week three
june 27 - july 1


  Monday, June 27:

Today was the first of two day-long meetings to discuss the recent developments and future improvements of the LittleJIL language the LASER lab developed.  I was invited because I am part of the "Process Group", although I quickly discovered that the language is too new for me to discuss the underlying semantic implications or anything more complicated than the most basic of processes.  I agreed to make a presentation for tomorrow (Tuesday) to demonstrate the Initial process of Adult Outpatient Chemotherapy, based on what the doctor from Baystate Hospital had sent me.  This made me a little nervous: the experts of this language would be evaluating my presentation--me, the new girl!  I stayed later than usual working on the PowerPoint presentation loaded with screenshots, and I was convinced that it would go just fine.



Tuesday, June 28:

On the second day of the evaluation of LittleJIL, we discussed the environmental issues people had with the VisualJIL software, which is the program that utilizes LittleJIL to actually write things in the LittleJIL language.  I still felt like I had little to contribute to the discussion/debate, but at least I could reaffirm what I already knew and learn the ways in which I was misusing or misinterpreting the language.  When it came time to do my presentation, I was slightly nervous, but felt like I had nothing to lose since there really weren't any high expectations in place.  So I started off walking through the diagrams I had created, answering questions and responding to comments along the way.  Everything went smooth until the second part of the presentation: suggestions of things to add to the language.  For example, in several places in the process, a nurse would have to confirm that the prescription picked up matches the orders in the computer system, and that the patient's name, weight, height, and birth date all match what is displayed on the prescription bag, and several other checks along the way.  If there was a way to generalize this "Confirm" step, and only send in parameters (things to confirm) and the agent (the person who is to do the confirmation), then several steps would be less wordy and much more consistent.  The members of the meeting agreed that this idea would be useful, and it sparked further conversation about other features of the language.  I felt like a part of the team, contributing to the advancement of the project.  After the meeting, I made a rough agenda for our meeting at Baystate Hospital for the next day, since we would be meeting with Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacists to refine the Adult Outpatient Chemotherapy process.  I also made copies of the "plain english" translations and the doctor's original process so that everyone in the meeting would have one.  I had trouble printing out numerous copies of the LittleJIL diagrams, and I thought that the process was so rough at this point that there really was no point in displaying it, so the wordy printed processes had to be good enough.



Wednesday, June 29:

We went to Baystate Hospital today to discuss the Adult Outpatient Chemotherapy process.  Our meeting was supposed to be at 10:00, so we (three of us in one car going to meet 2 others from UMass in separate cars) left UMass around 9:15 with time to spare.  After a little bit of confusion as to where we were going, we arrived a few minutes late, but it really wasn't a problem.  One Doctor, one Registered Nurse, and one Pharmacist was present to provide their own perspectives on the Adult Outpatient Chemotherapy process.  I handed out the "plain english" descriptions of the doctor's original process, and right away, the doctor began stepping through the process, pausing for interruptions from the RN and Pharmacist.  Skipping around in the process, getting sidetracked on checks and balances within the roles of the agents in a hospital, refining the vocabulary used in each step--the meeting was extremely productive.  I listened for an action-packed two hours of nonstop note-taking, trying to capture everything the medical professionals discussed, noting to myself that for the next visit, I'll need to bring a tape recorder.  The medical professionals gave me some sample paperwork to better understand what artifacts are passed from agent to agent in the process, and they proved to be really helpful.  I think the meeting went so well because we realized that our time together was limited, so all of us were very action-oriented and driven to make progress.  Even though we didn't really take turns speaking or set ground-rules for the meeting, I think the amount of information gained from that meeting will surpass the unorganized communication that went on.  After the meeting, I met with Professor Clarke to review what went on in the meeting, and just to catch up with what I've been doing. 



Thursday, June 30:

  I slept in a little bit later today because I felt like I had been working really hard so far this week (10 hours on Monday, > 8 on Tuesday, a very intense meeting on Wednesday).  I'm not really sure if I should be putting in 40 hours a week, but I stay for roughly 8 hours a day, and I'm definitely getting work done, so I didn't feel too bad about coming in late.  I'm starting to learn the lifestyle of a graduate student: work at your own pace, but make sure you get work done when it counts.  And that's exactly what I've been doing.  Putting in the extra hours on Monday was necessary to make the presentation I gave on Tuesday, and prepare for the great meeting I had yesterday.  I felt a little bit burned out today, so I mostly just worked on my DMP website, and reviewed the notes from the Baystate meeting yesterday. 

After work, I went to Maria's (the other DMP student here at UMass), and we cooked a delicious Southwestern White Chili recipe that I found here.  It was so good!!!! We're going to try a new recipe every week.  I also tried to do my laundry in Maria's dorm, but the power went out for more than an hour, stopping the dryers, so all my clothes were still wet!  But at least they got clean.  I'm starting to get to know my roommates a little more too, so my life in Amherst is becoming more busy.  And my computer at home, the one that has stood faithfully by my side since I built it in the Summer of 2002, has officially died.  The hard-drive beeps and spins all the time, and I only got the chance to back up half of my data.  :(  It's pretty inconvienent to have the computer die while I'm up here in Massachusetts because even if I buy a new hard drive for my box, I would still have to reload all the software that was on it before (OS, Office, digital camera software.....), plus repartition it to make a dualboot system with Linux.  And I'm sad to lose all of my personal pictures of my family and friends.  And my mp3s!! Those things are worth money.



Friday, July 1:

  The Friday before the 4th of July started off with our weekly Medical Safety meeting.  We mostly talked about what went on at the Baystate meeting on Wednesday, drawing diagrams on the whiteboard and talking about the ever-changing nature of roles on a hospital.  It went just fine.  I even saved a ladybug that I found crawling on the conference table that had a broken wing.  I picked him/her (can't really tell one way or the other) up and put him/her in a plant in the LASER lab.  Hopefully, the wing will heal, but I'm no entomologist.