Last Semester of OT School

Throughout graduate school I have experienced a variety of emotions: elation, excitement, trepidation, frustration, anger, and triumph to name a few. Each emotion corresponds to assignments, experiences, and the daily struggles that occur in every person's life. Everyone experiences these emotions throughout his or her lifetime but OT school seems to be a "pressure cooker" or crucible designed to create every possible emotion in the shortest amount of time. Whether this is by accident or design I cannot say, although I expect design.

But, this last semester promises to bring new depths or "levels Jerry" to the emotional experience. The credit hours and hours spent in class have decreased and yet the readings and time spent outside seems to increase exponentially, as it has every semester. Wrapped into this semester are new projects, new fieldworks, and new transitions in my own life even as I seek to assist others adapt to their own transitions. The semester brings with it concerns about what to do next, what area of practice ignites my passion, should I dream big and shoot for the impossible dream or find a position that will pay the bills and student loans. I have no idea what decisions, opportunities, and challenges await, but am confident that somehow I will meet all of these with the knowledge that all I can do is take it one day at a time, all while seeking occupational balance.

So, this semester I will seek to manage these all of these emotions, challenges,and opportunities. I will manage them using the skills I have learned throughout my life and grad school. Skills to manage stress, transitions, deadlines, and overcome obstacles. Skills of breaking tasks into their individual components and then mastering those components. Skills of asking for advice and seeking information from experts and in literature. Skills of tenacity in the face of setbacks and the humility to recognize areas of weakness. As well as the fortitude to improve those same areas of weakness. These are skills that everyone can possess. Moving forward, I will remember the challenges I have already overcome and remember that no matter how difficult of large the obstacle may seem that it too shall pass.

Occupational Therapy School is Hard!

OT graduate school is tough.

 That doesn't accurately portray the difficulty that I and my fellow OT grad students experience. Let me try again.

OT school is hard!
Still not quite covering all the ups, downs, valleys, mountain-tops, laughs, grunts, screams of exultation and anguish. I guess it can't be summed up in one sentence, so I will try to describe it in a few paragraphs.

Occupational therapy is my life. I know that people say that phrase about many things from chocolate, coffee, and sports, all with a hint of sarcasm and humor. However, I say that in all seriousness. Occupational therapy has become my life. I wake up thinking about occupational performance and go to bed thinking about it. My daily activities, ADLs for the uninitiated, are shaped by a desire to "optimize performance and participation" across all contexts. I analyze the way I grasp objects, walk, dress, bathe, toilet, and the list goes on. And it's not just me who I analyze, I am secretly analyzing all of you as well!

When did this happen? When did I become so aware of how I and others interact with the world around us? Have I always done this? The answers to these questions are: no idea, no idea, and yes. I have always been the strange guy who "stares", the person who is noticing what is going on, who is saying what, who is doing what. My childhood was spent being told, not to stare, stop pointing, and don't do that. Yet, in the past 14 months these observation skills have become more noticeable and all-encompassing. I am being trained to analyze, critique, and find areas of strength and stretch. I search out strengths to use to increase participation and stretches to mediate.

OT graduate school is a long, arduous, and all-consuming endeavor. It changes you and change is never easy. The training forces you to think critically about everything and yet stay compassionate to the needs of others. In order to succeed you must adapt and learn to evaluate all aspects of a person's life, from the environment, the objects used, and movement. But, being critical does not make a clinician. The true mark is unbiased, honest assessment pared with unwavering compassion. That is what truly makes OT graduate school so challenging. Not the coursework, not the papers, not the hours spent writing and rewriting papers but the knowledge that with all your knowledge, understanding, and ability comes the responsibility to show honest empathy and compassion to your clients and everyone you meet.

So, if you are thinking about being an OT and going to OT school, just do it. GO for it and remember why you decided to put yourself through this. You can do it.

Preparing to Begin

Tomorrow I will attend the first of many orientations.  I will meet my classmates and professors for the first time and take the first real steps into the world of an occupational therapy graduate student.  I am anxious.  My mind is filled with all that can happen and go wrong.

All day long I have looked over the material for my first class and wondered, "Do I have what it takes".  Can I do this?  Am I making a mistake by leaving behind my relatively safe life in the work sector and putting undue burdens on myself?  Will I make it? 

I do not know if all graduate students embarking on the same journey as me have these feelings but I am sure that some do.  So, if you don't have these feelings bear with me while I work through this.  For those of us who are overwhelmed at the thought of “what have we gotten ourselves into”, I think we just have to remember that our grad schools chose us.  We were accepted.  Admission personnel believe in us and the least we can do is live up to the potential they saw.

I have decided to post motivational notes on my bulletin board.  Quotes and sayings that will remind of what I am working toward.  Right now I can look up and see a poster that says "keep calm and take a sensory break" and "study hard and be an occupational therapist".  They serve to motivate me to continue doing my best and to remember why I am embarking on this journey.  They remind me that it will take studying and breaks to thrive in OT school.   

Tomorrow, I will wake up and start perhaps the most important journey of my life.  It will seem like so many other days before it, but for me it will be the start of my new life.  I am looking forward to charting my journey on this blog and hopefully giving hope to those of you out there who are feeling what I feel and experiencing the nerves and jitters that I am working with and through.

"And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through...you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about." — Haruki Murakami

Grad School Schedule

I recently received my schedule for my first semester of OT school.  I will be spending 4 days a week at the campus with classes only being a few hours each day.  At first I thought that having class for only a few hours would give me plenty of time to work, but that is not the case.

I may only be there for a few hours for class but throughout the first few months I will be attending meetings, preparing for classes, doing homework, as well as preparing for fieldwork.  If you look at my calendar, every weekday is filled with something, and I am told that when classes start I will be adding 30-40 hours per week for out-of-class academics such as scheduling study times, times to work on projects and papers, and times to read for class.

I knew that OT school was a big commitment and am excited, but it is beginning to dawn on me that my life for the next 24 months will revolve almost exclusively around all things OT related.  There are probably those of you who would say "duh!" but knowing this intellectually and seeing it written out in your Google calendar and planner is another thing.  I will go from having maybe 12 hours of my day planned to 16 or more.

Beginning in July, I will be committing myself to a life of scholarship and academics.  It will be a time of emotional, intellectual, and physical growth.  I will be forced to prioritize every aspect of my life, and I believe I will discover what I truly value and what I am willing to do to achieve my goals.

I am excited to enter this chapter of my life, anxious to pour myself into OT and to emerge a new, more occupationally-aware person.  My graduate school schedule will test me in ways I have not been tested yet, and I am confident that the results will be a better-organized individual who has realized a small part of his potential and is ready to carry these organizational and occupational skills into the next chapter of his life.

Observations Part 3

My next observation was in a skilled nursing facility.  I was currently working there as a Certified Nursing Assistant and met the OT there.  She allowed me to observe her after my shift was over.  All in all I observed and assisted in therapy sessions with older adults, both on the rehab floor and other floors.

I observed the OT working with patients who had knee replacements, hip replacements, and other diagnoses.  Most of the sessions focused on balance and motor planning.  I observed patients walking around obstacle courses, picking up different colored cones from various hiding places.  I watched patients gain endurance on stationary bikes, and by walking the halls of the facility.

Most of the therapy sessions were based on gaining endurance and evaluating the patients strategies for moving around their environments.  On the surface the sessions seemed boring and simple.  Make a obstacle course, walk a patient around the halls, talk with them while they ride a bike.  After thinking more about and asking what each exercise was doing for the patient, I discovered that most of the work on the therapist part was done before the session.  She was making decisions on how to improve the patients function and how to engage him or her in such a way to further the patient's endurance, strength, and motor planning.  So much of what a therapists does can seem easy and basic but like an iceberg the real "mass" is below the surface and goes unseen during therapy sessions and observations.

Some good questions to ask in this setting are how to manage behaviors, how long therapists spend on notes and paperwork, and what strategies they employ in working with other therapy professionals and nursing staff.  In the last post I mentioned why managing behaviors is important.  Paperwork and notes are a constant thing in OT.  No matter in what setting you work, you will need to write up what you did, your goals, and what to do in the future.  I have found that using SOAP notes is a easy way to write good notes.  SOAP stands for subjective, objective, assessment, and plan.  You can google SOAP notes and read much more about them.  The strategies employed with other professionals will give you an insight into what team meetings are like, any in-services that therapists may be responsible for and the kinds of things that an OT needs to communicate to others in the setting.

Observation Part 2

My first OT observation was in a client's home.  The session was very interesting.  The first thing we did was roll around on the floor and bear walk through an obstacle course.  After that we tried some foods with "weird" textures, according to the client.  I was surprised at the amount of fun I had and the client had.

I later learned that this "play" was what sensory integration for a young child can look like.  The therapist created a safe environment for the child to try new foods.  The strategy was to work the body and the different senses in a fun and adventurous way.  Foods were a real issue for this child and so for each new food she had to touch it, feel it, smell it, describe it, and finally taste it.  She did not have to swallow anything just try out each new item.  We tried yogurt, tortillas, and carrot sticks.  I enjoyed every minute of it.

This session opened my eyes to just how interesting pediatric therapy is.  It awakened a desire to learn more about Sensory Processing Disorder and a passion for all things OT.  I have observed in other settings and enjoyed it all but I will always look back on that first observation with fondness.

After the session the therapist and I discussed what we had just done and talked about why I wanted to be an OT.  We discussed my background and set up another session a few weeks in the future.  All in all this observation sparked an interest in all things OT and a passion for treating the whole person.

Reflecting on this observation, there are a few questions that someone could ask.  The first question that comes to mind is what a typical day is like.  It is important to get a feel for what the day entails for, in this case, a pediatric occupational therapist working in clients homes.  You could also ask how the OT deals with challenging behaviors.  Challenging behaviors are a part of any therapist's life, children throw fits, teens are moody, and make excuses.  How to deal with the challenges is an important skill that you will need to acquire.  There are many more but these should get you started.

P.S. since April is OT month I will also be posting a blog on what it means to me to increase awareness for OT in 2015.  Next month I will feature a guest blogger to tell her thoughts on her own personal brand of therapy.  Stay tuned.

Observations Part I

When I was first looking into universities that offer entry level OT programs, I began looking into possible observation opportunities.  I was not sure where to start so I did what the average person would do. I searched Google, of course.  At first I chose places that were in my hometown and tried to stay local.  After finding places that offer OT, I wrote down a long list of phone numbers and email addresses.

After I started calling, I discovered how difficult it was going to be to find observations.  At most of the places I did not know who to talk to.  In my state there are no preoccupational therapy degrees.  There are just people like me who are interested and are looking for someone to show us what a day in an OT's life is like. Many people who I talked to did not understand what I was asking because they knew that there are fieldwork positions and thought I was calling for fieldwork.  I spent a lot of time explaining that I was a student who was interested in OT and was looking for some general observations to get a better understanding of the field.

Eventually, I did find a few places that were open to the prospect of someone following them around for a few hours and who had the time.  After that it was about finding a day and time that would work for both me and the therapists.  It was a stressful time wanting to learn everything I could and juggle work, school, and family time.  I was able to set up a few days with a local OT in an outpatient clinic and with an OT that works both in the schools and in a private practice.  I also was fortunate to be working in a skilled nursing facility and asked the OT there if I could follow her around a little and see what kinds of things she did with the residents as well as on the rehab floor.

All in all after some phone calls, emails, and one on one conversations, I was able to piece together a beginning to my OT observations.  I learned that the field is more diverse than I imagined and that if I was persistent I could find dates and times that worked, I could make these experiences happen.  I observed in three different settings, saw three different approaches to the field, and began to learn how to build rapport in the client-therapist relationship.  It was a rewarding start on my journey to becoming an OT.

Since the start of my observations I have observed OTs in the home, inpatient, outpatient, with adults, elderly, children, and teens.  I traveled around my area and worked with a variety of therapists with varying levels of experience. In the next posts I will discuss these experiences more in-depth and what I learned from each.  I will also try to give some tips on what to do when observing to gain the most from your experience.