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This article focused on the importance of having your heart, mind, and soul behind you and your profession in order to present professionalism within the occupational therapy field. The heart of professionalism in occupational therapy, focuses on doing Good Work and/or ensuring that what we are doing is right for us as well as improving another's life. The mind of professionalism in occupational therapy, this idea is centered around working to broaden the scope of knowledge within occupational therapy as well as providing EVP to your clients because they deserve more than the routine BUE exercises. Lastly, the soul of professionalism within occupational therapy, this involves collaborating with other individuals within the profession, critically evaluating, and brainstorming to ensure that the highest standard of practice is being used within the clinics. These three components are interwoven. Therefore, if one piece, the heart, mind, or soul is missing then the level of professionalism you portray decreases.

As we engage our hearts to do Good Work, strive to nourish our minds, and to cultivate the authenticity of our souls we can help make the field of occupational therapy stand out and be a pillar of professionalism. Wendy Wood's article is inspiring and is a good read to give you a little boost.

The author's purpose of this article was to promote professionalism as heart, mind, and soul at all level so that all we do in the name of occupational therapy not only remains right for ourselves and good for the world, but also grows more so over time. He described professionalism as especially important for the well-being of individuals or of society at large, having a value so special that money cannot serve as its sole measure: it is also simply good work. The author was captured by the magic of occupational therapy as a counselor at a summer camp for autistic children, which was a truly inspiring story about how he fell in love with the profession. He emphasized how personal professionalism is; so personal, in fact, that he uses the metaphors of heart, mind, and soul to depict its most vital elements. Any field claiming professional stature must be just as dedicated to cultivating its mind as it is to nourishing its heart, as the two are wonderfully symbiotic. I loved this article, and it truly depicted the meaning of and what it means to be an occupational therapist at a personal level.

This blog is something that all clinicians and students need to read, think about, and discuss with others. The author discusses how she was taught a series of problem solving steps during her education and how they have caused her to become like many other therapists by jumping to solutions before knowing the real problem. Therefore, the therapists discusses all the things she has learned on her own through her various classes that she examines when screening/assessing a patient in order to determine the appropriate problem in order to generate an effective solution.

This posting describes an occupational therapists evolution of clinical reasoning skills as she developed as a practitioner. As an entry-level practitioner she followed the "problem solving process" she was taught in school. This process includes identifying the problems, identifying potential solutions, choosing one identified solution, implementing the solution, reviewing the satisfactoriness of the solution, and if unsatisfied completing the process over and over until a satisfactory solution is met. However, she explains that she quickly realized that too often we as occupational therapy practitioners jump in with various solutions before truly identifying the root of the problem. The author highlights numerous assumptions that can be made as to why we want to jump the gun, so to speak. Some of the top reasons mentioned include the patient lacks insight as to the root of the problem and may identify contributory problems and not the true source, there is no specific step to properly examine the source of the problem, and lastly we often view an individual's needs in terms of deficits rather than examining interactions between the individual concerning values and daily choices and their impact on the environment. The author concludes by providing guidance to upcoming practitioners so that they may not make the same mistakes she previously did. She explains that during the evaluation process she is looking not only at the client and what they define as problems, but also looking at strengths, possible explanations, and areas that can be explored in more detail in order to develop a stronger hypothesis as to the root of the problem. Otherwise she risks applying a solution that doesn't solve the problem, creates other problems, and/or prevents uncovering of deeper areas of concern that are impacting the individual's life.

Since I am currently working in a school setting, I decided to look up professionalism in schools. This article mentions teachers but since OT's work in schools as well I think this is a great article to read for OT's. It discusses many current day topics such as etiquette when communication through email, social media communication, as well as avoiding cliques.

As individuals age, communication often times becomes more difficult due to loss of hearing and eye sight. This PDF document provides information in a classroom format, with learning objectives and simple follow-up questions, to help students and clinicians alike to better understand the psychosocial needs of older adults. The document discusses how our views on aging also impact the patient that we are encountering on a daily basis. It is our task to provide the resources needed to these individuals to gain satisfaction and a sense of wellbeing. Lastly, the document provides ideas and information of alternate ways of thinking, communicating, as well as myths both positive and negative to better assist us in our learning process.

This article can help those who work with elderly individuals to identify common psychosocial needs among this population, in hopes of providing better care.

This article can help those who work with elderly individuals to identify common psychosocial needs among this population, in hopes of providing better care.

This article outlines five steps to achieve professionalism in order to demonstrate that you have respect for your employer, your co-workers, as well as yourself. Oftentimes, individuals can demonstrate professionalism during the interviewing process or when meeting with individuals in higher management. However, professionalism should be practiced on a daily basis. There are various ways to demonstrate professionalism within the workplace, including but not limited to, dressing appropriately, respecting others, and actively engaging in learning experiences. The first step to demonstrating professionalism includes looking the part. First impressions are lasting impressions, and an individual's attire sends a message to others concerning how serious they are about their work. Secondly, a professional should always use proper grammar, regardless of the type of communication. In addition, individuals should seek additional tasks and challenges as a means to show responsibility as well as a desire to succeed and grow within their company. Professionals should show respect toward others in all interactions regardless of whether it is a consumer, co-worker, or upper management. Lastly, part of demonstrating professionalism includes admitting any mistakes or mishaps. A willingness to admit one's mistakes takes courage; however, these individuals are often more cautious employees.

This website talks about professionalism and 5 steps to achieve professionalism. These steps are as follows: look the part, grammar is essential, tasks and challenges should be approached head on, show respect towards others, and accepting accountability for mishaps or mistakes. I believe these are good tips to achieve professionalism.

This resource shares 5 simple ways to increase professionalism. These ways include dressing appropriately and having proper hygiene. WHO and the CDC have different guidelines for hygiene so it is important to know and understand the appearance policies for the facility you are interviewing/working for. The use of proper grammar and communication skills in all forms of communication (written or verbal) is essential. It is also important to face challenges head on and to view challenging circumstances as learning opportunities. Always showing respect for others even in times of disagreement will show that you can handle yourself in a professional manner. The final suggestion was to always accept responsibility for mistakes.

The author's purpose of this article was to promote professionalism as heart, mind, and soul at all level so that all we do in the name of occupational therapy not only remains right for ourselves and good for the world, but also grows more so over time. He described professionalism as especially important for the well-being of individuals or of society at large, having a value so special that money cannot serve as its sole measure: it is also simply good work. The author was captured by the magic of occupational therapy as a counselor at a summer camp for autistic children, which was a truly inspiring story about how he fell in love with the profession. He emphasized how personal professionalism is; so personal, in fact, that he uses the metaphors of heart, mind, and soul to depict its most vital elements. Any field claiming professional stature must be just as dedicated to cultivating its mind as it is to nourishing its heart, as the two are wonderfully symbiotic. I loved this article; it truly depicted the meaning of what it means to be an occupational therapist at the most personal, internal level.

This brief article provides various definitions of professionalism and explains why professionalism is important. The author explains that professionalism is multifaceted. Professionalism can be defined as upholding professional code of ethics, acknowledging patient rights, as well as an awareness of conduct. Professionalism can be verbal or nonverbal, as well as physical or nonphysical. The saying first impressions are lasting impressions explain why professionalism is so important. As healthcare professionals it is very important to always present our best selves. Thus, as the author explains the most important thing is to remember that professionalism is not an option. There should never be a question concerning whether an individual should act in a professional manner.

This assessment is based on observation of a patient in a more natural environment/setting and looks at if they initiate expected activities such as, turning off appliances, closing doors when they leave, doing dishes, prepping dinner.. etc within 15 min of expected time. This is looked at and recorded each day of the week. In acute care this is just not very applicable, as we don't watch patients all day, every day of the week and the Vets are in an unfamiliar setting where they likely won't initiate such activities even if cognition is unimpaired. Even the activities that do occur in the hospital setting, such as eating lunch, don't apply very well because the score is acquired by adding up how they did each day of the week and it is not very practical to see a patient every day for the entirety of their lunch for a week straight. This may be a nice assessment for the nursing home to use in some instances.

This article looks at how OT's use interventions as well as how they are often tailored to specific cultures. It also gives suggestions as how to be culturally sensitive when addressing patients and interventions.

This site is a McMaster University workbook that outlines each type of reasoning,. It breaks down what you should do and ask your self in the clinical reasoning process. It may not be totally practically with practice as a clinical but i think as students in our fieldwork sites could make this part of their "homework" each night to develop these clinical reasoning skils.

This document was created as a workbook in order to introduce students to the various concepts/types of clinical reasoning and to facilitate students to make comprehensive clinical decisions regarding patient care. This workbook defines each type of clinical reasoning occupational therapy practitioners may utilize in order to deliver patient-centered care including narrative reasoning, procedural reasoning, interactive reasoning, pragmatic reasoning, and conditional reasoning. Under each type of clinical reasoning various strategies are listed in order to help an occupational therapy practitioner utilize the particular type of clinical reasoning to better understand and relate to the patient and deliver more effective treatment.

It is important to understand and apply throughout evaluation and intervention, clinical reasoning concepts such as narrative, procedural, interactive, pragmatic, and conditional. This article outlines and discusses the clinical reasoning concepts in further detail.

As the title suggests, this article discusses occupational therapy interventions aimed at modifying the environment for persons with Alzheimer's disease as well as all forms of dementia. The article is a systematic review which provides the reader with insight into the different types of environmental modifications commonly utilized by occupational therapy practitioners as well as their effectiveness. This particular article is certainly a good read for those of us who are currently completing our level II fieldwork in a SNF, as Alzheimer's disease and related dementias are very common in such settings.