Blog 23: Senior Project Reflection

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
I'm really proud of just how deep my knowledge base is on my topic and how I was able to answer a lot of questions with depth and concrete research.
What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?
P
What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?
P+
What worked for you in your senior project?
I had really good background information and it's easy for me to answer questions people could pose to me.
(What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?
I would probably go back in and find more slides to add to my presentation so that I would have been much closer to making time. I also would've liked to have more reading material from books rather than articles
How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.

It has given me a lot of experience in self reliance and presentation skills and it's letting me look at different presentations and what interesting topics people have that I could maybe go into in the future.

Mentorship

Literal

• Ken Smith, Ortho Engineering

Interpretive

• Interacting with my mentors patients to gain an understanding on how difficult this process is and how much of a tole it takes on a person

Applied

• All of the mentorship hours I put in let me see all the different suspension types and it gave me a chance to ask how they felt about their suspension system and if it works.

Exit Interview

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why? 

• What is the most effective way to secure a residual limb inside of a fitted prosthetic socket?
• Pin suspension is an effective way to make a patient feel secure.
• Vacuum suspension is a helpful option for very active patients.
• Suction suspension is a practical way for active patients to get the security they need.
• Suction suspension is my best answer because it is the most comfortable and cost effective suspension type for active amputees. 

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer? 

• A lot of talking to my mentor after finding the concept online and seeing patients come in with that type of prosthesis.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?  

• I had a lot of issues when it came to finding accurate sources that weren't biased because of the company selling the products. I basically just had to go through them with my mentor and ask which sources were giving me valid information.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• I'd definitely have to say that my mentor was the biggest source of information and my biggest fact checker on any research I found to be sketchy. Information that I found to be quite insightful were the US Government studies on suction suspension and how it affected veteran amputees and their gait when compared to pin suspension.