Grieving

When my grandmother died last October my grandfather went through a serious depression. Emphasis on the word SERIOUS. My mother feared that he would not make it. His mental state was so weak that she had to commit him for fear he would commit suicide. He lamented that he was unable to go on without my grandmother. Some days I would call him and say, "Hey Grandad, how ya doing?" and he would answer in a voice that would break my heart, "I'm not doing so well today."

Have you ever heard someone speak to you in a tone that was totally unlike them, and as a result completely unfamiliar (and a little scary) to you? For months, this is how my grandfather sounded. He couldn't bear to be alone (remember he and my grandmother were married for over 50 years). It took a lot for me to talk to him and keep engaged.

I share this with you because as occupational therapists we have the opportunity to work with the families of our patients. Depending on the situation, the family may know that the patient will die soon. Or, perhaps the patient has suffered a recent injury and the injury resulted in a loss. The loss can be that the person is no longer able to participate in meaningful activities. The person, and perhaps their family, may experience the grieving process. They will grieve, and as the health care professional, you have to counsel them while providing health services. Sometimes this means listening, sometimes allowing them to cry, sometimes allowing them to feel angry or hurt. This encompasses many things. This is the human service side of occupational therapy and it's very important.

If you've ever suffered a loss think about all the wonderful things people said to you to help you feel better or get through that difficult time. Also, think of all the terrible things people said to you. If you know someone who suffered a loss think of all the wonderful and terrible things you may have said to them. It's important to channel those memories when dealing with clients during these times. I believe it makes us better health care professionals.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity in Occupational Therapy

I read an interesting article today about attrition and racial and ethnic diversity. This article is in the Journal of Allied Health (which is a great resource, btw), vol 39, issue #2, pages 104-109 entitled Racial-Ethnic Diversity in Allied Health, the Continuing Challenge, author Fred Donini-Lenhoff.

The article discussed how "the racial-ethnic diversity of health professionals has not kept pace with demographic changes in the general population of the United States, with significant consequences for the health of minority populations and access to health care services."

Some interesting points:

• "Student attrition in allied health educational programs is not a new problem"
• "...attrition among students from underrepresented minorities remains high (most noticeably at for-profit institutions)"
• " In addition, attrition is an issue throughout the community college environment, where many allied health programs are located, 'because many students are ill-prepared academically when they enter college and juggle classes with work and family obligations. Little is offered in the way of tutoring, counseling or financial aid.'"

I can attest to the truth of this statement, at least here in Chicago. I completed my pre-requisites at a few community colleges and the support and guidance are NON-EXISTENT. Were it not for my driven personality, the support of my family, my business background and the fact that I have an undergraduate degree I probably would have given up. I see how easy it may be for someone to give up on pursuing a career in allied health, or any profession for that matter.

• "...variables associated with a lowered persistence rate (attrition) in completing an allied health education degree in the United States included

1. being under the age of 22,
2. having a mother with a college degree,
3. having low college entrance exam scores,
4. having a low GPA or no reported GPA,
5. working full-time,
6. and attending a for-profit institution."

Again, I saw people who fit this demographic at the community colleges I went to and I can attest to the truth of this statement.

• "To help individual students, mentoring, counseling, and academic/financial assistance - both pre- and post-admission - are needed to reduce attrition at all institutions, public and private, nonprofit and for-profit alike."

This article brings up some interesting points that I would one day like to pursue further. I thought it was interesting and found it important to share.

Volunteer. It's important.

Another thing that's interesting about that last post is that when I told some friends that I met a girl who can't read they were just as incredulous as I was. One guy actually said, 'C'mon now, she has to know something.' I thought it was interesting that none of us could believe that someone actually can't read. It's like hearing of the Loch Ness monster or Big Foot or something where you're always asking 'does it really exist?'

How sad that right HERE in America this can happen!

Ninety-five percent of my nuclear and extended family members have a college education and many have Master's degrees and PhD's. All of my friends have a college education. This situation made me think how fortunate I am! I'm essentially shielded from illiteracy. Most people I know and associate with have some college education. I know very few people with only a high school diploma, let alone bare minimum reading skills.

I would really like to give back to people like this. It's hard to find time to do things like this. It's so easy to make excuses. I'm so busy with school and all my other extracurricular activities that sometimes it's overwhelming. I would really like to find a way to incorporate volunteering to this group a priority.

I met a 17-y.o. girl who can't read. No, seriously, it's true.

I'm changing some facts to this story due to the privacy of the matter...

I met a girl, who is 19, that reads on a kindergarten level.

During one of my volunteer activities I was sitting around chatting with some girls when one girl asked me to write some loving words on a birthday card to her boyfriend. A younger girl immediately volunteered and wrote an amazing passage on scrap paper and passed it to the first girl, who did not look at it. Instead, the first girl immediately passed it to me and asked me to write those words on her card. I was confused as to why she couldn't write it and why she didn't even look at it so I asked her a few times ,'Well, did you read it?' She lied and said 'yes' even though she so obviously passed the paper to me and did not even look at it.

When I pressed her by asking why can't she do it she said something like she likes the way I write or something of that nature (although she had never seen me write). Eventually, it hit me--this girl might not be able to read!

After writing the passage on her card I wanted to confirm my suspicion so I told her she needed to sign her own name. She wanted to write 'Love Always, Girl X.' I had to spell out the letters of each word for her (amazing) because she did not know the spelling (thankfully she can write her own name). When I got to the 'Y' in 'always' she said, 'Does that letter go like this?' and she proceeded to mime the writing of 'Y' in the air.

I was floored.

Although I played it off I was really surprised... and scared for her. She is young, very friendly and very pretty. In the hands of the wrong person this type of situation can end up badly for her. Illiteracy prevents you from being independent, such as finding your way home by reading street signs if you get lost, ordering from a menu at a restaurant or, even more importantly, finding a job. This is also how young girls become prostitutes. When you can't read, you're dependent on other people to do things for you.

I pray to God she lives life safely and learns to read.

FAQs--OT School w/out prereqs??

So, here's another question I received waaaaaay back in May! I'm so awful. I feel so badly.

Ok here's the question:

Kimberly, I am sorry but do you mind sharing how you managed to get into OT school without prereqs?

I wish I could say I had it like that but I don't! I actually had to take prereqs! An entire year I did this. I worked 8 hours a day and went to school at night for another 3-4 hours. I spent an entire summer going to school just for biology pre-reqs FOR the prereqs (crazy, right!)--mon-thurs from 6-10pm! And this was AFTER I had worked 8 hours earlier that day.

It was really tough. Sometimes i even worked 2-3 jobs to pay for school and my bills. For about 2 months I delivered pizza on the weekends! Yes, I'm not ashamed to admit this. That was REALLY hard because I had no life--it was work, school and more work and then studying. When it was slow I would sit outside the restaurant and study in my car! It was summer during this time so I didn't freeze while doing this. The other drivers treated me well and respected me. It was a very humbling experience.

I also worked at a Latin dance studio for a while. That was fun and interesting and stressful. I had to give up my weekends for that gig too. *Sigh*

I even sold my beautiful car to cut down on expenses and free up extra cash. Amazingly, I don't miss it. I use the money to pay for interesting experiences that, in turn, make ME a more interesting person!


So anyway, every morning I managed to get up at 5.15am and go to the gym. It was easier then than it is now; I think that's what helped me keep my sanity.

I have a finance degree as well [the author of the question has a degree in Finance] and one day I just sat down and wrote out a plan on how I could finish all my prereqs in one year. I had no science class history. None! I went to the school and talked to the OT admissions staff and clarified what I needed, which classes I already had that counted as pre-reqs and which didn't, and which classes were necessary to take. I made sure I could go to the city colleges for pre-reqs. Sometimes I had to take pre-reqs for pre-reqs so I added that in the plan as well. By talking with the staff I discovered that some classes counted for some required pre-reqs--information I would not have known had I not gone to the school and inquired.

I missed out on a lot of time with family and friends but I WANTED to be an OT bad! So, I complained sometimes and I was ALWAYS tired but I made it happen.

You CAN do it, too. Just sit down and PLAN it and talk to the counselors and OT staff at the school you want to go to to see if some of your past Gen Ed class at previous institutions count for prereqs. It won't be easy all the time. But as my aunt told me once, "But in the end it will be SO worth it." This keeps me focused.

Good luck!

Bully words

Like I said before, these children often have trouble with their behavior and emotions and they often lash out with intense, negative words.

They have postings on the wall about 'Bully Words.' I found it interesting because one of the words was 304. I had no idea what that was. I asked the clinician on site and she said 'spell it backwards and change the numbers to letters' (for those who don't get it--it's a derogatory name for a 'loose' woman; also spelled the same as a common garden tool).

Immediately I got it! Wow! How...expressive. But kids are saying this? They range from 4-12 years. They're too young to even really know what that means.

They also had the word 'Critch.' That's new to me. I wonder if its the same as a curse word that starts with a different letter. Also, 'bop.' Does anyone know what these mean?

Another thing that struck me were the words 'skinny' and 'fatty.' How interesting that we use both ends of the spectrum to put someone down! I guess humans find anything to make people feel badly about themselves, huh? It's sad when kids do it, though.

Finally, the last thing I found interesting was the number of words on the list! These are words that the kids thought of! On their own! I counted 56! Fifty-six words on just ONE of the posters; there were two posters. Fifty-six bully words from kids!

Being a kid is tough.

Are you angry because you're poor??

(Of course I can't tell you where I am or show the kids faces or images of the facility but here are three of the wall postings to remind the kids of emotions and anger)

Every week the kids work on a theme. One particular week the theme was 'anger' and all of the activities stemmed around things that you make you angry, managing anger, etc. Now remember, these kids are labeled as having behavior and emotion problems so activities like these are designed to help them manage those emotions. One of the projects asked the kids what makes them angry.

So when this question was posed one of the college assistants (working for the summer), let's call him Dan, carried a conversation with one of the kids who's about 8 or so, let's call her Mary, that went something like this:

Dan: Hey, Mary, you should be working on this activity on what makes you angry. You need to write down what makes you angry, ok?
Mary: Ok.
Dan: So, what makes you angry? That you're not rich?

I'm sorry, what? I didn't know whether to laugh or correct him. This happened on my second day when I was only observing so I certainly did not correct him. But I chuckled a little out of shock. These are FOSTER kids. They don't live with their biological parents. They have problems that you would not believe and the LAST thing they need is someone reminding them of what they don't have. Plus, she's an 8 year old kid.

The room is large and there are a lot of kids so the clinician did not hear this exchange. But I just had to shake my head and smile at myself at how experience (and age) influence how you talk to and relate to people.

FAQs--Costa Rica

Someone sent me a question about my trip to Costa Rica:

Meredith writes: Did you go through a program or did you set this up yourself?

I set this up myself. I saved for a LOOOOOONG time in preparation for a similar trip that I ended up changing my mind on. My dad also gave me some money to help me out. I researched various programs (thank God for Google) for about a month and finally decided on one about 3-4 weeks before I left. I highly recommend this experience to anyone who can afford it. Depending on the country it can be pretty cheap--from as little as $100 a week for economically challenged countries to as much as $500 for those more comparable to America. I recommend you do your research and ask lots of questions!

Good luck!

I'M SO SORRY!!!!

OK, I OWE A TON OF PEOPLE A HUGE APOLOGY.

So, when I signed up for this blog through Google I never did any 'training' to learn how to operate it. I just jumped right in. I also never knew how to check my Gmail account through this blogger. It's silly. I know. I should know better.

So, people have been sending me a TON of messages that I am just now getting. So, for that I say I'M SORRY. Please, PLEASE forgive me. I've already responded to like 7 or 8 of them this evening and i'm going to keep going through them until I respond to every single one. Some of the answers to your questions will be blog posts as I'm sure many others have the same questions.

Also, I think I mentioned that this year I am working for the school to pay for my tuition and from April 30-mid June I was not myself. I was some OTHER person because I was taking 17 hours of INTENSE pass/fail courses and I was working 20-25 hours a week. It was really tough but I made it through. Thank God. I didn't blog much during that time because like I said, I was some OTHER person. Some monster woman, like Cruella De Vil or soemthing.

So, I'm working on all the responses to your questions. Please be patient. Thank you!

How old you is?

Here's another post from my journal on communication with one of the 'clients' at the site:

Here's an example of a conversation I had with one of the younger members of SWM today:

Me: Hi, (child's name), how old are you?
J: I'm four. How old you is?
Me: Four is awesome! You can say "How old ARE YOU?"
J: I'm four! How old you is?
Me: (trying not to laugh) Well, I'm a lot older than you. So, let's say together "How old are you?"
J: I just said that. I'm four.

Eventually, I got her to understand that her English was incorrect and the correct structure is "how old are you?" however, she said she did not want to correct her English. If this were my child/niece/nephew, etc. this would be an issue but I understood she was purposely being difficult so I left it alone and praised her for being an incredible four years old. I did not want to beat a dead horse over her grammar when she has bigger problems but the situation irritated me slightly because when she realized I was correcting her English she immediately stiffened and withdrew. This alarmed me because when I correct the English of my niece and nephew they embrace it. This child's reaction was...different. It made me curious as to how she is treated in the home when she does something incorrectly. I realized that I just needed a different approach and maybe, in some instances, no approach at all.

I observed that the children communicate very aggressively with each other. While playing games, I was constantly parenting on how to 'play fair,' or 'play nice' or 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' and 'judge not lest ye be judged.' I'm being slightly fecetious but the children use strong, negative language that is incongruent with their age. They see nothing wrong with talking to each other in this manner. "you're stupid," "I can do it better," "You can't do it," "You don't know anything" and so forth flowed freely and regularly between the children. I was very surprised. Interestingly, I don't see (yet) why they are behavior disordered children. For the most part they played better than I expected for children with this label. They were not so aggressive that I would label them as 'behavior disordered' but aggressive enough for me to notice.

(What would an OT do at this facility?)

As for the younger foster children--I think an OT would focus on developing relationships between the kids and their parents. According to [names removed] the foster parents don't do much with the children. They drop them off at camp and then they leave, only to return a few hours later to pick up the kids. They feed and clothe the children but they don't spend time with them or teach them life skills--they don't 'parent' effectively. I definitely see an opportunity for an OT here in that regard.

An example of living a life of mistrust

When we first arrived at the site, one of the clinicians described how the girls are almost always angry and mean. She warned us about some the things that we might see and hear. She told us (I am at this site with another student, who is AWESOME!) that they would interact defensively with us and would not be welcoming. She also said that if we react impulsively and are offended easily we won't make it. You have to be strong and have a lot of confidence in yourself because the girls will 'try' us and attempt to push every hot button. Here is my journal entry from that day:

I close with this (paraphrased) quote from a supervisor to illustrate the life and thought process of girls who are always defensive: "These girls have lived a hard life in the 'system'. They have been hurt so many times by those closest to them that they don't know how to trust. They immediately lash out with anger and strong words. You two are young, pretty girls so be prepared for the language and the attitude. You're already on their bad side. You need to have a lot of confidence in yourself to work here because [pointing at my peer] you'll be a white b*tch and [pointing at me] you'll be a black h*e. You need to be prepared to hear that without responding negatively."

Update on first Level I Fieldwork

So, I've started fieldwork and it is very interesting to say the least. There are good time and there are bad times but it's all interesting. I'm doing a mental/behavioral health fieldwork right now.

As I've mentioned before the girls are homeless and were in foster care or just recently came from an unfit household. New girls come and go weekly and sometimes they run away. They all have some pretty serious problems, unfortunately, and it's pretty obvious when we talk to them. Sometimes I see them blow up at the staff for no reason; sometimes they have a HUGE issue with saying please and thank you; and sometimes they just have an attitude for no reason.

I am also working with children with some of the same issues. All of the kids are in foster care and that is another post all it's own. In a nutshell I feel sorry for both the kids and the older girls. They have no one but themselves--no parents that love them and many times the foster parents take them in for the money. It's very....disheartening. Last week I started to tear up when hearing some of the stories from the staff.

The most interesting and heart tugging thing I've heard over the last week is that some the girls come to the home with just the clothes on their back. As a result, they often only have 1 or 2 pair of underwear. 1 or 2 pair! I have enough underwear to last me over a month, just so I can avoid washing! How blessed I am! Can you imagine having only 1 or 2 pair of underwear????!!!! Every day you would have to wash your underwear and hope it's dry by morning, assuming you choose to wear underwear given your circumstances.

The girls are very guarded, as would be expected in these types of situations. When you say hi you're lucky if they speak, and very rarely do they speak with a smile. Some of them are nice and I'm always curious why, given their situation. Generally, they are dry, uninterested, resistant and combative.

It's interesting....

Gallstones from REAL people

This is a gallbladder and gallstones picture I found on Google. Our cadaver's gallstones were similar to this in color, shpae and size, only brighter and more 'jewel-like.'

My instructor's gallstones from her collection. Notice how these look like grimy rocks...

...and notice how these look like pretty stones.
(And notice how I differentiated 'rock' from 'stone.' Hmm, are they the same or are they different??)

I ran across this picture in my iPhoto and I realized i forgot to share it with you last semester!

These are REAL gallstones that came from REAL people. We saw some in anatomy lab, and of course I could not take a photo as that action would get me in a ton of trouble, but one of my instructors COLLECTS gallstones (don't ask why, she just like them). She said I could take a photo and post it on my blog. It's interesting to me how gallstones look different depending on the person from which they came.

I wanted to share this because gallstones are very painful (a few people in my family have had them removed). But it's amazing because when you look at them they are often very pretty! Like stones you may find on some rocky beach somewhere. The stones found in one of our cadavers were a very pretty bright green, I'm talking VERY PRETTY. And they were sparkly and hit the light just right. It was weird. Like opening up a pouch and finding some hidden gems.

It reminded me of the movie 'The Goonies." If you're younger than 30 then that name probably sounds like something I just made up. But if you remember that movie then you'll remember the very end when all the kids were reunited with their parents outside on the beach and the father was about to sign the paperwork to foreclose his house or something and at that moment the spanish speaking housekeeper opens this green pouch and out fell all this beautiful jewels!

THAT'S what seeing those gallstones was like. We cut her gallbladder and BAM! Out fell all these beautiful 'jewels.' Odd analogy but I'll bet you have a great visual right about now and you get what I'm saying!

"I'm making a bomb! I can't take the pressure!!!"

My tools: the clicker with old batteries, the screwdriver, the insanely tiny screw that you can hardly see because it's insanely tiny, the new battery packaging, a new battery.

Insanely tiny screw.

Unscrewing the insanely tiny screw using shoulder and elbow flexion (I held it to my face to protect my neck) and forearm pronation and supination.

Me, whistling while I'm working. lol.

Batteries, clickers, and garbage, aka--A MESS!

Battery between my fingers and on the right, if you look closely, is another insanely tiny screw! The little boogers are sneaky. Another grad assist student dropped one and we were both on the floor looking for it. Those things are harder to find than dropped contact lenses!

I am the graduate assistant for the OT program here at my school and someone asked me to replace all the batteries in our 'clickers.' As I was doing this I noticed that I am turning into a true OT!

This requires using a screwdriver, you know, the kind you use to unscrew those insanely tiny screws for your glasses. Well, as I was unscrewing, removing the backing, removing the old batteries, replacing them with new batteries, replacing the backing and screwing the insanely tiny screw back in I noticed that I kept thinking about what motion I was performing and which muscles I was using!

How wonderful is that!

I was also thinking if this would be a good 'task' to give a client, with some variations of course. I'm not so sure about this because the screw is so insanely tiny that if you can pick it up, place it in the screw hole and use the screwdriver then you probably don't need occupational therapy services; you're probably functioning very well.

Anyway, I noticed that I used a lot of humeral and wrist flexion, along with forearm pronation and supination and a ton of complicated, combination, prehension (aka-pinching) movements. It only confirms what I said earlier about your hands and fingers being soooooo important! Don't take them for granted!

Last thing, I also felt like I was building a bomb! Ha ha. There I was, hunched over, with old batteries, a screw driver, clickers, insanely tiny screws, and garbage from the new battery packages. It looked a little crazy. I told myself if someone walked in and asked me what I was doing I would scream, "I'm making a bomb! I JUST CAN'T TAKE THE PRESSURE!!!"

I'm so silly.

My blog in the top 5-6!

I performed a search for blogs on OT using phrases like:

Master of Occupational Therapy Student blog
OT student blog
Occupational Therapy student blog
etc.

My blog came up in the top 5-6 every time!!! I'm so HAPPY about this! It inspires me to keep blogging.

It also reminds me of the time Karen (remember, my OT blogger idol) was trying to get her blog to be in the top 3 or something like that. She had read somewhere that repeatedly using your key word(s)-- in this case occupational, therapy and student--would get your blog more hits and increase its rating on Google. So she just typed those key words over and over and over again in a blog post, performed another search and it worked!

Of course the way she tells it is funnier. I always crack up at that story.

Update on my Mallet finger

(Remember this picture? This is when I first lacerated my extensor tendon. It's amazing to me that I just could not extend my finger, no matter how much I tried. Thankfully, as bad as this looks, it didn't hurt a bit.)

(Here's my beautiful finger with the splint. As a side note, the entire time my finger was in a splint I made sure my nails were always ON POINT. My finger may have been in a splint but I was C-U-T-E!)

(This is my hand about 4 weeks ago. My finger just gets better and better each day! And my nails are still C-U-T-E!) :-)

So, my finger is all healed now! I wore the splint for about 11 weeks, which is almost twice the suggested length of time. After researching the Internet I decided that the suggested 6 weeks was not enough for me and I wanted the splint to stay on longer, though not so long as to inhibit movement.

I didn't have to go the doctor for a checkup! This was a financial blessing. We just so happened to have an OT who is a hand therapist speak to our Anatomy class in April. I asked her to look at my finger and she said it looked healed and now it was time to start OT services on myself, lol. She suggested that everyday, for about 1-2 weeks, I take the splint off and slowly make a fist. This was tough at first because my finger was so stiff! It took me about a week or so of constant finger flexing to make a full, but light, fist.

She then suggested that after the second week of this I take the splint off for a couple of hours everyday, increasing the time the splint is off until I am no longer wearing it. I did this but was very careful. I made sure to wear the splint if I was going to do heavy lifting or some activity where I wasn't paying attention to my fingers. I also suffered a loss of about 5 degrees of both flexion and hyperextension. I believe this is the reason why I can't make a really tight fist.

I performed more research online and found out that I should wear the splint at night for at least another 6 to 12 weeks. This prevents injury while I'm sleeping. So, I'm still in this stage but some nights I forget.

My finger was a terrible color when I first took the splint off. As you can see from my pictures I am Black, and to see an abnormally pale, white finger surrounded by brown skin was a little...scary. It was just lack of air circulation, of course. And over time my finger returned to its normal, beautiful caramel brown color.

I cannot make a tight fist...yet...and this of course has decreased my grip strength in my left hand. Also, I sometimes cannot grip my hair properly while plaiting it. I don't push my finger too much right now but over time I will push it a bit more.

Everyone says you can't even tell it was ever injured, which is awesome to hear.

Hands are just so important! So, take care of yourself!

Don't Judge a Book by Its Major

I learned something valuable yesterday evening about judging people before getting all necessary information:

I am a Peer Mentor for the Latino Center here on campus. Yesterday evening we had a meeting where the Counselors of the LC had to regroup mentors and mentees. In doing so, they paired me with my original two mentees plus another new mentee. The new mentee did not look happy that I was her mentor. She didn't even look at me at first.

She immediately said, "What's your major?" When I told her Occupational Therapy she looked agitated and raised her hand to comment. She suggested that the Counseling center provide the mentees with a website that allows them to review a mentor's biography so that they can choose their own mentor based on their goals. She commented that although she is sure I am a good mentor she is a Criminal Justice major and needs a Criminal Justice mentor who can help her achieve her goals and guide her through coursework.

The Counselors told her that they take all of these things into consideration before matching mentors and mentees, along with personality traits and the ability of the mentor to find valuable resources. I saw this young lady approach a Counselor to talk and so I approached as well.

I told the Counselor and the young lady that she did not give me a chance to help her. She doesn't know who I know or what connections I have. Truth be told, I know a TON of people in law enforcement, along with lawyers and other people in the criminal justice system. I could have EASILY connected her with someone who would be a resource once she graduates. Additionally, I am the Queen of free money for education. My schooling is free thus far because I try harder than anyone else and ask more questions than anyone else to get money to pay for my education.

The Counselor tried to explain to her that they have a police officer for her to speak but she can't call him and discuss school matters. That's why she needs me as a mentor. I then immediately told the Counselor and the young lady that this mentor/mentee relationship would not work for me, based on the fact that she didn't give me a chance to assist her, I'm not willing to help at this point and we would both need to be reassigned.

Although I understood the young lady's fears about not getting the resources that she needs what bothered me was that she did not look at me, she did not introduce herself and, most importantly, SHE DIDN'T ASK ANY QUESTIONS. It seems to me that the most logical thing to do first is ask WHY the Counselors paired you with a mentor when you specifically asked for something else. Once you have that information the second thing you do is talk to the mentor, tell them your goals and find out if they can help you or provide you with resources. If they cannot help you THEN you raise your hand and say this is not going to work for me. It's unfortunate that she missed out on an opportunity to have access to the criminal justice system through my contacts.

So, I learned that the cliche is true. You really shouldn't judge people, especially without first asking questions to GET MORE INFORMATION. This makes me wonder how many times I have done this to others. I can't think of any specific instances at this moment. However, I will definitely make the effort in the future to refrain from judging people without getting all the information first.

Research 101

One of the classes that ended last week was my Research class. This was a 2 semester class that required that we find a research topic that relates to OT and go through the entire research process process, just short of actually completing the research. The only reason we did not carry out the procedures is because receiving approval from the school's IRB takes too long and we wouldn't finish the projects in a timely manner.

The purpose of this class was to encourage us to contribute to the evidence based body of OT knowledge by choosing, researching and creating a research study. This class was VERY detailed and we had to go through all the steps of deciding on a research question, to writing procedures to finding a grant that would possibly fund our study (if we were to actually continue to the study). It was a very long, tedious process. I learned quite a bit about the research process and research terminology. I also now have a greater appreciation for the research that currently exists, both within and outside of OT. Research is hard, but rewarding, work!

My topic was 'Factors that Influence Participation in a Sport or Exercise, Despite Chronic Pain." I wanted to find out why athletes continue to play sports and/or exercise even though they are in serious pain. I also wanted to find out if the environment in which they play sports influences their participation.

I learned a LOT about research and it certainly gave me something to look forward to if I continue with a PhD. However, I would not continue with this particular topic. In the beginning I was so excited with this topic. But, by the end of the second semester, with all the revisions and changes, I found my topic boring and uninteresting. I have a new topic in mind but if I tell you then I'll have to kill you. :-)

Nevertheless, if you're going into OT school here are just a few tips for research. This list is in no way comprehensive. It's just a few things off the top of my head:

1. Choose a topic that interests you greatly. However, be careful that it's not too personal. Some people had topics about disabilities of their kids and loved ones. When you're this close to the topic sometimes you're unwilling or unable to listen to suggestions or corrections to your paper. And sometimes, the topic is just too overwhelming to continue.

2. Try to choose topics that are non-existent or have very few research articles. This will give you a strong reason for the purpose of your study.

3. Decide how your topic is relevant to occupational therapy. This is so important because other OTs will read your work and use your information in their practice.

4. Look for articles that support and negate your premise. It will give you a balanced view of the topic.

5. Look at literature outside of OT literature. Other professions have awesome things to say and perform great research studies that OTs can use. Also, it's just downright interesting.

6. Once you have all your literature read the research articles several times and highlight things that stand out to you. Then, find three or four themes that the articles all have in common. Finally, decide the 'hole' that you are going to plug with your research. What is the one thing that's missing in those articles that your research will cover? How is your research different from what is already available?

7. ASK
8. LOTS
9. OF
10. QUESTIONS!!! Research is a VERY involved, demanding, yet interesting process. If there is something you do not understand or need clarification on, please ask your instructor. I would suggest you choose one instructor, if one was not assigned to you for your project, and stick with the instructor for the length of your project. I say this because I noticed that every instructor has a different idea on how the research should be carried out. If you ask multiple instructors you'll get inconsistent guidance. And trust me, that's NO fun.

:-)
:-)

Fieldwork Level I

Part of your OT schoolwork is clinical experience. As students we must go to the 'field,' observe clinicians, and plan and implement interventions and evaluate outcomes, among other things. This is known in occupational therapy as fieldwork. This is a requirement to become an OT. There are two Level I's and two Level II fieldwork experiences. Thankfully, my school has expanded our Level I experience so that we have a total of 3 Level I's.

My first Level I fieldwork is a Mental/Behavioral health experience at a girls home. I am going to this location with another student. This home serves the needs of female minors who are in need of temporary placement. Other students have had an interesting experience here and I intend to have an awesome experience.

When I first found out I was being placed here I was NOT happy. Actually, I was downright disappointed. I wanted to be in a hospital or in another location that had an OT on staff. This girls home does not have an OT on staff. This scared me because I have a B.S. degree in Finance and I have a business background. Many of my peers have experience in Biology, Medicine, OT, PT and other fields. Sometimes I feel like I'm starting from scratch or behind so it was so important to me to be with an OT.

I spoke with my instructor who placed me here and asked her what about my character led her to place me in this location. She told me that many of my peers will be in a location without an OT. But more importantly, she said that I am very confident, I establish boundaries very well and have no problem saying "no." She said that I will be with girls with many emotional and social problems and many of them will want a relationship outside of this fieldwork experience and will cross various social boundaries; many of my peers are not equipped to handle situations of this type. She explained that this fieldwork location is in need of people who can be kind and stern at the same time. She also said that I am young and attractive and encouraging and many of these girls will look up to me and see their own possibilities.

So, I'll keep you all posted as much as I can. For obvious reasons I can't say too much but I'll do what I can!

So busy...all the time

Well, things have finally slowed down a bit. This summer session has been worse than the last 2 semesters. I've been so busy the last 8 weeks it feels like I have no time to breathe. Going to school full time, going to the gym, working and trying to have a social life take their toll and at some point you realize you can't do everything.

I think about writing on this blog all the time but at night when I come home I'm exhausted. I basically wash my face, brush my teeth, prepare my lunch for the next day and go to bed. I feel terribly that I'm unable to write in this blog a few days a week because so many interesting things happen and I have so much to say.

So, I've come to terms with the fact that I can't do everything and I need to be content with the things I AM doing. So many people have started OT blogs and never continue them! I'm determined to see this blog through until I graduate. And hopefully, as my OT idol has done I can continue writing in it as a practitioner.

Ok, enough sadness. I'm content with the contributions I can make.