19 Apr 2007

Tips to Incoming MOT Students

I’ve only been in school since January, but based on what I have already learned (or been explicitly told), here is what I would want to tell incoming students so far:

1. LEARN your anatomy. Don’t learn it to pass the test and then forget it, learn it to remember it. Especially the forearm and hands.

2. DON’T WAIT to be taught basic clinical observation skills. Watch everyone. Go people watch in the park. Figure out the dominant hand of your cashier. Observe how people hold their pens. Note odd or unusual characteristics. The more you practice observing people, the easier it will become. Then it won’t be so hard in the clinic. (This is probably my favorite piece of advice, thanks Ashley!)

3. BE OPEN to interdisciplinary learning. You’ll learn a lot from speech therapists, physical therapists, doctors, nurses, parents of children with special needs, etc. Play on youtube.com (type in autism), read blogs, read books by people with disabilities like Temple Grandin. Realize you can apply just about everything to your OT knowledge base.

4. BE FLEXIBLE. You may swear you will never work in peds or geriatrics, but stay open-minded while on fieldwork. You may end up loving it, even though you would not have imagined that in a million years.

5. KEEP COPIES OF EVERYTHING! That includes the application process while getting into school, as well as everything you do in school. This can be important if anything gets lost, and it can also help show your professional development.

6. THE OT WORLD IS SMALL. Don’t burn bridges and don’t gossip about other therapists. Everybody knows each other or WILL know each other. Remember that from Day 1.

7. WATCH OT/PATIENT INTERACTIONS. Sometimes it is too easy to only focus on the physical actions of the OT with the patient. Also try to take note of the psychosocial interactions. How does the OT motivate the client, especially when the client is grumpy or noncompliant? How does the OT decide what tactic to use? It’s all a psychology game.

That’s it for now, hopefully others will chime in with their tips???

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none

19 Apr 2007

The AOTA wants YOU!


There is a scarcity of OT blogs in the blogosphere right now, and it is time to change that. The OT profession could get a lot more visibility if there was an active OT presence in the medical blog world. Right now doctors, nurses, specialists, and therapists (as well their students) have a large active medical blog community that provides a lot of people with insight into their professions. Occupational therapists deserve to be there as well.

Here are some of my favorite medical blogs:
fatdoctor.blogspot.com
neonataldoc.blogspot.com
oncrn.blogspot.com
(These sites have tons of links to medical-field blogs as well)

Here are a some of my favorite blogs about disabilities:
dreammom.blogspot.com
ryntales.blogspot.com
(Both their sites have tons of links to disability-based blogs)

I’ve also put a ton of blogs on my sidebar, please check them out!

Please note that if you choose to start your own blog, you need to be careful about patient anonymity for ethical and legal reasons. Also, while right now I have a readership of zero since nobody is aware of the existence of this blog, feel free to e-mail me your “guest entries” so I can post them for you!

Enjoy!
PS: My photoshop skills aren’t the best…
PS2: AOTA didn’t give me permission to use their name, so hopefully they won’t sue me for being silly.

Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none