Blog 4: Interview Preparation

Content

1) I plan to either interview my aunt, an OTA which is an occupational therpaist assistant because she knows as much as an OTR but just has different duties so I can conveniently go to her for an interview.  Although I'm going to contact my mentor's co-worker at Casa Colina who is an OTR, in other words, a registered OT because I observed her work with a patient and said she was available to me if I had questions about occupational therapy.

2) Additional questions:

• What is the difference between an OTA or OTR?
• How do OTs evaluate patients to determine if they can function independently?
• What happens in OT skills nursing facilities?

Occupational Therapy exercises

While shadowing at Casa Colina I was able to observe different exercises and techniques OTs use to help patients function more independently. As well as ways patients could help themselves function better.

The first types of exercises I witnessed in the facilities were memory and scanning exercises
An OT student was working with a patient using a variety of felt shapes and a black felt background; there was a set for the OT and the patient. The OT student had the patient memorize a sequence of shapes of different colors within a certain amount of time. After counting the sequence was covered and the patient had to replicate the sequence using their set of felt shapes. This exercises was to work on the patients memory abilities which is suppose to help the patient remember the physical appearance of things or people [like a persons face].
My mentor had a different patient do a scanning and memory exercise designed to help the patient with those skills. She had set up number cards 1-10 in a room on the walls, non-numerically. The patient was instructed to go in the room and find all the numbers numerically, while being timed. The scanning and memory skills is important because it is needed when you're trying to find something, like your keys, wallet, etc.

The way my aunt explained the difference between occupational therapy and physical therapy is that physical therapy focuses more of getting a part of the body to start moving properly again whereas in occupational therapy everything has a function. An example is that a physical therapist will have a patient lift there arm 20 times until they have no problem doing it, while an occupational therapist will have a patient use that arm to reach for something or clutch on something.
My mentor was working with a patient who had trouble raising his arm who was kind of slouched/ hunched over. She analyzed the patients posture and had them sit up straight and raise their arm. When the patient did it this time, they were able to raise it all the way. As "homework" she had them try to sit up more straight which is a way patients could help themselves.

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Semester 1 ESLR Goals

Content

1) Topic: Occupational Therapy

2) To show growth as an:

• iPoly Citizen I will be participative by participating in spirit week as well as other school functions like dances. Also helping out on senior event committees. 
• Effective Learner I will keep up with all my courses, stay organized by keeping an agenda to keep track deadlines. This will allow me to be prepared for anything (i.e. shows me the amount of time I have to study, how many days I have before something is due, etc.). To effectively learn my senior project topic I will absorb as much information as possible to understand occupational therapy the best I can.
• Effective User of Technology I will take advantage of my accessibility to technology by emailing teachers if I have any questions and regularly checking the blog to keep up with assignments and due dates. I will also use it to research books and resources that will give me in-depth information about occupational therapy.
• Effective Communicator I will effectively come in contact with people who work in the profession of occupational therapy. As well as communicating with my teachers if I have and problems with understanding any of my courses. I will be an effective communicator in the classroom by collaborating with my peers and/or group members when making decisions and enforce participation when it comes to house competitions. 

Summer Mentorship Content

Literal

1) Mentorship Log

2) Sarah Meredith OTR/L (909).596.7733 Ext. 4142

3) Questions raised during summer mentorship

• What is the difference between the different occupational therapy centers? 
• How are the exercises chosen for each of the patients?
• When are patients considered stable enough to return back to society independently?

Interpretive

4) The most important thing I learned through this experience was that there's so much to Occupational therapy. An example is when my mentor was with a patient, who had trouble working their hand, she gave them a gadget that stimulated the muscles in their arm, wrist, and hand. This showed me that in some way OT and PT (physical therapy) can crossover when working in OT.

Applied

5) My experience helped me choose a topic by showing me the different duties of and occupational therapist. I enjoyed seeing that the field can be different every day and that physical therapy can overlap into OT because I am interested in that field as well.