Nerissa Duchin: Analyzing the Data on Adverse Drug Events BACK

Published by AFAR

This is week five out of eight of my MSTAR research experience, and I am actively trying to move ahead with finishing data collection and analysis. Last week was quite busy, and I sure learned a lot about using Excel and Access. At times, learning new computer skills is frustrating, but I appreciate learning these new skills so that I can be more efficient at managing data in the future. Monday morning I met with my mentor, Dr. Jerry Gurwitz, and we talked about some preliminary data that I had organized into tables, and we talked about a timeline for the rest of the summer. I will spend this week finishing up data analysis, and that will give me the next couple of weeks to work on writing up my results. I will be presenting my project for a group of my peers (including the two other UMass MSTAR students) as well as at the weekly faculty and staff meeting here at the Meyers Primary Care Institute.

I have had many learning opportunities over these past few weeks. I was able to meet with a faculty member who was a member of the expert panel which compiled the 2012 Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults (on which my project is focused). Thursday I will be meeting with another geriatrician and principal investigator to discuss my project as well as her perspective on the clinical use of the Beers Criteria. I have also appreciated the fact that my mentor invites me to weekly research meetings for a couple of different projects. I enjoy listening in on these meetings because it gives me a chance to see how other research teams function to accomplish their goals. Additionally, there are various departmental seminars (the last one was on osteoporosis) that I am invited to attend to gain general geriatrics knowledge, which I find interesting. Later on this afternoon, one of the research assistants here is going to help me link some more data with my current data sheets; I really appreciate how helpful people have been throughout this experience.

Through working on my project (part of which involves reading about and classifying many medications), I am excited to see how much I have learned during my first year of medical school. Reading about how antipsychotics may cause syndrome of inappropriate ADH secretion and actually knowing what that means is intellectually exciting, and makes me look forward to learning more during my second year of medical school. I find that as I read about adverse drug events and their descriptions (written by clinical pharmacist investigators), I am feeling more and more comfortable reading about the history of present illness, physical exam findings, etc., and it is nice to have these examples of how one would go about presenting a case. Alright, it looks like it’s time to get back to looking at data!

Nerissa Duchin
University of Massachusetts Medical School

"Diary of an MSTAR Student" follows scholars in the 2012 Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program, highlighting their summer experiences. As they continue their path of research, training and clinical practice, read their daily thoughts at www.afar.org/mstarblog. New diary entries are posted every day, so check back soon.