Daily National Anthems // March Awareness

Happy Pi Day, everyone!

Good news is, it’s not just a day of infinite numbers and tasty dessert. As I’ve said, March is filled with a plentitude of national awareness days, and today just happens to be National Napping Day! Yep, an entire day dedicated to the importance of a healthy snooze after Daylight Savings begins. I—and all of you Arizona inhabitants—have never experienced time “springing forward” since we don’t change our clocks (and the sun always seems to shine), but I don’t think I would appreciate it if last night’s sleep were cut an hour short. So, in exchange for this significant lack of sleep time, we have National Napping Day right after the clocks change.

Naps are physically and mentally healthy and can really make a difference in one’s day. Check out this link: National Napping Day: 7 Surprising Benefits of Taking a Daily Nap

Fact of the day: There are 3 types of napping: planned napping, emergency napping, and habitual napping. They are all self-explanatory, but to give some perspective, when you know you’re going to be studying very late, you may want to take a planned nap when you get home. However, when you fall asleep while you’re looking at your notes, you fall prey to an emergency nap. And when you decide to doze at 7:30 pm every night, you’re choosing to take a habitual nap.

Aside from National Napping Day, there are dozens of March Awareness days, many of which people don’t even know exist. For example, I didn’t realize that Crown of Roast Pork Day, Awkward Moments Day, or Open an Umbrella Indoors Day were actually recognized as national celebrations in the month of March. Although these sound quite amusing, there are definitely other worthwhile awareness days that caught my eye, such as Registered Dietician Nutritionist (RDN) Day, Kick Butts Day, and Be Heard Day.

Hope you all find a day in March worth reveling in! (I don’t know about you, but I’m impatiently awaiting National Awkward Moments Day (3/18) and National Ravioli Day (3/20).)

Research project updates coming soon!

Mia Lu

Sleepless and Hungry? // March Awareness

Since it’s National Sleep Awareness Week, I wanted to share some interesting connections between sleep and nutrition.

Today I posted an article on Facebook about the relationship between sleep deprivation and unhealthy diets, specifically the craving of guilty pleasure foods. The University of Chicago performed a research study in which participants first got 7.5 hours (on average) of sleep, and then 4.2 hours of sleep in Part Two of the study. The researchers found that the loss of sleep intensified the effects of endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (or 2-AG). (Yes, cannabinoid, as in marijuana.) The elevation of 2-AG levels resulted in a stronger desire for the munchies—the “marijuana munchies”—and fat-filled treats.

I found this study very intriguing and hope you can spare the time to read about it. The Washington Post article was well put, and the NBC segment is also interesting to watch (if you don’t feel like reading).

And another thing…

Fact of the day: Alcohol is NOT a sleep aid. Though it may act as a sedative and make you fall asleep faster, alcohol will actually cause you to wake up more times during the night, disrupting your sleep cycle (National Sleep Foundation).

That’s all for now, happy sleeping!

Mia Lu

Are You Aware? // March Awareness

This is the first full week of March, so I decided to begin my March updates mentioned in my previous post.

* To my fellow group members: This is my Spring Break Week, so you do not have to comment, but I will still be posting.

This week is National Sleep Awareness Week (3/6 - 3/13)! I am sure everyone who reads this blog has experienced sleep deprivation, especially throughout high school and/or college. I'm pleased that the National Sleep Foundation has a week dedicated to sleep awareness, as most people (especially my generation) get fewer and fewer hours of recommended sleep, which greatly—as we all know too well—affects everything we do. And I think it is quite suitable during BASIS Scottsdale's Spring Break. You can follow the campaign using #7Days4BetterSleep.

Each week I will include links to other nationally recognized days in the top right sidebar, so check them out if you have a chance. If you would like to learn more about these March Awareness updates, feel free to comment on my posts and ask for additional links. I will also try to include articles and facts that I find particularly interesting and/or informative…such as “A proper diet and routine screenings can prevent colon cancer” (March is also Colon Cancer Awareness Month).

And…

Fact of the day: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a sleep disorder said to occur due to the inability for an infant’s brain to control regulatory functions like breathing. - Read more about SIDS here.

I hope these updates will give you a better idea of some of the research I do to gather information for my social media posts. More importantly, I aim to increase awareness of and spread the word about the topics I share.

More updates to come!

Mia Lu

My Search for the Ideal Designer

Happy first day of March, everyone!

To start things off, today is the first day of National Nutrition Month (with this year's theme being "Savor the Flavor of Eating Right"), so in the weeks of March I will share some—yes, you got it—nutritious facts and figures to be aware of. This week (2/29 - 3/6) just happens to be World Salt Awareness Week, with a theme of “Hidden Salt”.

Also, March of Dimes will kick off March for Babies on Tuesday, March 8th, which will begin its fundraising effort to support premature babies and fund research to help prevent premature birth. I will also provide updates and information throughout this month.

Feel free to visit Marvin Medisoft's Facebook page to see our posts as well.

Now, back to my website research…

I am currently in the process of choosing a web designer for Marvin Medisoft’s website update and redesign. Awhile back, Ms. Vaidya gave me a list of sites filled with freelancers and potential designers. I eventually narrowed down the sites to Fiverr and Upwork. (The Vaidyas are familiar with both already, which is a plus.)

If you are not familiar with Fiverr or Upwork, the former includes sellers that create “gigs”, or packages, for their particular services, ranging from graphic design and marketing strategy to sound effects and jingles. Upwork is a site in which freelancers-for-hire describe their specialties and qualifications and offer their services (there are no packages).

Both sites have many filtering options but are overwhelming all the same. Aside from searching for relevant types of web design, I have looked extensively at reviews, ratings, job history, past projects, cost rates, and even response time and native language. There are still so many candidates willing to do the work but only one spot for the job! Is it wrong for me to compare myself to a college admissions officer right now?

Additionally, I had to compile my notes and comments in an organized way throughout the process. Since I prefer handwritten notes, my poor little spiral-bound was soon filled with comparison charts, stars, arrows, highlighter marks, and chicken scratch.

After quite a few elimination rounds, I ended up with three designers from Fiverr and five from Upwork. While there are still many to choose from, I wrote a proposal to introduce our website redesign project in order to contact the freelancers and see if they are interested and available.

I contacted the Fiverr designers first. They all replied less than a day later! They posed questions about content, page count, HTML vs. PSD, RSS feeds, etc. Sometimes, it was a bit frustrating when we couldn’t fully understand each other, or when they wouldn’t answer my questions well. But so far, they have all been very polite and patient.

That is where I currently stand in deciding who to hire for Marvin Medisoft’s website redesign. I will definitely elaborate on the process as it progresses further.

These past four weeks have flown by—I can’t believe we’re almost halfway through our research!

If you are taking Spring Break next week, hope you have a relaxing one!

Mia Lu

A Look into Another Medium

When most people think of social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. easily come to mind. It’s not at all difficult to see the “social” activity, communication, and impact throughout these sites. 

However, I find that any medium that engages or interacts with others can be considered “social”. So, what about a website? I definitely think a website, especially for businesses, plays a huge role in the way of social media. Without a professional, polished site, a business won’t be taken as seriously by current customers or potential clients.

We’ve decided that Marvin Medisoft’s website needs to be updated and redesigned—and even modernized—to draw in more people. The overall design needs improvement, and we would also like to include an RSS feed from Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn, a Testimonials page, and an admin panel to manage and edit the site in the future.

However, we opted to hire a web designer rather than redesign the website ourselves. Now all we have to do is choose someone…

That’s certainly a project for tomorrow. :)

Until then,

Mia Lu

Eating the Elephant One Bite at a Time

Coined by Creighton Abrams, a U.S. Army general in the Vietnam War, “eating the elephant one bite at a time” is an expression for tackling any kind of large, difficult, or overwhelming project. In business, the phrase means breaking up a large task into smaller ones.

I discovered that this expression was very applicable to today’s events, as I found myself looking down at my extensive notes from this morning’s meeting.

Ms. Vaidya, Leah, and I met with Kevin Berk, who was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule. Mr. Berk is currently the manager of AZ on the Rocks, social media manager of Pita Jungle, and founder of Service Guru, a new website which collects customer reviews. We talked for two hours about marketing strategy, social media presence, business models, and customer service.

I have broken down a few ideas we discussed about how Marvin Medisoft can potentially improve its business:

A.   Continue to use content as a prime pitch in social media marketing, as opposed to direct advertising.

B.   Expand the actual TPN 2000 software by developing it into a web-based program.

C.   Find a way to get TPN 2000 hospital-approved, so Marvin Medisoft can then reach out directly to advocates like individual nurse practitioners or physicians (there are definitely regulations here).

D.   Ask customers (directly) for testimonials and/or stories of their experiences with TPN 2000 and have them leave professional rates/reviews.

Apart from giving advice on Marvin Medisoft’s marketing goals, Mr. Berk stressed the importance of customer service in all industries of business (and in life!). Whether in the restaurant business or a medical profession, service is not only a strategy, but also a necessity to live up to.

So, all in all, a business lecture and a life lesson all wrapped up in a very helpful and successful meeting! A huge thank you to Mr. Berk for meeting with us!

Hopefully, I don’t bite off more than I can chew…of the elephant, I mean. :)
Mia Lu

The Return of Madam Secretary

Wow, what a busy day!

Today I listened in on two conference calls: one was a discussion of TPN software issues, and the other was a practitioner tutorial. I was responsible for taking meeting notes, just like an actual company secretary! :)

During the first call, a group of doctors, physician informatics, TPN providers, and IT technicians discussed specific problems with a new version of the TPN 2000 program and its accompanying network. It was a very tech-y experience, and it took some time to sort everything out and get everyone on the same page. But eventually, with everyone’s advice, commentary, and suggestions, the technical difficulties were significantly improved—yay!

Then, after a lunch break, Ms. Vaidya invited me to listen to a tutorial/Q&A-based call with nurse practitioners working with TPN 2000. Unlike the first call, this involved discussion about the biochemistry behind total parenteral nutrition and the write-up/administration process. I was glad that I could understand a bit of the conversation, including calcium-phosphorous and sodium-potassium mole ratios, milliequivalents (mEq) conversions, and positive-to-negative ion matching (throwback to AP Chemistry!). I also got a taste of the TPN 2000 software interface, which is very complex and accounts for many elements and amounts used to produce the TPNs. I’m so grateful that I was introduced to the science behind this research in order to further understand the benefits of TPN and its software.

After all that, I can definitely appreciate the multiple layered factors that go into running and maintaining this software business.

I had a great second week of interning and can’t wait for next week!

Until next time,

Mia Lu