27 Dec 2010

getting a job in OT is easy-peasy if you're not picky! lol

Question asked: Is it difficult to find a full-time position as an OT?

Answer: Not at all, but it may not be the area you want. If you want to work in a skilled nursing facility or nursing home or something, there are tons and tons and tons of jobs available. Jobs in pediatrics etc are definitely out there, just not quite as plentiful. But it's VERY easy to get a job in OT, even now when jobs are hard to come by. May not be quite as high a salary or there might not be a sign-on bonus or something, but for now, still lots of jobs. Wow my cat is making this really hard to type, he is sticking his skull between my hands on the keyboard. So my worry right now is not GETTING a job, but whether it will be a good job that I can learn in/enjoy….

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 3

27 Dec 2010

On the job hunt

All right y'all, I'm on the job hunt for a job as an occupational therapist somewhere between San Diego CA and the border….ideally south of La Jolla, not north. I'm looking for a pediatric position but if that fails, I'm going to look more into hospitals etc. Any leads on pediatric positions or anything else? It needs to be at least 30 hours a week with benefits. Ideally a flexible schedule but we all know that's only a dream, haha….my other dream is good mentorship 🙂 I'd like to keep working on my Spanish as it's okay but definitely no where near fluent!!

I just got back from South America this past Monday so this week I went and got my new driver's license, finishing up process of getting CA OT license, went and observed at a potential job site (but it unfortunately wasn't an ideal fit), etc….this upcoming week my goal is more job searching!

I have a few OT comments I need to work on responding to, about getting into OT school. Although a word to the wise – it's been like….4+ years since i entered OT school, so you may want to get advice from someone who more recently went through the process! 🙂

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 4

16 Dec 2010

Gifts, Toys for Special Needs Children – link

Hi all,

A blogger I have followed many years, Dream Mom, writes about her journey with her teenage son, who has severe disabilities. I enjoy her posts and I think her most recent post about the best toys and gifts for special needs children with severe disabilities, is an especially relevant one to occupational therapy. Maybe it will give you some ideas on toys to use in practice, or to recommend to parents. Maybe print it out. I dunno.

http://dreammom.blogspot.com/2010/12/2010-best-toys-and-gifts-for-special.html

I don't want to copy/paste everything and I am sure she doesn't want me to either, go to the link above to read the entire post, but here is a sample:

Electronic Talking Silly 6 Pins by Hasbro $44.95

I can't say enough good things about this product. This is a great product for special needs children who have poor arm/hand control or poor trunk control. They can knock the pins over several ways-with their hands, their head, their arms or by bumping the table. My son couldn't roll the ball but loved knocking them down by the ways I described. He loved the music it played and got such a kick out of things crashing. In addition, it was a great way to help him learn to use his hands/arms in occupational therapy by knocking the pins down.

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none

9 Dec 2010

thanks OTs

Thanks OTs and OT students for your thoughtful responses to questions on social media. I passed them all onto the editor of OT Practice. 🙂

I had SOOOO MUCH fun in the Amazon jungle with a day/night in Peru, a day in Brazil, and a lot of time on the Amazon River and in Leticia and various islands of Colombia on the river. The Peru/Brazil stuff was all really close together as we were at the point of being on 3 borders. Pretty cool. I had MONKEYS on my head and got to hold a sloth and a bobcat and parrots and see iguanas and toucans and owls and all sorts of stuff. Oh yeah I held a tiny crocodile too. The scariest part to me were the spiders. I have pictures on Facebook and need to write up the experiences soon. Maybe this weekend?

I'm still having fun here in Bogota, observing and occasionally assisting at the rehab center with its special program for land mine victims. I met a man the other day who lost both arms in a land mine after removing something from his cows. I would be interested to watch the progression of pre-prosthetic training and post-prosthetic training in the USA as compared to here. One of the things they do here as pre-prosthetic training is make a harness for a generic prosthesis then put weight on it and have a patient wear it around to strengthen up their trunk/shoulder. My favorite patient was a man who was born with one arm that never worked and then his other was cut off in a work accident. So effectively he had no use of his arms. He was such a great guy and while he had been dealt a difficult hand, he handled it quite nicely. So far almost everyone I've met here has been soo nice. 🙂

Today I was in a small car accident – my taxi rear-ended a stopped taxi. Almost nobody has seat belts here so I flew forward and smacked my shins/elbow on the front seat (I was in back), but we didn't hit hard enough to cause me to hit the windshield or anything, thank goodness. It's so amazing and scary to think about how quickly – in a single second – your life can change dramatically. Makes me want to live in a portable bubble 🙂

I was just searching for Spanish hand-outs today, patient education materials. Ohio State University has GREAT patient education materials in general and they ahd some in Spanish but most had to do with like pregnancy or medical stuff, not rehab stuff!

We had a lady come in today, 3 months post carpal tunnel surgery, who is still having a LOT of pain in her L hand and is babying it (her non-dominant hand). She doesn't move it much because it hurts. Her scar is healing well although hypersensitive, and her hand isn't swollen or red, so it doesn't seem like its CRPS/RSD, but something along those lines. To me CRPS/RSD seems like it is directly correlated to the level of depression/anxiety a person has. The more depression/anxiety a person has, the more likely they end up with CRPS [my anecdotal experience].  I was trying to think of ways to handle her pain and I wish I had more of my OT resources here. Oh well.

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1