healthcare in some capacity. I was raised in a family of educators, but I felt a calling for the medical field at an early age. I have vivid memories of visiting family members in the hospital when I was younger. I was fascinated by the professionals who cared for my family. I wanted to have their jobs one day. However, I wasn’t sure where I would find my passion in healthcare when I was that young. I started exploring different healthcare professions as early as middle school, but I only touched the surface
My occupational therapy story begins about two years ago. I was 20 years old and beyond excited to be observing an occupational therapist for the first time. We were in a clinical setting and I mimicked the occupational therapist as she put on a gown, gloves, and mask. You could say I was a bit nervous and shaky. Just as we walked into the room, my knees locked and down I went. Passing out on the first day was definitely not on my to-do list, but I did end up thinking really hard about if occupational
The first chapter introduced me to the various roles within OT. This includes activities that are meaningful to a client. So, not only is OT helping with a problem, such as a broken wrist, but it also helps break that down into different aspects that are utilized to regain function through tasks. I didn’t realize how much, or the depth OT actually went, and how many occupations there were to cover. This chapter introduced me to just how diverse the clientele are in OT, and how much creativity with
Additionally, in a real job description for a pediatric occupational therapist job listing in Idaho, the descriptions of what Sara depicted in my interview with her correspond seemingly perfect together in terms of how writing applies to the field. The expectations of writing abilities are not directly stated but implied by their job responsibilities which refer to “Screening and regular evaluation of clients to plan, implement, and coordinate treatment plans..”, “Maintaining documentation of clients’
In order to develop clinical reasoning, in the occupational therapy (OT) studies program, self-reflection is an essential part of getting students to connect principle and practice. The efforts of my school’s director and/or advisor emphasizing self-reflection was often encountered with resistance on my part. At first, focusing on “self” seemed irrelevant and ineffective. However, with time, I grew to appreciate the purpose of self-reflection and understanding myself. Personal growth often takes
major area of concern within the field of OT, the emphasis of occupation based practice in individual treatment sessions. They researched data dating back to the sixties in order to discover when in history the profession has strayed away from its foundational views In order to keep up with the traditional medical model, the OT profession lost sight of its core values and lost its unique contribution to the field as a holistic field (Kielhofner, 2004). Since this time, there has been more of a concern
Anxiously waiting for the next therapy session, I began to pace back and forth through the office. For the past six months, I had been dreaming of finding a way to incorporate my food science background in an Occupational Therapy setting. Most people had doubted by ambition to combine the two fields, but I was confident that I could find a way for them to parallel. As I paced around the room, I recalled the details of the next client. He was a 6 year old foster child with severe food anxiety. Constantly
Way back when I first started college, my priorities were not clear. I knew I wanted to do something that I can be proud of, it was only a matter of what do I really want that will fill my life and complete me as a person. I was in the manufacturing field since I was 19 years old and yet, I felt a hole in my heart. I got to a point where I stop growing as an individual and it became apparent that I wanted to do something more significant. That void became the fuel to pursue something bigger and life
I am incredibly glad that I learned about occupational therapy. While I've always had an interest in the medical field and social services, I did not know what occupational therapy was until several years ago. My first time around in college, I thought I would end up working overseas in relief and development or with marginalized populations in the U.S. When I graduated, I began to explore health care careers. As I researched physical therapy, I happened to read about occupational therapy. I was
Over the last two weeks I had the opportunity to observe a few Physical Therapists in their line of work. I worked closely with two Physical Therapists at Easter Seal, Anne Byrne and Patty Balbach. Easter Seals is a rehabilitation that works primarily with children, but they are able to rehabilitate people of all ages. They have Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, speech an language pathology, audiology, autism services and aquatics where they work with many people all with different medical