1. Demonstrates the ability to give constructive and timely feedback.
- As a practitioner, we should be able to give and recieve feedback to our clients as well as team members. During my rotations, this is a skill I had to learn due to my quiet personality. In outpatient, a common diagnosis I have been exposed to is rotator cuff pathologies. We often perform exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles. A common exercise performed is external/internal rotation with resistance bands. This exercise tends to be difficult for clients due to pain. I remember an instance with one of my clients where I demonstrated the exercise then observed her perform the exercise. She has a hard time keeping her elbows next to her body while only rotating her forearm. I immediately corrected her form and she said to me "you're a stickler for the rules, aren't you?" and I said to her that she wasn't getting the full effect of the exercise if her form isn't correct. She laughed and so did my educator but they both agreed with me and she understood the importance of performing the exercise correctly. I have also had conversations with my educators early in the rotations about how we can maximize my learning experience and what they could do for me.
2. Modifies behavior in response to feedback; seeks opportunities to apply feedback.
- During my first rotation in the school system, I really struggled with the setting when making intervention plans and writing evaluations. My educator would leave comments on what I need to change, rephrase, or add more details to on the evaluations I wrote. From the first evaluation I had written to the last one, there was a difference in the writing and there was less changes that needed to be made. My educator had also complimented me on one specific evaluation that I wrote which was written well with little changes. I took all the advise I was given to better my documentation which paid off at the end. With intervention planning, I had a difficult time with getting creative to make sessions more enjoyable for the kids. It took me hours to make treatment plans over the weekend. My educator suggested I look on Pintrest and Instagram for creative ideas. I eventually started to use different platform to get ideas and was able to make them my own by grading them for the kids. My educator appreciated my efforts and those treatment plans were ones she complimented. After my first rotation, I made sure to ask my educator for feedback and asked questions very often to ensure that I am on track and how to improve my skills. I have been able to apply the feedback recieved into evaluating and performing treatments based on the feedback given to me. I am still learning and will always continue to learn in this field. There will be times I come into situations where I don't know what to do and will need feedback for how to improve. It is important to be receptive to feedback in order to grow to better treat my future clients. I have attached a screenshot of a comment from my educator about my ability to respond and apply feedback from my IPR and outpatient rotations.
3. Productively uses knowledge of own strengths and weaknesses.
- Knowing my strengths and weaknesses has played a major role throughout my fieldwork experiences. A strength of mine quickly became my ability to communicate and build relationships with my clients. Since I was able to have good relationships with my clients, I was able to convince them to participate in therapy even if it was in the bed or in their room during my IPR rotation. An example that comes to mind was with a client who was being discharged but still had to recieve therapy on the day of because of missed time. She was initially refusing therapy but I was able to convince her that we don't have to leave room and that I could help her pack her belongings before she has to leave since that is what she wanted to do. A weakness of mine has been not knowing the clinical presentations and what to look for in evaluations in the outpatient setting. Orthopedics is not my strong suit so I knew I had to put in a little more effort to increase my knowledge in this aspect. I would spend time reviewing my notes from school, watching YouTube videos, and even googling about different diagnoses that I would encounter the next day so I could be prepared. I sometimes would be to refresh my memory on special tests to be performed with certain diagnoses since those weren't always performed. It has been helpful for me to know what my strengths and weaknesses are so I am able grow and build upon my skills to better cater to the needs of my clients.
4. Maintains balance in personal and professional life while prioritizing professional responsibilities and commitments.
- A healthy work-life balance is a priority when it comes to working for any company or hospital. As an individual, it is important to get a mental break from the work we do all day as well as be able to participate in life events. When I was in Chattanooga for my first rotation, I explored the city during my first few weeks of being there. When the work load started to increase, I had to limit myself because I was starting to struggle and needed to focus more on the work. I recall a time when I was asked to help with a volunteer event to which I had to decline because I needed to prioritize making treatment plans for the upcoming week. During my remaining two fieldwork rotations, I was more freely able to enjoy my personal life with my family and friends by taking a birthday trip to LA, going to dinners, birthday parties, attending my brother's graduation, and religious occasions/events. My last rotation in the outpatient setting was a little more challenging for me and I often spent weekends watching videos and researching how to perform evaluations, special tests, and different diagnoses in general that I had to reschedule plans so I could educate myself for this setting. After midterm, I felt more confident in my skills and was able to enjoy my weekends more. I have attached pictures from above mentioned activities throughout my fieldwork rotation.
5. Demonstrates functional level of confidence and self assurance.
- In OT school, I did really well in my studies, I understood the content, and was able to practice skills through labs. The transition from in class to fieldwork was very difficult for me due to the lack of support system in an unknown city. I struggled with confidence since my first fieldwork experience in the school system because of the many ups and downs I encountered at fieldwork or personal issues at home. I felt incompetent and underprepared in my practice due to situations occuring with my FWE and my preparedness. After my first rotation, I was highly anxious and felt uneasy going into my second rotation at IPR since it was a new setting to me. Due to everything that happened in the school system, I wasn't confident at all but with the support from my educator and other staff members since day 1, it was easy for me to feel at home and made me feel I was capable of serving this population. The setback wasn't the end for me or my learning. It was simply something I has to overcome and grow from. By the end of midterm, I felt confident in evaluating and treating the clients and when I didn't, I was never afraid to questions or for help. The constant encouragement I recieved from my FWE and PT partner really helped me gain my self confidence back. Seeing my clients progressing also made me more confident and brought me reassurance that I knew more than I thought I did. At IPR, I found my true passion and what I was good at. As a student, you learn by making mistakes and through doing and sometimes I had to remind myself that it is okay not to know everything. My FWE compliemented me on how quickly I learned the ins and outs of IPR and the documentation system. I have attached a comment from my final evaluation about my progress from the second half of my rotation.
6. Uses humor to diffuse tension.
- I have created many relationships with my clients throughout all of my rotations. Particularly, my outpatient rotation has pushed me out of my comfort zone to the extent where I have learned how to better converse and empathize with people in general. In the outpatient hand setting, many of the clients have been referred due to work related injuries or post operative therapy. During evaluations, we often assess grip/pinch strength and range of motion. The clients are aware of their limitations and but when we compare their measurements to the unaffected side, they often make comments like "I'm so weak" and I always try to remind them that this is the injured hand and it'll get better. I had a client who was at the clinic for a hamate and 4th/5th metacarpal fracture. After this evaluation, I had given him a home exercise program to increase his hand strength. One of the exercises was to scissor cut the theraputty with his 4th and 5th digit. This was very difficult for him because of his injury and he unable to adduct this 5th digit completely. He was laughing but he made a comment saying he was weak. I decided to try to see if I could do this exercise myself and when I tried, I was unable to do it as well. I said to him "Looks like I need to do this too, my pinky is weak" Everyone at the table laughed and he felt better about himself as well. He is now 4 weeks into therapy and he has little difficulty completing this exercise. Everyday our clients are experiencing something new whether its getting better, worse, or new activities/exercises. We as therapist have to bring in the comedic factor to lighten their moods and motivate our clients.
7. Maintains professional behavior, regardless of problem or situation.
- Throughout my entire fieldwork career, I have encountered different situations in each setting whether it is with clients, staff members, or even an educator. Being in the healthcare field, there will be multiple personalities we work with that have their opinions based on their experiences. During my first rotation in the school system, I had encountered conversations with COTAs and the OT in which they would vent their frustration about each other to me and I would have to stay neutral and just listen to what they had to say. During my second rotation in IPR, I had a patient that wouldn't follow her weight bearing precautions even after constant reiteration and education. When I started to treat patients on my own, my educator would come and check in to see if everything was okay. One day when when my educator was checking in on us, we were performing a toilet transfer and the patient wasn't following precautions so my educator was educating her and the patient got upset and started yelling. When my educator left, the patient told me she doesn't like my educator. I then had a conversation with the patient about being nice if even she doesn't like someone and how we are just trying to keep her from getting worse. She reciprocated and since was a lot nicer to my educator and other staff members as well. All the situations I have observed or been a part of has taught me to stand up for myself and also for others while remaining professional.
8. Takes risks to maximize outcomes.
- During my second rotation at IPR, I had a patient who had a severe fear of falling due to her feeling dizzy whenever she tried to stand. We did multiple vertigo tests but were unable to decipher what the root cause was. She always wanted a 2 person transfer because she didn't feel safe with one person. I had encouraged her many times throughout my time working with her that she can trust me. One day, I had no choice but to do the the transfer by myself. We successfully completed the transfer even though she was hesitant. It seemed as if she had blocked this out of her memory because every time after that I would have to remind her that we have done this before and she is able to transfer with one person. This was risky for me because of how fearful she was but it was also very important for her to be able to perform functional transfers to use the toilet and even take a shower. My last day working with this patient, I had encouraged her to take a shower and she agreed. She was so thankful and happy that she was able to do that and I still remember her saying to me "I will never forget you. You were the first one to give me a shower and I feel so much better." Taking risks in therapy is important because it can promote functional progress and allows clients to see what they are capable of doing. Sometimes all it takes is encouragement for clients to believe in themselves.
9. Uses knowledge and information in an innovative way.
- During my school system rotation, a common goal for the students was to imitate, copy, and produce prewriting strokes (PWS) in developmental progression. The student I was treating was able to trace and imitate PWS. I had to think outside the box to make this more fun and creative for the student. After much thought and collaboration with a friend, we came up with the idea to draw a robot using PWS. Although he wasn't at the stage to copy every PWS, we were able to trace, imitiate, and copy the PWS as needed. He did require hand over hand assistance to draw some but this activity was very engaging for him and he enjoyed being to draw a robot without knowing he was working on PWS. I have attached a picure of the robot he drew using PWS.
- During my outpatient rotation, I have been challenged everyday when treating my clients. My educator has taught me about the different orthopedic diagnoses we have seen in the clinic. He has been a great resource in teaching me different ways to treat these clients and different treatment activities. Since the clients are seen in the clinic over a span of months, it can get boring to do the same thing everytime they come to therapy. It is our goal to ensure the clients return for their therapy and they are recieving the best treatment. My creativity has been challenged when treating ortho and neuro clients. I had a client who had suffered CVA 2 years ago and she was having difficulty with her grasp. My educator made her a splint to increase her ability to grasp objects while I used therapeutic activities to promote the tripod grasp. I learned different ways to encourage tripod grasp during my school system rotation which I was able to incorporate into the outpatient setting. I used pinch clips to encourage the tripod grasp for picking up foam cubes to place into a container. My educator really liked the activity I did with the client and he started using this activity with other clients as well for different needs. I have attached a screenshot from my midterm of my educator to create activities for clients in a creative way.
- During my IPR rotation, I created an intervention for a client was treating who had fine motor, cognitive, buttoning, and coordination deficits. Since many clients didn't have their own clothes or clothes with buttons which they may wear outside of the hospital, I thought it would be a good idea to have something occupation based for clients to practice buttoning while also working on other skills. I included buttons of different sizes so it could be easily graded based on the clients needs. I have attached a picture of this intervention.
10. Empowers clients and team members.
- As therapists, it is our role to motivate our clients to reach thier full potential. One thing I learned in the school system when treating students was to start with something easy for the students to perform and then build upon it to make it more challenging. This is something I carried with me throughout other two rotations. It allows the clients to feel a sense of achievement before being challenged. I often followed this "rule" since I learned about it. For example, in the schools setting I had a student who mastered cutting straight lines and was now on curved lines so to introduce this, I started with him cutting on straight lines and then gave him a paper with curved lines and helped facilitate when he needed it. As therapists, we should be motivating our clients regardless of their age. Not only do clients need to be empowered but so do our fellow staff members. As mentioned in the previous post, I inspired my educator with new treatment activity which he now performs with his clients when needed. Throughout my rotations, I have witnessed that people of all ages want to know their progress and are happy when hear or see they are able to do something they weren't able to do before. I have been compliemented by my educators for the work I have done with our clients and the progress they have made.
11. Actively participates in leadership or supportive roles in local, state, and/or national associations.
- During my time on campus, I held a leadership position as Treasurer on the Pi Theta Epsilon (PTE) honor society. I managed the St. Catherine Challenge fundraiser through multiple events planned. I was also a board member for the Rachel Kay Stevens Therapy Center, member of American Occupational Society (AOTA), Tennessee Occupational Therapy Society (TNOTA), and Student Occupational Therapy Association (SOTA). I often attended webinars through AOTA and TNOTA to increase my professional development during OT school. While on fieldwork, I remained up to date through reading newsletters, email updates, and social media. I have also used the AOTA fact sheets to read up on diagnoses and treatments for clients I am not sure about. I am a lifetime PTE member and which also gives me access to continuing education courses along with TNOTA and AOTA which I will be using to remain updated with the OT world to further my education. I have attached a picture of my memberships in the above associations.
12. Maintains values over self-promotion or profit.
- I live my everyday life based upon my values. I chose to become an occupational therapist because I wanted to help people live their life to their fullest potential. This is something I value in all parts of my life as I enjoy being a helping hand for anyone and anything. During my IPR rotation, I believe it was around week 4, I was treating 3 clients on my educator's caseload with supervision. My educator was in the room with a client while I was finishing my documentation on the client I treated. I walked past one of our clients room and saw her call light was on for a few minutes. Since no one had gone to help her, I decided I could go and check on her to see what she needed. She told me she needed to use the bathroom so I went ahead and helped her to the bathroom. My educator walked past the room and saw I was helping this client. I explained to her what happened and she said to me "Wow, thank you for helping her even though you didn't have to." The client was very grateful that she was able to get to the toilet. We informed the nurse tech for the section as well as the nurse that she was on the toilet and that she would need assistance to get back in the bed and then went ahead to see our next client.