Mock Interview Reflection

As a whole, I was very pleased with how the interview went. I was a bit nervous because it was for a job that isn't real, so I wasn't able to do my research beforehand like I would normally. I was also nervous because another student would be in the room filming, and sometimes it can be awkward or embarrassing to brag about yourself and why you would be the right fit in front of another person. My expectations of feeling uncomfortable doing an interview in front of a classmate and for a fake job were definitely not needed. It ended up not being awkward at all, and my classmate and I were very supportive of each other.

I prepared for the interview by doing my inservice, because it was about inpatient rehab and so was the potential job. This allowed me to know the little details required in an inpatient rehab setting. I also used the resources on blackboard to prepare.
Something that I would change would be trying to talk a little smoother by having less filler words and hesitation. I think this will come with confidence, which hopefully I will feel after my level 2 fieldworks.
One thing I learned is that my interviewer told me to talk about my leadership positions with SOTA and RKS early on, rather than waiting towards the end like I did today. Companies want people who will take on leadership roles and are eager to be team players, so rather than waiting for them to ask a question about leadership, I should try and find a time to talk about it early.

Sex Lecture Blog

There were many key takeaways from the guest lecture. One of the takeaways is that our bodies change as we age, and many people will not know how to deal with the changes because they may feel as though they are not normal. Being able to talk about this subject with our clients will help them feel more comfortable with their body and with their partner.

One intervention is education with the client. Someone in the hospital may have had a hip replacement and have to follow hip precautions, but sex may be an important part of their life with their partner. The OTs will be the ones who will think about the patient as a person, and understand that they need to figure out a new way to have sex. Education can involve making sure they understand what their hip precautions entail, and what new positions they can try so that they do not break hip precautions. They could also need to be educated on energy conservation due to spending time in a hospital bed. This can also include educating the patient on positions that will require the least amount of energy.

Another intervention could be a sex education group session in an assisted living home. Even though the clients may be older, they still have the desire to have sex, so it is important that they are still being safe. While getting pregnant may not be a problem anymore, STIs can still be contracted. They may also be experiencing changes in their body due to aging, so teaching them how to handle these new changes can also occur in this group class. This group can provide socialization for the individuals living in the home, and having other people going through the same changes can make them feel more normal, rather than isolated.

Driving Guest Lecture Reflection

The driving lecture taught us all about the different diagnoses that would benefit from having a driving test completed to see if they are safe enough to drive independently again. It is an extremely difficult thing to not be able to drive anymore, because that takes away so much of someone’s independence and makes them rely on others to get to different places. It is important to be caring and understanding when working with someone who may or may not be able to drive again. We also learned about all the different aspects that go into driving that need to be assessed, such as visual perception, cognition, physical strength, and more.

There are many interventions that can be completed with someone involving driving. The first is education. They need to understand what their options are, whether they need to buy an adapted car to fit their needs, strategies to help them remember to check their blind spots, or more. They most likely have a new condition that requires them to change how they drove, which is why they are being assessed, so helping them understand what changes need to be made to their driving is essential to success. Another intervention is working on transfers getting in and out of the car. This could be with someone who recently had a spinal cord injury and needs to learn how to get from their wheelchair into their car. If they are unable to get into their car with their wheelchair, they need to be able to store it in their car so that they are able to move once they get to their destination. This can involve a caregiver attending so they are able to put the wheelchair away, or learning how an adapted car works with getting the wheelchair into the driver’s area.

Nutrition Guest Speaker Blog

The key takeaway point from the guest lecture today is the importance of protein. Many individuals in the hospital do not eat enough food, especially protein, and it causes them to lose lean body mass and become weaker and frail. Clients need to be educated on the importance of eating enough, especially while they are in the hospital. My grandfather was in the hospital this summer and I went to visit him one day. While I was there, he was served his lunch and my grandfather immediately turned it away, stating that he did not want to eat anything. My grandma tried to get him to eat something, but he refused. I knew that his goal was to get discharged from Acute care and go to an inpatient rehab room. I told him that he was going to need to tolerate 3 hours of therapy a day at the inpatient rehab and that he really needed to eat to get his strength and energy back. His eyes lit up because he had no idea that it would require that and no one had told him about the importance of eating in the hospital. After today, I would have told him how important the protein was especially. This shows how important it is to inform and educate the clients so they know how their eating would affect their recovery.

One intervention is a group cooking class in an assisted living home. It can help the residents socialize and enjoy cooking, while the OT will educate them on the importance of their diet.

Another intervention is educating an individual in acute care about how their diet can assist with their recovery and help them regain the strength needed to be discharged, as well as the importance of continuing the healthy diet after discharge to continue the recovery.  

Glyph Reflection

I was surprised to see how different my Glyph drawing was from the beginning of OT school. The aspects that were different were the: head shape, eye size, hat, eyelashes, and written name. The head shape was the most surprising to me, because I did not even second guess how I felt about it this time and thought for sure that it would be the same as last time. I think that leadership can be influenced by both nature and nurture, but I think more people have the natural ability to lead a group and that it is harder to work at it. One my first glyph drawing, I drew large eyes, but this time I drew small eyes. After over a year and a half of OT school, I definitely think that OT is made up of a bunch of leaders, but I do not think that the vast majority would classify as leaders. I added a hat this time because I believe that my approach to leadership has changed since starting OT school. We have learned so many different ways that someone can be a leader in OT that I would not have thought about in the beginning, such as being a leader with your client. Setting an example for them on how to view therapy and the sessions with you is a way you can influence someone without being in a "typical" leadership role. While the typical leadership roles are out there in OT, we have definitely learned new ways as well. I knew that the eyelashes were going to change when I read the prompt because I could not come up with the Strengthfinder themes but I knew that I would have known them at the time of the first drawing.
The aspects that stayed the same were: glasses, curly hair, smile, ears, nose, freckles, eyebrows, and necklace/accessory. I was not surprised by any of these, because I felt pretty confident in my opinion on each of them. This was a cool assignment that I honestly forgot we did in the beginning; it really feels like a life time ago that we started school. I was very interested to see how some of my opinions changed and how some of them stayed the same.

Level 1C Fieldwork Debriefing Video

Here is my debriefing video of my level 1C fieldwork!

Neuro Note #4

            For the final neuro note, I watched the movie The Fundamentals of Caring found on Netflix. I had heard from multiple classmates that this movie was a great watch and would be perfect for a neuro note, so I listened to their suggestion. They were not wrong. The Fundamentals of Caring is a movie about an 18 year-old named Trevor who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and his caretaker, Ben. Trevor is bound to a wheelchair due to his disability, so he needs a full time caretaker to assist him with toileting, dressing, grooming, and more. The movie begins with Trevor trying to scare Ben away by making his job seem impossible, but Ben shows that he is not there to be scared off and wants this job. Ben did not know much about caretaking and knew nothing about DMD, but quickly learned what it took to fulfill this role. As he learns, Ben realizes that Trevor is living too much of his life in fear and indoors, and comes up with the idea to take a road trip to see parts of the world that Trevor has been wanting to see but never actually got the courage to do. The mother quickly warns Ben that traveling with Trevor is impossible because of all of the equipment and management needed. Ben proves her wrong, though, and makes it known that Trevor is able to travel and should be traveling. Ben kept track of the medicines and equipment Trevor needed to survive and made sure that every location had a handicap-friendly entrance. I liked this message because many people with illnesses or disabilities may think that they cannot do what other people can just because of their limitations. Before this movie, I did not know much about Duchenne muscular dystrophy. We talked about the term muscular dystrophy before, but I had not heard of this specific type. I like that this is a movie on Netflix that anyone can watch, but it also teaches the viewer about this disability.

Over the course of the movie, Ben and Trevor, two lonely and unhappy people, end up finding friendship and happiness with the other person. While they may be an unlikely pair, they are honest and caring towards each other and it allows for them to create a strong bond. This movie is both educational and comical, drawing in viewers that may not be watching this to mainly learn about a disability. I would definitely recommend this movie to my classmates. Although we are done with neuro notes, it is still a great learning opportunity about a disability that we may work with in the future.