1. Appreciates the influence of socio-cultural, socioeconomic, political, diversity factors, and lifestyle choices on engagement in occupation throughout the lifespan.
- A big part of healthcare involves working with clients who come from different cultural/religious backgrounds, point of views, lifestyle choices, and socioeconomical backgrounds. I have worked with all kinds of patients/personalities throughout all of my fieldwork experiences. There have been clients who are motivated/not motivated to participate in therapy, different diagnosis, and different cultures. Every one of my clients have had different goals and lifestyles. I have learned a lot about my patients lives through the time I have worked with them. Many of my patients have different thoughts than I do, and I have learned to put personal differences aside and treat my patients to the best of my ability. While working with my clients, I have learned about their beliefs and choices they have made in life which has helped me cater treatments and even conversations towards them. During my final rotation, my fieldwork educator (FWE) had specifically complimented me on how well I handle the religious/cultural differences seen in the clinic. I have attached a copy of a comment from my midterm evaluation.
2. Communicates effectively with a wide range of clients, peers, and professionals both verbally and non-verbally.
- I believe communication is important in every aspect of life and in relationships. Without communication we wouldn't understand how another person is doing and we wouldn't be able to express ourselves. Communication, both verbal and non-verbal, is just as important in the therapy world. We need to communicate with our clients to evaluate them, understand their concerns, encourage them, provide feedback, update them on their progress, and to establish rapport with them along with many other reasons. Throughout my fieldwork experience, I have had to communicate with clients, my educator, and other professionals. I have been attentive to all people who I have worked with by maintaing eye contact, nodding my head, and responding as needed. There have been many times during my inpatient and outpatient experiences when I had to stop documenting or pay a little extra attention to what my client was expressing because they had a rough night or day and just needed someone to talk to. As therapists, I think it is important to understand when to take a break and be present with our clients because other things can wait- how our clients feel can't. I have attached a screenshot of the scores from my final and midterm evaluations from inpatient and outpatient experiences by my educators.
3. Collaborates with clients and caregivers in establishing and maintain a balance of pleasurable, productive, and restful occupations to promote health and prevent disease and disability.
- When performing evaluations during my inpatient rehab (IPR) experience, I asked my clients about their goals, what they enjoy doing, and what they wish to achieve during their stay at the hospital. It was my favorite part about performing evaluations because I got to know my clients a little more and hear about their lives from the beginning. Knowing my clients goals helped me create treatment plans and find ways to incorporate their interests into the treatments as well. One of my clients enjoyed fishing, so I was able to create a fishing game for him to work on the skills while another client wanted to be able to stand and walk so I worked on standing tolerance/functional mobility with him. I was exposed to all kinds of goals and interests of my clients and was able to open up my creativity to make therapy sessions enjoyable and worth it for my clients to engage in the sessions. I have attached a screenshot of my educator's evaluation.
4. Inspires confidence in clients and team members.
- Inspiring confidence in clients and team members has been a skill I have built upon in every setting. Words of encouragement goes a long way when working with clients when they are having a difficult day or just trying to overcome their injury. There is a client who I was treating at my outpatient rotation who had a distal radius fracture from a fall. He had decreased grip strength and experiences pain with certain movements of his wrist. He was telling me about his difficulties and said "I really hope I get my strength back." I told him he will and that we will work on it together but it will take time. He responded saying "Thats 45 years of strength that I need to build back." I then responded with "Don't worry, I know you can do it. It's already getting better than when you started." He was so happy to hear that and said "thank you for the motivation, I really appreciate that."
- During my inpatient experience, there was another OT student who was also completing his level II rotation. One day at the beginning of his first week, I had a converstation with him about the setting and helped explain the treatments that I have performed with my clients in the therapy gym. He was a little overwhelmed because he was used to the acute care setting so this was a change for him. Although, both of us were fairly new to this setting, I was a little more experienced because I was there for 3 weeks before him. I would answer his questions about the documentation system and show him how I document my evaluations. I also recall another occasion with my PT partner while I was at the inpatient setting. He is currently in school to become a case manager and was overwhelmed with work and school. I remember the day he came to work when he didn't make the desired grade on a paper he was working on. I asked him if he was okay because he looked upset and we had a conversation about his grade and I encouraged him and motivated him about his ability because I have seen how he interacts with his patients and that he would make a great case manager.
5. Considers client motivation when using occupation based intervention to maximize functional independence.
- During evaluations in inpatient rehab (IPR), I always ensure to ask clients what they enjoy doing or if they have hobbies we can incorporate into treatment sessions during their time at the facility. I had a Vietnamese client who had suffered a stroke inform me she baked wedding cakes and she really wanted to do that once she is discharged. Since there was an ADL suite available at this site, I brought up the idea to my educator and we decided to plan one of the treatment sessions around her baking a cake. Her granddaughter was present the day we baked the cake and she commented that “you all have gone above and beyond for my grandmother” and she really appreciated us doing this for her. Her standing tolerance in the gym was around 5 minutes when performing therapeutic activities, but while baking the cake it was close to 25 minutes! I have attached a picture of the cake she baked.
6. Applies theory regarding the therapeutic use of occupation and adaptation to screen and evaluate, plan, and implement intervention, while establishing and maintaining a therapeutic relationship with the client.
- Throughout my rotations, I have seen my educators use multiple frames of references and theories to promote positive outcomes during treatment sessions. In the hospital, I was educated in new techniques such as neuroifra and was able to implement it with CVA clients I worked with. In outpatient hands, we used a lot of biomechanical approaches due to the orthopedic conditions seen at the clinic. Both settings were different in terms of what we are assessing so I had to adapt to the shift and evaluate and treat based on the settings needs. The transition from being ADL based in the hospital to being more biomechanial to restore functional range of motion (ROM) and strength was a little difficult but I have been able to plan sessions to cater to the clients needs. I have attached a screenshot from my midterm/final evaluations about my ability to evaluate, plan interventions, and my relationships with clients by my educators at both settings.