Group items tagged

This article was interesting to read because it discussed the importance of professionalism and becoming successful within your first job. Several interviews with rehabilitation directors and other experienced healthcare professionals took place to discuss information about landing your first job. One of the individuals stated that it usually takes about six to eight months to learn a new role so it is important to stay in one setting or at one job for at least a year. Also, jumping from job to job does not demonstrate stability when an organization is looking into hiring you. Some of the directors recommend staying at a job for at least two years before you decide that you want to leave. For practitioners looking into going into the acute care setting, make sure you have a good general knowledge of various diagnoses because you will see a variety of diagnoses. It is also important for new graduates to look into jobs at organizations with a mentorship program. In this situation, you are assigned a mentor in which you can ask questions and learn from someone who has been in the game and really understands what is expected of the employees at the organization.

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.

In my rotation I have had an opportunity to work with multiple different stroke patients, and I have seen how aphasia has affected their lives, and this article documents how these individuals are at an increased risk for depression. The goal of this study was to determine whether an early intervention for an individual who has aphasia post stroke, as well as that persons family, leads to better mood and quality of life outcomes for people with aphasia, and less caregiver burden and better mental health for their family members. What was unique to me was that this study/intervention was the first known program tailored for people with aphasia and their family members -Unfortunately, this study is not finished, and is still in progress. However, to me this is also very unique that it was published to let you know that there is a new program being tested, and I think since it is supposedly the first of its kind, it could truly have great psychosocial benefits for individuals with aphasia post stroke.

This article aims to use a qualitative descriptive study to describe occupational therapists experiences and improvements in work after adopting the Occupational Therapy Intervention Process Model (OTIPM). The OTIPM is a client-centered, top down, occupation-focused OT model of practice. The assumptions of the model are that every person is unique, has the will to engage in meaningful occupations, occupations are the primary therapeutic means and engagement in occupations in the central focus in OT. The study was conducted in an acute care hospital in Sweden starting in 2001. They were selected because the therapists wanted to improve OT services and promote evidence-practice in their hospital. The participants participated in a total of six semi-structured focus interviews in which the occupational therapists were asked to describe their experiences of the long-term improvements in work, attitudes toward improvements work and thoughts on how this improved work impacts the goal to change to a more sustainable and evidence-based OT practice in their setting. The first three interviews were in 2006 and the last three were in 2011. The interviews were analyzed and broken down into common themes among therapists. The first theme is that the therapists found their thoughts and actions were transformed on an individual and group level after adopting the OTIPM. The second theme discovered how the therapists dealt with conflicting feelings and attitudes toward change. The final theme describes a shared professional culture. In conclusion, the investigators discovered from the 10-year study and testimonies of Swedish therapists that the use of OTIPM can lead to the integration of evidence-based knowledge that has long-lasting achievements in practice.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/11038128.2013.872183?journalCode=iocc20 I found the article through a SSU library search. The content may not show up on this site, but if you log into the library and search the article you will have access. Here is another resource as well.

This article is about an occupational therapist who has worked in many settings and discussed the importance of supervision in her career. The therapist stated that she needed supervision from more experience practitioners when she first started working. the article stated that she found an experienced practitioner and discussed her actual cases with the practitioner. the supervisor would go over psychodynamics, therapeutic use of self, and clinical reasoning. The author states that this sort of professional supervision is important to become a well rounded practitioner that the patience best interest in mind.

AOTA. Occupational Therapy Assistant Supervision Requirements. This AOTA document summarizes laws for supervision of COTAs by state. I compared some of the supervision laws of Ohio and Kentucky because I will most likely be working in one or both of these states. As I read through the specific laws for each of these states, I was surprised by the differences. For practitioners living near the border of multiple states, being well-versed in specific state laws will be essential for protecting our licensure. I summarized just a couple specific laws of these two states to give you a better idea of how they may differ state to state. This is a very important document to keep handy, and it goes into much more detail than what I've provided here. In Kentucky, supervising OTs must provide no less than 4 hours per month of general supervision for each COTA, which must include no less than 2 hours per month of face-to-face supervision. This law is more specific in Ohio. In Ohio, OTs must provide supervision at least once a week for all COTAs who are in their first year of practice. The OT must provide supervision at least once a month for COTAs beyond their first year of practice. Ohio law specifies that co-signing client documentation alone does not meet the minimum level of supervision. Supervision is specified as an interactive process that includes review of the following: client assessment, client reassessment, treatment/intervention plan, intervention, and discontinuation of treatment/intervention plan. In Kentucky, OTs may not have more than the equivalent of 3 full time COTAs under supervision at any 1 time. In Ohio, the number of COTAs an OT can supervise varies based upon the OTs job duties. If the OT performs evaluations, direct treatment, and supervision of OT personally, an OT may supervise up to 4 COTAs. However, if the OT does NOT provide direct treatment, the OT may supervise up to 6 COTAs.

This study was conducted in order to grasp a better understanding of occupational therapy students' level of clinical reasoning skills at varying stages of learning during the course of their schooling. Based on study results, all of the students in their first year, 70% of students in their second year, and 20% of students in their third year demonstrated pre-reflective thinking. Furthermore, no first or second year students and only 20% of third year students were able to function at a level of reflective thinking. This study provides great insight for clinical instructors, allowing instructors to be more attuned to their students learning needs and better equipping them to develop clinical reasoning skills necessary in order to provide patient-centered care. Clinical instructors who are working with individuals in the pre-reflective thinking stage should encourage their students to voice their own opinions and justify their rationale, as well as consider others opinions, and should be given feedback in order to improve their confidence and encourage further development of clinical reasoning skills.

This PDF document is the fourth article in a series concerning the steps of how to conduct evidence-based practice. The first three steps include write a clinical question, gather current evidence that might answer the question, and then evaluate the literature to determine what is the best answer in regards to your clinical question. In this article the author discusses the fourth step of how to conduct evidence-based practice, which is communicating the evidence to patients, family members, and other colleagues in regards to how it may impact intervention decisions. In order to effectively communicate to all parties involved the occupational therapist must first conduct an unbiased, comprehensive search to answer the proposed clinical question. The therapist must then be able to interpret the information and articulate it to their patient, their family, and their colleagues in a way that is easy to understand. The author suggests starting broadly and then narrowing down; in other words present the evidence as a whole and then narrow it down to how it can be applied to the patient's case. Above all, it is important to make sure the patient is able to comprehend the information as it is a collaborative work between the therapist and the patient in order to provide the most beneficial treatment.

This study is of particular interest to me after completing my fieldwork in a school system. I had the chance to work with many students who presented with emotional disturbances. I never worked with students based solely on goals associated with these emotional disturbances, but observed and attempted to proved treatment for their emotional disturbances after first working toward their school based goals. Typically these disturbances presented themselves as depression, aggression, and irritability. It was heartbreaking to look around the school and see how many students were affected by some form of emotional disturbances. Unfortunately as a school OT I was only to focus on goals that would make the student more functional in school (such as handwriting) and never had the ability to write goals base on a student's emotions. I believe that there is a great need for occupational therapists to focus on writing goals to provide interventions to students with emotional disturbances. In my setting there were not enough OT's/COTA's to work with all of the students who had emotional disturbances because there were so many students who first required school based interventions. This study suggests that more evidence-based research is needed to help school therapists work with children with emotional disturbances. I hope that eventually there will be a place for OT's in this area.

This exert is specifically from the VA handbook in regards to supervision specifically for health professionals and trainees. This resource provides a strict breakdown of the supervision requirements for supervisors and trainees. It is clear through this policy that strict guidelines are to be followed within this system and this is what I have experienced in my time there. I was intrigued however, that supervisory roles are seen as an educational experience. The following tenet was the first under supervisor regulation--" Supervision is an educational experience provided by a qualified supervising practitioner with a trainee. This relationship is evaluative, extends over time, and has the simultaneous purposes of enhancing the professional functioning of the trainee while monitoring the quality of services delivered. Supervision is provided through observation, consultation, directing the learning and activities of the trainee, and role modeling". I feel that this really stressing the educational importance of being a supervisor.

This is a great outline of some common ethical dilemmas in OT treatment, and I bet some of you even experienced a few of these in your first fieldwork! Some seem more serious than others, but all are good to consider! From photocopying assessments instead of ordering more, to treating as a student with no on site supervision... good food for thought!