Invests in the acquisition of evidence through participation in workshops, continued education and pursuit of additional degrees. As a student I learn daily and even as an entry level practitioner I will continue to grow and learn. I’ve had unique experiences to learn from small lunch seminars, reading research articles, and creating effective interventions based on EBP evidence. Recently, I answered a survey on continuing my own personal education because I plan to always be a lifelong learner. I feel like staying up to date and well informed is crucial to our profession as new intervention and evidence-based practice are continually changing the profession. Therefore, to stay relevant and to ensure our patients the best care possible we must incorporate continued education regularly.
survey_.pdf Is a knowledgeable consumer of global research related to occupational therapy and utilizes an evidence based approach to practice During my final rotation at CME/ Jocelyn Johnson Therapies, Inc I had the opportunity to learn more about sensory needs. On my week 6 form I wrote that I would like to learn more about sensory processing. I had not had the opportunity to see many children that had sensory issues, so I was still curious about interventions and the different techniques. My fieldwork educator presented me with a sensory processing packet. It was broken down into the different senses and asked for a definition of each and examples of under responsivity of each and over responsivity of each sense. The final task was to find appropriate interventions for all responses of each sense. This gave me the opportunity to learn more about sensory processing and will be a nice guide to intervention when working. I was able to utilize the attached article for occupation-based intervention ideas. https://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=2665225
Integrates individual clinical expertise and patient values with the best available external clinical evidence I got to treat my first CVA patient at Baptist Memorial Hospital. My patient had experienced a L CVA leaving her dominant side paralyzed. When I first met her, she was clearly upset about her situation and thought that all hope was lost in regaining use of her right side. I asked her what one important thing she would like to get back to doing while she was here. Her answer was simple she wanted to be able to fix her hair. I knew this was a lofty goal, but I was going to use my clinical expertise to give my patient the best treatment possible. We worked on proximal stability, PNF patterns, and gross motor movement of the shoulder and elbow. She was seeing very little improvement and I could tell she was not hopeful. I utilized evidence from the research article “Effects of intensive neuropsychological rehabilitation for acquired brain injury” to remind self of how common depression is among patients that suffer from strokes. One day she was unwilling to participate in therapy and I sat down to talk to her about staying positive and helping her find someway to stay motivated. She was grateful to have someone to share her feelings with as she had not had any visitors. She decided she would come to therapy that day and we continued to work. By the end of her stay in rehab she had a decent amount of motor control back and some purposeful movement. She had seen improvement and would continue to work in her off time and it was paying off. Before long she would meet her goal to fix her own hair. Her mood improved, and I was glad to have been able to assist her through this journey. I was able to use my clinical expertise to recognize her depression and external evidence to intervene.
Holleman, M., Vink, M., Nijland, R., & Schmand, B. (2018). Effects of intensive neuropsychological rehabilitation for acquired brain injury. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 28(4), 649-662. doi:10.1080/09602011.2016.1210013
Applies the domain of occupational therapy in gathering, evaluating, setting goals, planning and implementing occupational therapy While completing my first level II rotation at Baptist Health Hospital I was able to apply the domain of occupational therapy in gathering, evaluating, setting goals, planning, and implementing occupational therapy. Before I would go to evaluate a patient I would perform a chart review from other disciplines to have an idea of the patient’s demeanor, problem areas, and medical history. During the evaluation I would find out more about why the patient was at the facility, was it voluntary or involuntary, their family life, the reason they are at the facility, their interests, and their source of income. All this applies to the domain by determining their roles, interests, routines, and habits. I would take this information to aide in determining goals for the patient. The most common goals were for coping skills, effective communication, and healthy leisure activities. Each one on one session would be focused on one goal. The treatment sessions were to encourage and lead the patient to understand the skills needed to overcome something in their life. For example, one patient required learning effective communication to overcome a life long battle with her mother. Her mother would guilt her into never leaving home because she was on house arrest. The mother would lower her self esteem by saying she was ugly and did not deserve a boyfriend. The patient and her mother would end up in a fight and this had led the patient to overdosing on prescription drugs. I helped her learned about all the styles of communication and role played communicating with her mother. Overall, the domain of occupational therapy is used continually throughout the OT process in all settings. mental_health_eval_.pdf
Contributes to the knowledge base of OT practice by mentoring students, performing research, publishing, presenting and/or teaching One way in which I have contributed to the knowledge base of OT practice is by mentoring other students. On my first level II, I was greeted by a COTA student that oriented me to the facility and gave me a run down on the OT process within that facility. She left the facility during my second week. On the third week I was given the responsibility to mentor the incoming COTA student. I had the opportunity to work closely with her. I taught her how to conduct the ACL assessment, run a movement group for the unit, and conduct one on one treatment sessions. I was her mentor and if she had questions I was there to answer them. If I was unsure of the answer or how to handle the situation then I would address it with my fieldwork educator. This was a great opportunity to collaborate with a COTA student and see her field of knowledge and get a feel for the relationship between a COTA and occupational therapy practitioner.
Incorporates continued education as a lifelong practice with the commitment to remain up-to-date and well-informed I plan to stay up-to-date and well informed on new “best practices” and relevant intervention. One way I plan to incorporate continued education as a life long practice is by attending the National AOTA conference. Next year in 2019 the conference is being held in New Orleans, Louisiana which is a drive able distance. I plan to attend to learn more about the OT profession and with a year under my belt as a practitioner I will be able to better apply the information that I learn. I will also plan to either attend or complete online sessions of continued education courses minimum once a month. I want to ensure that I remain giving my patients the best treatment that I possibly can.