almost done with fieldwork…

So somehow today I ended up doing the sticky chicken dance for some patients.

I spend a lot of time just hanging out with my patients…no billing or productivity, just hanging.

Today I had 3 “with it” patients in the day room at the big table, and one lady with bad Alzheimers at another little table.

One of my patients asked if I'd clean the table they were sitting at, as it was really sticky. I started cleaning it and commenting on how it really was quite sticky. The lady with Alzheimers somehow started bringing up chickens and somehow we ended up on the idea of sticky chickens and how that could be a dance. I got up and hopped around like a chicken, saying that was my chicken dance, and then stuck my feet on the floor and twisted around like a chicken, doing the sticky chicken dance. My three patients were HOWLING with laughter. It was a completely ludicrous thing to do a sticky chicken dance, totally silly…but we had fun!

I was talking to an OT student in the class below me, Shari, on Facebook a few minutes ago. She is rightfully overwhelmed/scared at the prospect of starting fieldwork soon. I was telling her that it's so much less scary than it sounds….it all falls into place. Not to say there is never stress or yuckiness, but that overall its a pretty good experience…and encouraged her, on her upcoming geriatric Level I fieldwork (a two week fieldwork to gain some exposure), to do her best to spend some informal time with patients….ie, go sit in a day room at a table with some of them while they are hanging out or having a snack or whatever. I told her she'd learn a lot just by watching them interact with each other, seeing how staff redirects them, and having conversations with them.

I think my best times with my patients are in the afternoons around 3pm…its quieter and calmer (to some extent) and I end up just chillin' with them in the day room, depending on what's going on…I frequently am bad about losing productivity/billable units, because I feel like just sitting with them and chatting, is more therapeutic than me taking one of them off for some cognitive assessment. But I think those times are the most enjoyable, most bonding, situations.

I think being a young girl helps automatically with bonding because the ladies see me as a granddaughter…a lot of them will kiss my hand or rub my hand against their face, kiss my cheek, or put their arm around me, in a way they wouldn't even attempt with the rest of staff…just affection the way they would give one of their own. I rub their backs a lot, or stroke their hair…or sit and hold their hand a while. It's therapeutic! I'm just rambling. I should go to sleep. Soon.

I did the Cognitive Assessment of Minnesota (CAM) today on a neuro dude for my supervisor (as a competency thing). It's like 45 minutes and it looks at all sort of stuff, like attention span, orientation, memory, sequencing, visual attention, concrete problem solving, abstract reasoning, blah blah. I really enjoyed it! It's not perfect or anything but it can help you kinda target deficits in certain areas, it's not that hard to give, and it makes you feel like a therapist, lol.

One more day….and then only ONE WEEK LEFT OF FIELDWORK…NINE LONG MONTHS, DONE!

Fieldwork scared me so much…….I worried about it from like day one of school. . I had to cope with the extra struggle of depression/anxiety on and off throughout it…but I made it. And if I can get through it…anyone can. You don't have to be the smartest or the best….just motivated…clearly trying hard.

Okay bedtime.

Mar 20, 2009 | Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: 1