Report on My Interviews

Marco, Peggy. 10/2012. https://pixabay.com/en/director-film-acting-recording-1013873/

1. Three specific genres I found the most interesting as proposed by my interviewees.

Dr. Bailey talked mostly about her works in research papers, study designs, and proposals. To me the most interesting sounded like the study designs. Dr. Thiel told me a lot about they day-to-day communication you have to do as a doctor, as far as documenting everything about the patient's condition and the minutes of the visit. This genre might sound like busy work to some, but I found it really interesting because of the attention to detail and organization skills required for it. We also talked a little about professional and long term publications, like his case study, that could take anywhere from a couple of months to a year to complete. I thought this sounded interesting because of the sheer amount of time devoted to each.

2. How each of these genres differ from each other.

The genres that Dr. Bailey works on are all similar in that they are long term projects; some of these projects can take up to four years to complete. The differences between them is that the chronology of their release. First comes a proposal, which dictates the initial reason for the topic to be researched and how it came into question. The study design is the document that puts into words what the experiment will be and how it will be run. Finally, the research paper takes not only the original research from the experiment, but also incorporates outside information into one factual document. Dr. Thiel's genres are very different because they differ by the duration of time they last, and the length of time it takes to complete them. They are very much opposites from each other, because the daily documentation should really be finished the same day as the visit, whereas the case study should not even be finished within the same month if it is striving to be professionally recognized.

3. The challenges of writing in these genres.

I would say the biggest challenge with the daily documentation is staying organized and clear in your note taking. It is important that you can read your notes, but it is infinitely more important that the nurse practitioners and general medicine doctors can interpret your notes correctly, as well. As far as the case studies, research papers, study designs, and proposals go, the biggest challenge, at least I can see for myself, would be remaining enthusiastic and not getting burned out after studying the same thing for that long. I am not sure if this is something doctors/authors would go through, and they would know much more than I, but I could foresee that being an issue.

4. The rewards/exciting aspects of writing in these genres.

I would say that the biggest reward for all of these long term genres would be being able to look at your work once it is finished. They are huge tasks and will definitely be something you look back on your whole life. For daily documentation, this would be a continuing reward, since you would be monitoring your patient as their health improves, and you can physically see what you have fixed. For case studies, this would be the ability to look back on your finished compilation of work as a collection of many months of work.

5. Where, in mass media, these genres can be found.

Since these genres are pretty specific to medicine, it is unlikely they will be found in, say, the Washington Post, or another publication form popular to the general public (although Dr. Bailey said she would like to write for news articles one day if possible). However, all doctors offices, pharmacies, laboratories, hospitals and the like use medical documentation, prescriptions, and observe case studies.