What is a recent piece of research (article, interview, or audio-visual) that have you reviewed you would say was significant in helping you understand where to go next in your senior project?  The piece of research should be something you reviewed in November.  Please explain what you learned and where are you going next because of this piece of research.
          A recent piece of research that has guided me towards what to do next for my independent component is an Op-Ed called, "Out of Control Compounding of Drugs." The article is about the recent outbreak of the steroid being contaminated by a fungus. Because of this, people are now skeptical of compounding pharmacies and new FDA standards for medicine. This has geared me to not only know what a pharmacist does but how important the current issues in pharmacy are. This article also pertains to my science fair project. Because of this research I will start looking up current events in the pharmacy world because the medicine and new restrictions are always coming out.

(3) Provide evidence from your independent component or the piece of research as something you recently did.  For example, a photo of something you working on for your independent component or your notes from the video you watched. 
          The evidence of new research that I have found are new issues such as the meningitis outbreak, what FDA inspections regulate, and more about compounding drugs.

Independent Component 1 Plan Approval

1. Write a description of what you plan on doing for your independent study.

I plan to take a Biology class at Cal Poly Pomona. In this class, I would learn the basics of living organisms such as their structure, what they're purpose is and how they grow.

2. Describe in detail how you think your plan will meet the 30 hours work requirement?

By taking a biology class I will have about 3 hours a week of actually taking the class for a quarter (approximately 10-12 weeks). Just by taking the class itself, I will be fulfilling the 30 hours. I plan to exceed the 30 hours by also taking more hours to study and read to supplement whatever is necessary for me to succeed in the course.

3.  How does your independent study component relate to your working EQ?
This independent component relates to my EQ by giving me more knowledge about what a pharmacist has to know and what classes I would be taking in the future. One of my answers to my working EQ could possibly be the knowledge that a pharmacist has.