My entire life I have been surrounded and encouraged by people to care for others. For instance, my mother works in health care as a hospice and home health aid. When she gets home from work I can tell in the way she talks about her occupation that she is thrilled to help her clients live happier and healthier lives. This has led me to want a career that would directly work with people, and watch patients grow independently. In high school I did some research to what careers that would offer just that.…
On Friday, June 2nd, while visiting Pristine Senior Living and Post-Acute Care in Portsmouth, Ohio, a student from Shawnee State University’s Occupational Therapy Assistant program met with a male resident. The resident was laying in his bed. However, the student sat on a metal chair by his side. This particular resident has been at Pristine for some time.…
Table 1-1. OT/OTA Roles. Occupational Therapist Occupational Therapist Assistant Performs formal and informal standardized and non-standardized assessments Does not perform formal assessments except standardized tests that the OTA is well trained to administer Performs basic treatment as well as more complex therapy intervention and techniques Performs basic treatment and documentation under the supervision and direction of an occupational therapist Makes the final decision on treatment programs and discharge planning Provides input and makes recommendations for treatment programs and discharge planning…
Copolillo, Shepherd, Anzalone, and Lane (2009) describe the process of developing postprofessional doctorate in occupational therapy (OTD) program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). The OTD program at VCU was build around the theme of leadership and leadership development to meet the challenges of the new millennium. In their account, authors describe their investigations of leadership in the field of occupational therapy. While attempting to describe leaders in the field they found that leaders are at the forefront of the idea generation, developing new programs, steering and influencing practice. The authors believe that occupational therapy leaders are well informed, insightful, observant and perceptive, and able to make informed…
Unit 3: Transitions Our lives are composed of transitions. From infancy to childhood to adolescence to adulthood, we are constantly faced with change. How we adjust to these changes define our character and outcome.…
TG is an active and friendly 45-year-old man who acquired a traumatic brain injury 25 years ago. TG was referred for an occupational therapy evaluation of his overall functioning by Tim Gattenby, the coordinator of the Adapted Fitness program. The Canadian Occupational Measure (COPM) was conducted to learn more about TG’s daily activities and collaborate on selecting goals to address during therapy. TG lives independently in an apartment in downtown Madison. He seems to have a strong support system including his brother, children and TBI support group.…
Introduction How does a person choose his career as he reaches adolescence? Is it based on the profession’s projected salary or simply popularity? As a middle aged man pursuing his second degree, I can state that based on experience, it would not be wise for anyone to utilize this criteria as the basis for a decision. There are so many factors that should to be considered such as employment growth, current job demand, and stability.…
Personal Statement For the longest time I aspired to be an Occupational Therapist. A month ago, I noticed that wasn’t the journey I desired to take. I kept asking myself, “why?” what made me heartfelt about that career in the first place?…
As a child, when someone asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I would always answer that I want to help people. I might not have known at the time what the field of occupational therapy entailed, but I now know this is the field that will allow me to achieve my dreams of touching as many lives as I can. I believe that the best way to do great things is to make difference in someone else’s life and to love what you do. I believe that occupational therapy is the way I can truly make a difference and I can’t wait to be part of such a tremendously rewarding and diverse career by working closely with people and helping them progress closer to their goals of living an independent life My interest in occupational therapy began while pursuing…
Case Study #7 You are a fieldwork supervisor of an OT student in an acute care hospital. Your student asks you out for drinks after work. The type of problem would be an Ethical Distress since this “Occurs when situations challenge how a practitioner maintains his/her integrity or integrity of profession”( Behm D., Joanna, OT Ethical Standards). (Behm D., Joanna, OT Ethical Standards).…
While observing Occupational Therapy Assistant Fatima deCouto-Garcia, (a BCC program OTA graduate), at The New Bedford Rehab Hospital, we were tasked with focusing on recognizing the performance skill deficits and contextual factors that brought a client to seek Occupational Therapy services. The facility we visited is considered an acute long term rehabilitation hospital and the patients we observed each had complex multi-facetted symptoms, diagnosis and treatment protocols. For the purpose of this reflection we will focus on one patient, a 45 year old woman, Jane Doe, who 6 weeks prior had her left leg amputated above the knee. Jane was described as a homeless, diabetic, suffering from depression. The high level of Jane’s daily methadone dosage was preventing her acceptance to a skilled nursing…
Sam Dawson is a man with an unspecified developmental disability. He has the mental capacity of a seven year old yet he lives by himself and is able to hold down a minimum wage job at the local Starbucks. Sam became a father to a daughter which he named Lucy. Lucy’s mother fled after her birth so Sam was left to raise her by himself. The first days were hard and it was not until his neighbor, Annie, stepped into the parenting process to help Sam that things improved and moved along smoother.…
I believe that the differences in our responses to the performance task of taking care of ourselves, result from the way that we each see the tasks that fall under this category. I see these tasks as an opportunity to have some time to relax, either before I start my day or at the end of it, my father does anything expect relax when doing these tasks. He sees these tasks as time slots. When he needs to do these tasks that he already believes are unimportant, that he could be and should be doing something else. While is washing his face, he thinks of all the things that he needs to do that morning or what he needs to do before he goes to bed and these tasks take up time he could be doing that.…
Throughout my life the phrase, “You can’t quit now, you’ve already made it this far” has been thrown around by my coaches, teachers, family members and friends. It has been this constant reminder that I should always push onward through the challenges I face in life. The challenges that make it difficult to want to persevere and cause me to struggle to reach my goals. It was this constant reminder, that no matter the challenges that we face in our lives, the struggles that may set us back from our daily routines or the problems that may arise throughout our journey, we can overcome them, push them behind us, and advance onward with our life in happiness. I’ve come to discover that this simple phrase of not quitting because you’ve made it so…
Prior to beginning the masters of occupational therapy program it was as if I was an ancient wanderer in the dark ages, eager to learn new ideas and discover new places not sure what the world would throw at me next. Over the next eight years I found myself at a series of personal crossroads one encounters during life’s journey. Not the crossroad where one sells their soul to the devil for some magical power. It was more of one of those forks in the road, a kin to the Robert Frost Poem, where one path leads to life A and the other leads to life B. Crossroads that impacted my future, shaped who I am and my character, influenced life changes, which led to a transition that will influence me and my family for generations to come. I come from…