Thus, because the end is near, and I am a naturally-nostalgic person, I have decided to dedicate this post to a summary of the OT graduate school experience. Also, because we are a less-well-known profession, most people don't know what our graduate experience is like. And, especially in the area of healthcare, it's always nice to know what your doctor, therapist, nurse, etc. had to go through to be able to provide you with care. Gives you a better appreciation for them, I would think.
My first semester of graduate school started in June of 2015. Because we are a 2-year program, we have three semesters a year (Spring, Summer, and Fall). As much as I would love to go through and detail every course we took, I am just going to highlight a few...
I would be remiss, of course, if I did not touch on our wonderful adventure with Gross Anatomy our first semester. Gross Anatomy is your regular Anatomy course, with cadavers added into the mix. We learned and memorized every organ, muscle, bone, blood vessel, and nerve, both on paper, and on the six cadavers in the lab. So the majority of my summer was spent in the lab with dead bodies, no big deal. It was great. Not only do we know the functions and locations of all the muscles, blood vessels, organs, and bones, but we can also visualize them on our patients. That sort of thing is invaluable.
The following semester, Fall 2015, we took our first official "OT lab". We learned transfers to and from all surfaces (bed, toilet, shower, chair, etc.) for multiple diagnoses. We also learned adaptive dressing techniques for a variety of different diagnoses. All of these skills were then put to the test through lab practicals, in which we were given a case scenario, with one of our professors playing the part of the patient, and we had to perform all or some of the skills I have just listed. Lab practicals are the most terrifying thing about OT school. All the pressure, all the stress. Because it's pretty much giving you an indication of how you would function as a therapist in the real world, with a real patient. But, the beautiful thing is, after you're finished with the practical, you have this surge of confidence in yourself and your abilities as an OT. It's very encouraging. Throughout the program, we took about 12 lab practicals.
It is also important to mention our psychosocial courses. OT's focus on the whole person; mind, body, and soul, therefore, it's important to have an understanding of the role psychology plays in our profession. In fact, it's so important that we had both a lecture class and a lab dedicated to the subject. There, we received a thorough overview of various psychological diagnoses, detailed training on interview techniques, as well as the opportunity to run our own group therapy sessions.
Along with the psychosocial aspects, it's also important to mention our focus on the musculoskeletal part of OT. After this most recent semester, I now know all the things (theoretically all the things) about various upper body injuries such as carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, golfer's elbow, shoulder impingement, and about 30 other diagnoses. All the things being what each one is, signs and symptoms, causes, prognoses, diagnostic testing, and treatment. We also learned splint fabrication, and I now have three custom-made splints that are the result of much blood, sweat, and tears on my part (The sweat part is real. Splinting requires boiling the material to make it moldable, so it was pretty hot in the classroom that day.).
I would really love to cover a few more things, but as I am already testing your reading endurance, I will just mention one more aspect of the program that is particularly important. And that would be my classmates. There's something about spending every waking hour in a lab inspecting dead bodies, while all of your non-OT friends are on summer vacation, that tends to bring people together. There's nothing quite like waiting in line outside the room to perform your lab practical, pacing back and forth, and babbling about random topics like The Office, with people who are experiencing the same pre-practical anxiety. Or sitting in class after a professor sped through 100 Powerpoint slides in an hour and a half, and the professor asks "Are there any questions?", and you can almost hear the crickets chirping in reply. And not just the classmates, but the professors themselves are an integral part of the experience. Where else would your professor invite your project group to her house and make you a delicious homemade meal? Or, let's talk about the fact that we have each one of our professors' personal phone numbers. What I'm really trying to get at, with all of this rambling, is that there is no way I could have been successful in grad school had I not had 38 other people going through the same thing with me. There is no way I would have recovered (psychologically and academically) from a few disappointing grades without the support of my professors, who are just as concerned about my success as I am.
Although I am extremely excited to move on to the next stage of my OT adventure, fieldwork, I can't help but be a bit melancholy when I think about all the wonderful people I won't be seeing everyday anymore. But, once again, knowing that all 38 of my classmates are going through this transition too, gives me comfort and confidence. Because I know that each one of them (including me) are going to be stellar OT practitioners.
I would be remiss, of course, if I did not touch on our wonderful adventure with Gross Anatomy our first semester. Gross Anatomy is your regular Anatomy course, with cadavers added into the mix. We learned and memorized every organ, muscle, bone, blood vessel, and nerve, both on paper, and on the six cadavers in the lab. So the majority of my summer was spent in the lab with dead bodies, no big deal. It was great. Not only do we know the functions and locations of all the muscles, blood vessels, organs, and bones, but we can also visualize them on our patients. That sort of thing is invaluable.
The following semester, Fall 2015, we took our first official "OT lab". We learned transfers to and from all surfaces (bed, toilet, shower, chair, etc.) for multiple diagnoses. We also learned adaptive dressing techniques for a variety of different diagnoses. All of these skills were then put to the test through lab practicals, in which we were given a case scenario, with one of our professors playing the part of the patient, and we had to perform all or some of the skills I have just listed. Lab practicals are the most terrifying thing about OT school. All the pressure, all the stress. Because it's pretty much giving you an indication of how you would function as a therapist in the real world, with a real patient. But, the beautiful thing is, after you're finished with the practical, you have this surge of confidence in yourself and your abilities as an OT. It's very encouraging. Throughout the program, we took about 12 lab practicals.
It is also important to mention our psychosocial courses. OT's focus on the whole person; mind, body, and soul, therefore, it's important to have an understanding of the role psychology plays in our profession. In fact, it's so important that we had both a lecture class and a lab dedicated to the subject. There, we received a thorough overview of various psychological diagnoses, detailed training on interview techniques, as well as the opportunity to run our own group therapy sessions.
Along with the psychosocial aspects, it's also important to mention our focus on the musculoskeletal part of OT. After this most recent semester, I now know all the things (theoretically all the things) about various upper body injuries such as carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, golfer's elbow, shoulder impingement, and about 30 other diagnoses. All the things being what each one is, signs and symptoms, causes, prognoses, diagnostic testing, and treatment. We also learned splint fabrication, and I now have three custom-made splints that are the result of much blood, sweat, and tears on my part (The sweat part is real. Splinting requires boiling the material to make it moldable, so it was pretty hot in the classroom that day.).
I would really love to cover a few more things, but as I am already testing your reading endurance, I will just mention one more aspect of the program that is particularly important. And that would be my classmates. There's something about spending every waking hour in a lab inspecting dead bodies, while all of your non-OT friends are on summer vacation, that tends to bring people together. There's nothing quite like waiting in line outside the room to perform your lab practical, pacing back and forth, and babbling about random topics like The Office, with people who are experiencing the same pre-practical anxiety. Or sitting in class after a professor sped through 100 Powerpoint slides in an hour and a half, and the professor asks "Are there any questions?", and you can almost hear the crickets chirping in reply. And not just the classmates, but the professors themselves are an integral part of the experience. Where else would your professor invite your project group to her house and make you a delicious homemade meal? Or, let's talk about the fact that we have each one of our professors' personal phone numbers. What I'm really trying to get at, with all of this rambling, is that there is no way I could have been successful in grad school had I not had 38 other people going through the same thing with me. There is no way I would have recovered (psychologically and academically) from a few disappointing grades without the support of my professors, who are just as concerned about my success as I am.
Although I am extremely excited to move on to the next stage of my OT adventure, fieldwork, I can't help but be a bit melancholy when I think about all the wonderful people I won't be seeing everyday anymore. But, once again, knowing that all 38 of my classmates are going through this transition too, gives me comfort and confidence. Because I know that each one of them (including me) are going to be stellar OT practitioners.
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