ONE PHASE AT A TIME…THE JOURNEY TO DISSERTATION

Doctoral Student Portfolio:

Pam Meadows

Submitted as partial requirement for

the degree of Doctor of Education in

Leadership Studies

MY PATH TO THE DOCTORAL PROGRAM

•Professional Background: Medical Technologist

•Roles within the Clinical Laboratory

• Supervisory roles

• Training and education of laboratory and nursing staff

•Entry into higher education

• Mountwest CTC

• Marshall University

PHASES OF THE DOCTORAL JOURNEY

•Clinical laboratory testing can be broken down into three phases:

•All phases are critical to ensuring accurate patient diagnosis and treatment

•The doctoral program is in essence a sequence of “phases”

Pre-Analytical

AnalyticalPost-

Analytical

PRE-ANALYTICAL PHASE: PLANNING MY DOCTORAL JOURNEY

Clinical Laboratory

•Processes that occur between the time of order and actual testing

•Collection of samples

•Preparation of specimens, supplies and analyzers

Doctoral Program

•Personal goals and feelings of inadequacy

•Decisions and processes involved in admission to Ed.D. program

•Interview for admission

ANALYTICAL PHASE:KNOWLEDGE AND CONFIDENCE GAINED

Clinical Laboratory

•Actual analysis of blood and body fluids

•Patient outcomes are dependent on quality of results

•Basis for the development of a treatment plan

Doctoral Program

•Each doctoral course was a “test” of my abilities

•Strengths and weaknesses identified

•Doctoral coursework = foundation for selection of a dissertation topic and research plan

ANAYLTICAL PHASE: INTRO TO RESEARCH AND ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING

•LS 703 Research Design

• Critiques of published dissertations

• Development of a research proposal

• “This is doable, but boy is it going to be a long road ahead!”

• LS 707 Ethical Theory

• Thought-provoking: The question of omnipotence

• Decision making and ethical standards: Relating new information to current knowledge

• Fear of judgment: “Do I really fit in here?”

ANALYTICAL PHASE: KNOWLEDGE AND FUN WITH SURVEYS!

•LS 705 Administrative Theory

• Intro to various leadership theories

• Connections between higher education and K-12 issues

• Policy analysis

•EDF 711Survey Research in Education

• Survey development based on LS 703 research proposal

• IRB approval process

• Developing a survey isn’t as easy as it looks!

ANALYTICAL PHASE: CONFIDENCE GAINED

•LS 710 Principles of Leadership

• Finally starting to “fit in”

• Behavioral theory and the managerial grid

• Organizational vision and the critical role of motivation

•EDF 625 Qualitative Research & LS 776 Computer Analysis

• Making the decision: qualitative vs. quantitative research

• The key to a good interview

• Making sense of research data and statistics

POST-ANALYTICAL PHASE: PULLING EVERYTHING TOGETHER

Clinical Laboratory

•Release of test results

•Physician analyzes results, assigns diagnosis and formulates treatment plan

Doctoral Program

•Utilizing knowledge gained in doctoral courses to collaborate with classmates and faculty in scholarly activities, such as survey research and formal presentations

•Stronger leadership skills as a result of doctoral course discussions, case studies and readings

POST-ANALYTICAL PHASE: COLLABORATION AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS

•Doctoral Seminar Planning Committee

•Target warning research and SRCEA presentation

•Co-teaching: Principalship and integrity

•Publications and Presentations

•WVSCLS leadership roles

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PHASE: DISSERTATION AND THE PATH FORWARD

Performance improvement initiatives are widely used in laboratory medicine as a means to improve patient outcomes

Step 1

• Identify the problem

• (Dissertation topic & literature review)

Step 2

• Develop an improvement plan

• (Research proposal)

Step 3

• Initiate revised procedure and collection of data

• (Dissertation research)

Step 4

• Evaluate data and outcomes

• (Interpretation of data and conclusions)

I want to thank my committee members in advance

for your guidance and mentoring during the dissertation process!

Committee Members

Eugenia Damron, Chair

Bobbi Nicholson

Jennifer Perry