40 best online tools for OTs

Healthcare jargon….

My PT friend who works in acute care told me today that a social worker referred to a patient as probably having a “celestial discharge” ……I love it 🙂 

Girl in wheelchair bungee jumps!

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/21/paraplegic-girl-wheelchair-bungee-jump_n_1369171.html

OTs and DMVs, sitting in a tree…

Check it out, OT mentioned in the DMV CA website!!

Vacationing with a child with autism

Vacationing with a child with autism, three part story by a mom! Saw this in the ADVANCE newsletter last year

Toy Shopping for kids with special needs

I like this! 

Blogging as a pre-OT student

Question Received:

I am a undergraduate college student completely in love with OT and

will be applying to MOT programs in the fall! Anyway, I found your

blog about a week ago and have been reading as much as possible ever

since! I started from the beginning so I’m still not caught up, but so

far I have loved your enthusiasm and all the great information on your

blog. Thank you so much! It is very encouraging to hear your passion

for OT and the joy you obviously feel practicing it.

Reading your blog has made me seriously consider starting an

OT-related blog of my own. Starting from right now, talking about

things to do to prepare for OT school or issues that pre-OT/healthcare

people in general should be interested in. I know I’ve stumbled across

quite a few of these type blogs for pre-Med students, but I haven’t

seen nearly as many for pre-OT students. I guess my main questions for

you are: do you think there is still a need for more OT blogs on the

internet? if so, do you think I would have anything to contribute to

that as an over-enthusiastic, over-achieving pre-Ot student? and do

you have any general blog-writing advice or medical blog writing

advice (what info people seem most interested in, how to avoid

breaking hippa laws, how to avoid plagiarism on a blog, etc.)?

Sorry if that’s a lot! I know from reading your blog you are probably

busy with OT things and already bogged down in unread emails 🙂 Even

if you are too busy to reply, I hope you will at least read this and

know how much you’ve inspired me and helped to remind me of why I

started on this OT career path in the first place.

Thank you so much!

Answer:

There is at least two pre-OT blogs that I know about, LOL. I guess that’s it. And I think there is ALWAYS room for another OT blog as long as it’s because you have passion. Every personality is different and all the things you write about and reflect on will be different from other people, since we are all unique. So you will have different viewpoints. The key is that it has to be something you want to do! Just be careful not to use identifying information about people, and write what YOU care about – at first you will be talking to a wall as it will take a while before people can find your blog on search engines, but as you write more and more, you will get more readers.

Addition: I think the two pre-OT blogs I know about are Emma Jasmin Spink (spelling?) and Im’ma make OT?

Typical OT questions

I get a lot of questions, and I get frustrated with myself sometimes because I just don't always have the time to answer them. I'm just now getting to a lot of questions, an entire year late. As I always say, I do respond, it just takes me sometimes a LONG time. Here is a typical question:

I just recently stumbled upon your blog and I have been interested in pursuing a career as an OT.  I am currently a sophomore at XY University and a Public Health major.  I wanted to ask you about how you got to be an OT (if you have a blog post on it, you can just direct me there) and in your words the upsides and downsides of it.  I am in the process of figuring out how I will be able to get my prerequisite course done and if it would be detrimental for me to take the course in the summer, as my advisor said not to do this.  Please get back to me when you can and thank you for your time.

Good post on travelling OT

http://travelsizing.wordpress.com/

OT student feels down for getting a bad grade….

I get a lot of questions in my email….here is one I wanted to share as I am sure it is a rather universal thing to happen/way to feel!!

Question Received: I’ve been a fan of your blog since I started the OT program at XXXXXYYYYY. I don’t know if you’ll get to this email ,but I felt the need to seek advice from someone who recently used to be a student, but is now working as an OTR. I just finished the didactic portion of the program and will start my fieldwork level II’s in September. I’m emailing you to see if you can impart advice to me since i’ll be starting FWII soon. Actually, to be honest, I just got my test results back from my Geriatric Assessments class and i received a “C”! It’s actually the first time I received a “C” on a test in this program. It was case study where we had to list out the problems and recommend the most essential assessments to use as well as how to administer, the purpose, etc. I didn’t get the test back, so I’m not sure what I missed, but I’m feeling unprepared for my internship and worried that my clinical/critical thinking skills are not good enough. After 2 years of studying all these assessments and going over case studies, i thought that this test would be a breeze…boy, was I wrong. I’m feeling down and doubtful that I can be a good therapist. Do things get better? When did you start to get the hang of it? I’m feeling lost and disappointed.

My answer:

I know it is disappointing to get a C, especially when you thought it would be a breeze, but that in ABSOLUTELY NO WAY means you don’t have the hang of it!! A test does NOT equal real life. Who knows why you scored low – if at all possible I recommend you find out why, if it’s not too late to contact the professor. Especially since it affected you so much. It takes a while to get the hang of things, but you have support from your fieldwork supervisor and others. You are not expected to be a walking textbook. A lot of it comes from intuition based on the theory you have learned.

I promise you, do not let that C bring you down and make you feel you are not ready! As long as you bring your best attitude and a willingness to learn, you’ll be fine. You can learn everything you need to know knowledge-wise for OT, what they can’t teach you is the stuff you already possess, like a strong work ethic etc. Believe me, I’ve heard repeatedly from higher-ups, that it’s not about what you know, it’s about your attitude – they can teach you the rest. So focus on your strengths and work on your weaknesses and it will be OKAY. Do not start your fieldwork down on yourself! Have confidence in what you CAN do and the rest will follow, I promise.

So….cheer up my friend. I promise, the fact you doubt yourself, is a sign you will be a great OT, because you care and will try hard. 🙂

Her response: Thank you so much for the encouraging words! I feel so much better after reading your response. I am even more determined to be the best OT I can be.