Twenty Something OT

So excited to be the new recruitment chair for SOTA. While it may not have been the top position I was hoping for, I really feel it will be beneficial. Not only will I get to talk to incoming students about my school and OT (which is awesome!!!) but I’ll get to know some faculty and also it will look good to have this position.

Not to mention, this position will help me focus more on research; particularly research on adolescent mental health and transition ages for individuals with developmental disabilities.

I love my profession. I am so happy this is what I chose to do with my life; nothing is more fulfilling to me. Working with people to help them do the meaningful activities in their lives is so beautiful - I will truly be able to make an impact.

The issue with this ends up coming down to the choice of where to specialize. What setting is the right setting for me? Coming into school, I had no idea what setting I wanted to go in, but I did know what setting I didn’t want to go in. Acute care. Having shadowed it previously in undergrad, I could not have been more bored or less excited. Changes in the diagnoses of patients, but the same things every single day. Go in, sometimes with PT. Do an eval. Write a note. Recommend where they’ll go. Never see them again.

However, this completely changed today. I went to a hospital and shadowed an acute care occupational therapist on a heart floor. All of the patients seen today were patients who’d recently had open heart surgery and were waiting to be discharged.

I went because my school made me, they want us to have more experience before our Level Is. I went in thinking and planning to hate it again, to leave and move on with my day. I left so excited, so happy, so wanting to work there.

I don’t know what exactly it was about this experience, but everything seemed to be so perfect. First of all, the first hospital I shadowed acute care in was awful; teeny tiny rooms, rude doctors, and running from room to room, hoping to have a patient who wouldn’t deny services.

This place had huge rooms, lots of space and good equipment. Doctors were polite and respected everyone on the floor (from nurses to OTs to PTs). The staff was close, discussing their weekends, happy hours, and you could tell they truly enjoyed seeing each other. Patients were required (and willing!) to do therapy. And it was meaningful, and they recognized it. I was constantly hearing, “Wow, it feels so good to get out of bed and brush my teeth, thank you,” or “the world needs more people like you.”

It wasn’t just evals the OT was doing, either. Because this was a floor where patients stay for 1-2 weeks, they knew the patients. They did evaluations, of course, but also worked on ADLs, as well as iADLS. The therapist created a test to ensure the patient was able to properly manage medications (which is important for OT despite many thinking it’s not within scope --- it’s an iADL!). So many different things were done.

Not to mention, there was a productivity level, but it wasn’t nuts. The OT could grab her patient a cup of tea or some food before moving on. She had the time. She also had the time to document after each session, meaning she never takes any work home with her.

She has a great schedule, working from about 7-4, 4-5 days a week. I just loved it. I’m not saying this is something I necessarily want to do forever. But what a great starter setting. It would just be difficult to find one this perfect - where everything aligned so nicely.

I’ve finally decided to take the plunge and create a Tumblr about OT. Being only a first year (and currently only in my second semester) of OT school, I’m still very new to this profession. But I am so glad I discovered occupational therapy!

As a bit of background - I’ve known I wanted to do occupational therapy since my sophomore year of high school (unlike many others, who didn’t know what OT was until college). I shadowed pediatric OT (school-based, to be particular) and as of now, I’m really finding an interest in any sort of pediatric, but I really enjoy it all the way through 18 years old. I love the transition ages, especially for those with developmental disabilities.

This will (hopefully) be my experience through OT school, how things are going, thoughts and ideas on a future setting, and potentially experiences as an actual OT.