Senior Project Overview

Description of Project | Two Semester Work Plan | Web Portfolio
Senior Project Components

Description of Project

My individual major, Compassion and Medicine , focuses on the religious and ethical realities of health care in addition to the scientific practices of medicine. It incorporates studies from the religion, psychology, philosophy, sociology/anthropology, and science departments. The goal of the senior project is to integrate, cohere, and build on the knowledge I have gained from study in the major and ultimately lead to a greater understanding of the significant questions and topics in this field. The unifying question that will serve as the basis for my senior project is, "how is compassion linked with professionalism in the health care field?" Exploration of this question, however, will require attention to complementary inquiries such as: What is the definition of compassion? How would a physician, a nurse, and a patient define compassion? Is compassion a necessary attribute of physicians? Is compassion an essential aspect of health care in general? Do situations arise in the medical profession where compassion is crucial to a successful outcome? What are the consequences of being a compassionate physician? Are there benefits and/or drawbacks to the physician and/or patient? In an attempt to answer these provocative questions my project will combine course work in different subject areas, independent reading, and experiential work at Northfield Hospice Center. These three aspects of my project will be used collectively to draw meaningful conclusions and enhance my understanding of how compassion is linked with professionalism in the health care field.

Two-Semester Work Plan: (Top)

I. The academic undertaking for senior project 1 :

• Intern/shadow at Northfield Hospice Center (2-3 hours every Thursday)
• Interview health care professionals
  **All interview questions will be pre-approved by the IRB**
• Write a compelling thesis for Jamie Schillinger that interconnects and expounds upon my project
• Read two suggested readings and writing response essays (listed below)
• Work with Kris MacPherson in obtaining research and finding useful resources.
• Line-up additional interviews and make e-mail contact with a hospital administrator, a hospital chaplain, a minister, a professor in the nursing department, and any other professional who can offer insight on this subject matter that I come in contact with through this process.
• Communication with my adviser, Dave Van Wylen, will be maintained through e-mail and bi-weekly meetings.
• Resources (Human): Dave Van Wylen, Karen Gervais, Kris MacPherson (St. Olaf librarian), Jamie Schillinger, David Booth, and Susan Carlson.
• Resources (Suggested Readings): "Intoxicated by my Illness" and "The Physician's Covenant"
• Resources (Other): Internet and Bridge for research purposes. ** Note : Kris MacPherson has advised that we meet regularly throughout the semester to discuss effective research strategies and evaluate the progress, richness, and validity of my research.

II. Intermediate and Semester-end goals for Senior Project:

• Have interviews scheduled and e-mail contacts made with other resources.
• Compile research and other information that will be useful when writing the final paper.
• Become knowledgeable about Hospice care and its efforts to provide compassionate health care.
• Write a compelling thesis for Jamie Schillinger that explores my individual major through another focus.
• Read and write response essays on the suggested reading: "Intoxicated by my Illness" and "The Physician's Covenant"
  ** Note : This will be completed by the end of January Interim.
• Consistently track my progress and development of my ideas through my web portfolio and essays.

III. Intermediate and Semester-end goals for the Web Portfolio:

• Be familiar with the Dream Weaver
• Post thesis written for Jamie Schillinger
• Post response and reflective essays written over the course of the semester
• Post essays written in the courses of my major that pertain to the focus of the senior project.
  ** Note : David Van Wylen will refer to our bi-weekly meetings, response essays, thesis, and web portfolio to evaluate my progress at the end of the semester

IV. The academic undertaking for senior project 2 :

• The academic undertaking for senior project 2 will revolve around the completion of my senior project and web portfolio. I will be conducting interviews with health care professionals about their definition of compassion and their understanding of it as an aspect of their professional role. This will serve as a practical application to my project by providing insight into health professionals' view of compassion and medicine. The majority of my time will be spent reviewing research, journals, interviews, preliminary writing, etc. and compiling the knowledge and information into a written paper that potentially may be published in a newspaper or journal. I will also invest time into developing my web portfolio that will demonstrate the coherence of my major and reveal the progress of my understanding of the project. Throughout this process I will maintain communication with David Van Wylen through e-mail and bi-weekly meetings.
• My project will take the form of a public presentation and written essay. The format of the essay will follow strict guidelines for publication. The journal that I will submit my essay to has not yet been selected. The written paper and my reaction to and feedback from the public presentation will be included in my Web Portfolio.
• I will present the results of my senior project in a public presentation. I will use my web portfolio, a power point presentation, a video clip, and open dialogue to help my audience understand how my senior project incorporates into my major. I will invite an appropriate audience including: David Booth, Susan Carlson, Kris MacPherson, Ted Johnson, Dave Van Wylen, Karen Gervais, fellow CIS majors, and classmates. The date and location for the presentation is April 29, 2005 in Buntrock room 242. I need to reserve and confirm the date and location for the presentation and I will need to make arrangements to have a computer and projection system available.
• I propose to have my senior project evaluated in terms of how effectively each of the following criteria is met: 1) How well the project relates to the major. 2) The degree of integrative thinking shown. 3) The development of understanding how compassion plays a role in medicine. 4) Proof of coherent ideas. 5) How effectively connections are made between course work and practical experiences, specifically interviews and interning at the hospice center. 6) How much academic effort is invested in project. Additional criteria may be included.

Web Portfolio (Top)

• I anticipate needing approval to post copyrighted/fair use materials. Privacy issues regarding my interviews have been resolved. I have worked closely with the IRB and it has been confirmed that as long as my reports obtained from the interviews contain no personally-identifiable private information about the interviewees than the reports may be posted on my website. I do not anticipate any special needs for my Web Portfolio in terms of graphics, sound, or moving images.