3.1 Invests in the acquisition of evidence through participation in workshops, continued education and pursuit of additional degrees. During my rotation in acute care, I was able to attend in-services during my lunch at my own convenience. These were provided by other students or therapist's within the acute care or outpatient setting. I was able to learn about various different diagnosis and treatment options. Read below to learn more about specific in-services I attended and how they translated to my practice. During my rotation in outpatient pediatrics, I attended a virtual weekend course called "Reflex Integration Toolkit: Practical Strategies and Activities for Pediatric Therapy" by an OT named Kokeb McDonald. Her practice is called Reflex Integration Through Play and she is also an author of being resourceful books regarding each primitive reflex. I grew very interested in primitive reflexes and ways to integrate them during my second level II rotation and loved finding ways to stay updated on current evidence.
3.2 Is a knowledgeable consumer of global research related to occupational therapy and utilizes an evidence based approach to practice. Evidence-based practice is something all occupational therapist's should be incorporating into their treatments. Learning how to research information and summarize the results is a skill I feel my occupational therapy program did a good job of teaching us. During my time in acute care, I worked with a variety of different wounds such as diabetic foot wound, pressure sores, and amputation sites. In school we only touched slightly on what an occupational therapist's role is in wound management. After further research during my rotation, I found a very descriptive article on what an occupational therapist's role is within the scope of wound management. This also gave me more insight on the different types of wounds, stages, and healing patterns. I then was able to better educate my clients on personal wound management for when they are discharged.
Role of Occupational Therapy in Wound Management. Am J Occup Ther November/December 2018, Vol. 72(Supplement_2), 7212410057p1–7212410057p9. doi: https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2018.72S212
3.3 Integrates individual clinical expertise and patient values with the best available external clinical evidence. I have gained so much valuable experience and knowledge throughout each of my fieldwork placements. Both sites exposed me to a variety of diagnoses that will provide me with more confidence as I venture out to begin treating my own caseload. While studying towards my undergraduate degree, I worked as a rehab technician at a skilled nursing facility. I feel that having this experience greatly prepared me for these last two fieldworks. While working at the SNF, I was able to observe what everyday life was like for the therapist's and residents. Mostly importantly, it gave me exposure to individuals with cognitive impairments. I learned how to explain medical terms in laymen terms in a way for them to understand but most importantly, patience. This was especially beneficial for me during my acute care rotation where I mostly worked with the older population during this rotation many of which had dementia or altered mental status. My time as a rehab technician also gave me the opportunity to practice proper body mechanics, so much that I was also able to carry this skills over into acute care as well. There were many times that nursing staff would call therapists to come assist with safe transfers of a patient to and from the bed. I took these opportunities to educate the nursing staff on how to protect the client and also themselves during a transfer. Below, I have attached feedback from my FWE that expressed my abilities to communicate my role and the purpose of occupational therapy.
3.4 Applies the domain of occupational therapy in gathering, evaluating, setting goals, planning and implementing occupational therapy. Both of level II rotations showed me how client-centered each intervention, goal, and discharge plan has to be for each individual client. Through the evaluation process, we as therapist's are tasked to inquire about all things that are within the domain of occupational therapy such as activities of daily life, prior level of function, functional mobility and more. One things I witnessed was how different the same diagnosis can present in different people. The diagnosis I noticed this the most in was in patients that had experienced a cerebral vascular accident (CVA). Some patients had signs such as facial droop, weakness in unilateral side, or speech deficits. Throughout both of my fieldworks, I have learned how to be more flexible and being ok with going off script because every client is unique! Below, I have attached feedback from both of my FWE's that expressed my abilities to gather information, evaluate, set goals, plan and implement services.
3.5 Contributes to the knowledge base of OT practice by mentoring students, performing research, publishing, presenting and/or teaching. During my acute care rotation, I gave a presentation on the importance of encouraging oral health within the acute care setting. I conducted research on ways to address this occupation within multiple different settings. This presentation was give to OT's, PT's, SLP's and 2 students with the acute care and outpatient settings. Within this presentation, I discussed the cons of poor oral hygiene, how to address within the different disciplines, and adaptive technology. My presentation was given during our lunch hour and I received positive feedback. Many therapist's requested the links to the adaptive equipment and assistive technology that I mentioned in the presentation. Please refer to the link below to review my presentation. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xex0i5DzA_UoY6jOoZGIlXMiFSgtXWQjEc4wkejXnJo/edit?usp=sharing
3.6 Incorporates continued education as a lifelong practice with the commitment to remain up-to-date and well-informed. Prior to beginning fieldwork, I have created two binders with resources for the pediatric population and adult population. Throughout occupational therapy school, I printed many useful resources for these binders and labeled them in sections accordingly. As I began fieldwork, I was given additional resources to add to the binders. I was also able to pull from my resources to give handouts to parents during my outpatient pediatrics rotation multiple times, as well as for my own use. See below to see an image of my wonderful binders that I will continue to cherish!