It was a Start.

I am officially the first intern to start the P.I. Health Career Pipeline Program for 2009. I was nervous and scared because I didn't know much about what I was getting into. Don't worry, my feelings changed.

My first day into the internship was overwhelming, but exciting. My preceptor, Diana Tisnado, taught me a lot about the basic elements of researching.

I know about Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) and Quasi-Experimental Design which are research designs. Who ever thought about such sophisticated methods of research? (haha)

RCT is simply picking a focus group and randomly separating them into two groups. Researchers will experiment on one group and keep the other group the same as they were (called the controlled group). After a period of time, you can give a survey to both groups and find how their progress was in being in those groups.

QED is another one where you survey before and after the groups are formed. Repeated measures afterwards might be done to indicate how their progress is. Some QED's won't have a controlled group and some will, depending.

Enough with the lecture. Clearly, my understanding of researching has stretched a lot more since I started this internship.
I had lunch with Diana, Alisi and their friend. It was different from my usual luncheons which is full of the newest gossip around town. I liked it because I learned something different from each of these women. They argued (in a good way) about things they believed were right and how they would change an issue. Well from what I was paying attention to. (haha) I also ate the best Vietnamese Pho soup I have ever tasted. (Not relevant, but good to know) =)

Brian Hui and Diana went over a lot of guidelines with me. They let me know that my options were open to anything in the health field. They introduced the idea of making surveys to get the data I will need for this report. I took interest in looking into Local Youth Health Issues because I'm a youth myself and I know a lot of people who can help me with this. =) I believe it's also an issue that can affect the future because our youth is the future.

Anyways, Diana gave me guidelines on how to conduct a survey. It looks difficult, but possible. This internship came off on a great start.