2nd blog
Two weeks of work has passed, it is time to write them down.
What is my project about?
Blood pressure is associated with many problems as blood clots, stroke, heart attack, diabetes, etc, but it is unclear about the efficacy of blood pressure drugs on those diseases. Specifically, the project is focused on the effect of blood pressure lowering drugs on the prevention of atrial fibrillation. One of the questions below this topic is what kind of populations can benefit from blood pressure lowering drugs in preventing atrial fibrillation. Another question is whether there is a specific blood pressure lowering drug can make an effect on atrial fibrillation by a particular mechanism or all the drugs helping to obtain a lower blood pressure can be used to treat atrial fibrillation. The general project is to find the link between blood pressure lowering drugs and atrial fibrillation prevention on a meta-analysis scope. And my job is to support researchers in George Institute for Global Health to complete this meta-analysis by conducting a systematic review, extracting information from clinical trials and maybe also using STATA to conduct a meta-analysis at a later stage.
What have I learnt from the first two weeks?
The first task coming from George Institute for Global Health was delivered by skype, and the task was to sort data. It was the first time I had an online meeting, and given the task by skype. It was not that easy for me, since English is my second language, I was not fluent enough to communicate online at the beginning. Then I just told myself that I should be confident and believe in myself, because I had overcome all the difficulties before, and although in a lot of cases I performed not perfectly at the early days, I always put things on the right track afterwards, and achieved what I wanted eventually. I tried my best to focus on the requirement of the task, and took notes, and asked questions to get clear about how I should do to achieve it. After the skype meeting, I got on the work very quickly. To confirm I was on the right track, I sent the begin part of the work I had done to them for checking. Then I continued finishing the rest of the work. What I have learnt so far is to be confident, always ask questions to get clear enough about what the task is and how you could approach it. To make sure on the right track, split the big task into a small part and the rest, and send the small part of finished work to employer which can help you better understand the work and be confident about what you are doing and can also prevent futile work conducted under wrong approaches. However, it may also depend on the nature of the work and working atmosphere as well.