Last Fieldwork Level I

SO its hump day of the work week.  I am learning quite a bit from the Daniel Carney Rehab Engineering Center.  The site is very cool and so is the staff, I will take some pics tomorrow and hopefully post them.   Over the past 3 days I have been doing wheelchair evals and seeing all different types of people with different diagnoses.  From Cerebral Palsy to Muscular Dystrophy and complications with scoliosis to a patient with a trach and an NG tube.  Each day I have followed a different OT, but the experience has been very rewarding so far and I feel as though I have learned a lot.

The other thing I wanted to blog about was that I PASSED my semester with a 'B' average- the finals were difficult as expected, but we got our grades back and I am excited to see the good news. I have studied long and hard to get the grades and to get into the field and the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to show.  Check back soon to get a follow up on my level 1 site- thanks for reading.

John

Finals! Fieldwork

Well finals are over. The two and a half years of work, stress, strain, learn, confusion, and clarification come together for a great moment of celebration to close this chapter and prepare for the next. The knowledge learned over the past 2.5 yrs is starting to come together and reading through medical notes the used to be 'greek' to me now make sense...well, more sense- I still have a lot to learn about diagnoses. Yesterday, I volunteered at the Rehab Institute of KC and had a great experience, I know there will be many ups and downs through my career but sand am excited to start my Level II fieldwork in January.

What is fieldwork? Well, the term explains pretty much what it is- 'Work' in the 'Field' to gain more competency in OT. Each OT program does it a little differently, at Rockhurst you have 3 Level I's (which last 1 week) and 2 Level II's with an option to do a third Level II to gain more competency in a given field (these last ~3 months). For instance if I wanted more direct training in a hands or prosthetics area I would opt for the level II optional fieldwork.

In a 2003 Addendum to "The Purpose and Value of Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Education" from "The Reference Manual of the Official Documents of the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc." it states:

Fieldwork education prepares students to become competent, entry-level generalists who can function and thrive in a rapidly changing and dynamic health and human service delivery system.

Level I fieldwork is almost like job shadowing with the goal to learn more about the field of OT and to start applying some of the skills learned in the classroom. In a level II we are working towards the quote above- to become competent, entry-level generalists. In a level II the OT student gains more knowledge and freedom to get us ready to be entry level OTs. The level II supervisor expects more out of the student and we are also given more freedom to help in the plan of care for patients.

OTS thoughts: It feels good to realize the investment in school, the stress, and the knowledge gained is all starting to pay off. This is one small victory on my way to getting through my Level II's and passing the NBCOT (board exam) to become an OTR/L (occupational therapist registered/licensed). If you are looking into OT at Rockhurst and you have any questions feel free to shoot them to me. I knew coming into the program there was many things I didn't understand and some things have changed within the past 2.5 years with the program. Thanks for reading.

Harrisburg, PA

Well in the midst of FINALS my cousin decided to get married in Pennysylvania. The wedding was beautiful and it let me get my first taste of the east coast, but with final projects behind me and Finals week ahead of me, the timing was less than optimal. We were near Hershey, PA where Hershey's chocolate and other chocolates are made at the Hershey's plant. Here is a video if you never get an opportunity to visit the visitor's tour. It was brief, but fun and reminds you of 'It's a small world afterall" ride at Disney with animatronics etc. We walked around and saw all the different chocolates and candies and they even had a child sized gingerbread house made of all candy with candy deer as well.

The other video I posted was of the Sandwich Man shop. I forgot to take an outside video of the place as we were on our way to the wedding, but here is a small video of the food and what not-it had a "Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives" feel to the restaurant for sure. I am posting this video because lately I have used Tripadvisor.com quite frequently and enjoy letting others know what is cool and what is not so cool when I visit places. I enjoy good food, good atmosphere, and good service at a fair price. This restaurant had all of those, and it lets you appreciate the small businesses in America working hard for the money.

OTS thoughts: the finish line is near, stay calm and graduate

Capstone...and Thanksgiving

Well, we are now at the point in the program of the last couple of weeks of classes. Projects due Monday, Final presentations, and then FINALS. Last week we presented our Capstone project and I had my parents, my wife's parents, and her grandmother show up for moral support. I feel like everyone presented well and it is a huge payoff from the time and work we have put in over the past year. Capstone is a great learning experience.

Our Capstone was adapting the KELS (Kohlman Evaluation of Living Skills) for use in the island nation of St. Lucia (in the Caribbean). Last years research group started the project by seeing what areas of the KELS needed to be modified to be used in St. Lucia, this year we followed through based on Zimnavoda's and Geisinger's research articles for adapting assessments (especially the KELS) for use in other cultures. We took the previous research for modifications, made the modifications, had a focus group to make sure that the modifications were culturally appropriate and then we ran a pilot study to see if the modifications were appropriate. We got our data collection completed during spring break, so we were ahead of the game in many aspects (which has helped with our semester's work). Anyways, it is good to have one less thing on the plate.

Lastly, Happy Thanksgiving. With all the stress of school and life- there are many things to be thankful for- no matter how bad or good our situation. Health, family, a warm meal, roof over our head, the opportunity to live in America. I hope everyone has a good thanksgiving. Thanks for reading.

OTS thoughts: Survival :)

Recycling

SO even though the jury is out on recycling and the cost/benefit of it all. I believe in it and I try to make an effort to recycle. We are lucky in Olathe to have our own Recycling garbage can and on Rockhurst's campus there is a Glass recycling depository. I am working on converting my wife to be more conscious of recycling, but it does take some work. There is a recycling club on campus that has posted 'fun facts' around campus. Here are some similar facts on a website about recycling borrowed from this website:
http://www.headwatersrecycle.com/why.html

GLASS

• It takes approximately 1 million years for a glass bottle to break down in a landfill.
• In the U.S. today, 34% of all glass containers are recycled.
• Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass.
• Glass never wears out - it can be recycled forever.
• Recycling glass saves 25-32% of the energy used to make glass.
• Glass containers save 9 gallons of fuel (oil) for every ton of glass recycled.

Like I said the jury is out, when you have different types of glass, different metals, and other things that go with glassware, its hard to justify taking the time and energy to recycle. Either way, our garbage is piling up and hopefully there are smarter people than myself working on making the process work better. I hope you are doing what you can to help the process out. Thanks for reading.

OTS thoughts: OT is not about me, I must prepare myself to be an educated therapist and continue to sharpen my practice through continuing education and reading through the most current research. I am the only the medium or means to offer therapy to my patients. I must be on my 'A' game and know my stuff, or talk to others to get the right answers to be the best therapist I can be. This is similar to other world problems, like recycling. There are educated people working on this problem right now. They are educated and working to lessen a potential problem that we have overlooked and might be a larger problem in the future. I hope to study up more on major world problems (like recycling) when my school load is lessened, until then I am still hitting the books. Also, until I hear of different ideas on recycling I will continue to do my best to help the future generations and I hope you do as well.

Peds lab: creating a trust in therapy

In class we were divided into two groups and were not told what was going to happen. Our professor set up the room, and had the other half of our class wait in the hallway with the doors closed. She then grabbed each participant one by one, blindfolded them, brought them into the room, and had a student in the classroom guide the blindfolded student through an obstacle course around tables, 'figure 8's', standing on a step up stool, crawling under a table and ending up on a chair. The blindfolded student (the patient), was only guided by touch cues and was not given any verbal cues on what we (the therapist) were doing or why were doing it.

The learning example helped both sides talk about how easy or difficult the process was. We talked about how information was given and interpreted. Also, with no verbal language and a lack of vision, the patient had to trust the therapist to guide them correctly, make sure that the 'cues' the therapist gave were not too little or too much. It made us think about how much we, as therapists, need to guide patients through a process and have them trust us and how much we need to slow down and collaborate with them to help them problem solve along the way. Either way, I thought it was thought provoking and made me think about how I will interact with patients in the future. Also, it helped me see with a language barrier how a patient feels that may transcend into a different verbal language, or a receptive/expressive aphasia that limits their ability to dialogue with me.

OTS thoughts: It is amazing how one touch or one bit of pressure is interpreted by the therapist and received by the patient. Too much, too little, wrong spot, wrong interpretation, lack of trust, too much trust, other senses to help problem solve or lack of senses to do so- all play a vital role in the patient/therapist success. These are all things that we understand and have faced through our course load, but it keeps me focused on making every cue and every intervention count- and hope that I do not face too many miscues that might send my patient down a different track that can lead to frustration, lack of trust, or getting hurt. thanks for reading.

They did it...

So as hard as it is for me to do this... we have a 2011 World Series Champ... As the playoffs were narrowing down the field and as games began for the World Series, the Cardinals fans came out in full force. (Below is a picture of McGee Hall as you walk onto campus from the parking lot.- 'Lets Go Cards'.)

My wife's parents got tickets to the CRAZY game 6, and gave us a call that Friday morning they could get tickets for game 7. Since my Cubbies have been waiting for 108 years, and the Royals haven't been playoff ready for a few years now, I figured this might be one of the only times in my life that I could get up and go to the game. So we packed up the car and headed out to see our family friend, Ryan Theriot...and the World Series.

The game 7 wasn't as exciting as the game 6, but Freese did come through again to give the Cards an early momentum shift that carried them to the 'W'. Theriot played most of the game, which we enjoyed and St. Louis was CRAZY after the win. So in all good sportsmanship- congrats Cards, the celebration looked fun and if it was my Cubbies I would be freaking out as well. I have never been to a playoff game- let alone a World Series- and due to the craziness of cubs fans and my lack of funds, I don't exactly see myself being able to make it up for a Playoff or World Series game in Chicago. The atmosphere was fun, the fans were crazy, and I wore my halloween costume (a STL cards hat). Well played St. Louis, well played. (The pics below are of my game 7 ticket and a picture from our seats.)